ATV damaged protected flowers at Sokli

An all-terrain vehicle drove over habitat of the protected lettorikko plant in August at the Sokli mining area in Savukoski, Lapland. Gaps in communication and preparation contributed to the damage, Yle reports.

Field measurements were carried out at Sokli in late August as part of a joint project by the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) and the Finnish Environment Institute studying the environmental effects of mineral exploration. The team travelled on foot and by ATV, including through areas where the small yellow lettorikko grows.

Extent of damage remains unclear

Environmental consultancy Envineer assessed the damage about two weeks later. The survey was difficult because the lettorikko was no longer flowering in early September, and vegetation had been compressed into a mat along the ATV tracks.

The assessment could not establish the exact number of damaged plants, and some stands may not have been found. It recorded two locations where an ATV had driven over or close to lettorikko.

At one known stand, the vehicle drove over an area where more than 400 seed-producing plants and nearly 1,500 non-flowering plants had been recorded across 750 square metres. The damage there covered no more than four square metres. At a second, previously unknown stand, the survey estimated that about 50 plants had been trampled near an ATV track. A track dug close to the plants could weaken or partly destroy the stand.

Envineer found that known lettorikko stands had been marked in Sokli’s geographic information system as areas where motor vehicle use was restricted. But the information was not available to the field team because the restrictions were stored in a different system from the survey’s measurement lines. The report also said the possible presence of protected species along each measurement line had not been reviewed in enough detail before work began.

Sokli will monitor the damaged area

Sokli described the incident as an “environmental deviation”. Chief executive Pasi Heino called it serious because it affected a protected plant classified as vulnerable. He said GTK noticed the damage and informed Sokli.

Heino said further damage to other stands could not be ruled out, although confirmed trampling was found at only one location. Sokli has updated its geographic data and clarified instructions on movement in the mining area, access restrictions, work preparation and staff orientation. The damaged area will be checked during next year’s lettorikko growing season and for at least three years after that, he said.

Conservation group warns of threats

Sisli Piisilä, director of the Lapland district of the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation, said lettorikko is a threatened species protected under an EU directive. It grows in groundwater-fed mires and spring areas and is particularly sensitive to changes in water conditions and trampling.

The plant grows where the groundwater level is about three to 20 centimetres. If the water level falls, competition from other species increases; if it rises, the plant can drown. Piisilä said protecting the Sokli stands was especially important because lettorikko populations at Viiankiaapa have declined in recent years.

A mine is also planned at Viiankiaapa, in Sodankylä. The project was added to the EU list of strategic raw materials projects last year, and Sokli was selected for the list last month.