Multifunctional forests

The city’s forests are multifunctional forests. The multifunctional nature of forests means that, depending on the location of the forests and their current use, forests are managed in a manner that corresponds to the main purpose of forest use, while taking several different objectives into account at the same time. When planning forest management measures, the following objectives will be taken into account at the same time: recreational use, biodiversity, economic objectives, carbon sink and storage and possible land use objectives.

As general guidelines, in connection with the decision-making of the strategic forest plan, the City Council has decided on the following principles:

to promote biodiversity
to make the effort to increase the number of nature reserves
the felling plan for the city’s forests is approx. 49,000 m³ per year, while forest growth is approx. 77,000 m³
the city’s forests serve as both carbon sinks and carbon storages
forests in land use change areas are managed according to their future land use form
continuous cultivation will be increased
the health status of trees and the success of continuous cultivation will be specifically monitored
planning and implementation of forest management mainly takes place interactively with residents
the strategic forest plan is implemented by the Forests and Waters unit in cooperation with other actors and stakeholders
the principles of the plan are valid for the next 20 years, unless there is a special reason to come back to them earlier
as part of the implementation of the forest plan, a plan for the recreational use of nature will be created for Kuopio.

The implementation of the principles and objectives is monitored in a sample-based manner, and the results of the monitoring are reported to the City Council each council term.