Effective Utilisation of Forests
What is now Repovesi National Park was an important
hunting and fishing ground during the Stone Age, as well as, long after. The
people of the Stone Age left rock
paintings,
prehistoric tools and hunting
equipment behind. The most important prey of the time are evident from local
place names such as Terrilammet (terri = teeri = Black Grouse
(Tetrao tetrix) ) and Lake Peuranen
(peura = deer). In the 13th and 14th Centuries people from Karelia migrated to
the Repovesi area. The word Repo (meaning ’fox’) is originally from there.
A period of slash and burn agriculture and tar burning began at Repovesi in
the 17th Century, when the forests in the area were felled for the first time.
The Lake Tervajärvi (terva = tar) area was, as its name is implies, the main
area where tar was burnt. However, forested tar pits have also been found
elsewhere in the Repovesi area as well. Tar burning was an important form of
forest utilisation up until the 19th Century.
The Forest Industry Arrives at Repovesi
Logging was started in the 18th Century for the use of the sawmill industry.
The first sawmill was built at Voikoski in 1770 and a small sawmill operated in
Tervarumpu from the 1820’s to 1858. A steam powered sawmill was founded in
Sahaniemi (‘Saw Cape’) at Hillosensalmi at the beginning of the 20th Century.
The sawmill brought new jobs and the use of electricity helped the village of
Hillosensalmi flourish.
Three paper mills were built on the shore of the River Kymijoki at the end of
the 19th Century. They joined to form the Kymiyhtiö enterprise in 1904. Today
the enterprise is called UPM-Kymmene. In 1889 the new Savo Railroad opened and
this made it possible to transport wood to paper mills by train. Repovesi was
also located by waterways, which were good for floating logs. Because Repovesi
was easy to reach, the forests there were very sought-after. A major part of the
area’s forests were acquired by the Kymiyhtiö enterprise in 1913.
Log Floating and Logging
Log floating was practised in the Repovesi area from the 19th Century to the
1960’s. Logging was done by men and horses up to then. In winter the timber was
taken onto the ice covering lakes, and in spring when the ice melted it was
floated down streams to larger lakes. Log floating flumes were built across
rocky streams. The Kuutinkanava Canal and its log floating flume were built in
1912. Logs could then be floated straight from Lake Tervajärvi into Kuutinlahti
Bay in Lake Repovesi. In order to have enough water in the flume, the level of
water in Lake Tervajärvi had to be raised 50-100 cm with the help of dams. The
last summer logs were floated was in 1968.
Roads built in 1968-74 made extensive logging possible in the untouched
forests of the Repovesi area. In the 1970’s mechanical logging began. Forests
were regenerated primarily by planting new trees. The last time prescribed
burning was used to renew forests in Repovesi was in 1977. Today this is
starting to be used again. These purposefully set fires resemble wild fires.
Burnt forests are essential as a habitat of some threatened species.
Protecting the Forests
In 2001 conservation of the Repovesi area improved
significantly, as UPM-Kymmene Oyj
(w3.upm-kymmene.com) donated 560 hectares of forests
for the establishment of a national park, and set forth a proposal that
Aarnikotka Forest Nature Reserve be established on lands owned by the
enterprise. Repovesi National Park (1,500 hectares) and Aarnikotka forest Nature
Reserve (1,400 hectares) form a magnificent protected area of almost 30 sq. km.
This is the largest protected forest area in south-eastern
Finland.
