THE FINNISH ENVIRONMENT 28 | 2006 MIRES OF This book presents a transect of Finnish mire nature from Forest Mires of Finland – NATURE Lapland in the north to the hemiboreal mires on the southern coast of Finland. It has been compiled in connection with the International Daughters of the Baltic Sea F Mire Conservation Group field symposium in Finland in July 2006, and INLAND – it gives an overview of the biodiversity of Finnish mires on mire Raimo Heikkilä, Tapio Lindholm and system, massif, site and species levels as well as about the ecology, Teemu Tahvanainen (eds.) utilization, conservation and restoration of Finnish mires. A special D topic is the primary succession of mires on the land uplift coast of the AUGHTERS OFTHE BALTIC Bothnian Bay, which is a globally unique phenomenon in the boreal zone. Most of the mires presented here are protected as national parks or mire reserves. Thus this book gives a positive view over Finnish mires. We must remember, however, that about 75 % of Finnish mires have been destroyed by forestry drainage, agriculture, peat mining or reservoir building. S EA THE FINNISH ENVIRON Order Service: Edita Publishing Ltd. P.O. Box 800, FI-00043 EDITA Customer Service: phone +358 20 450 05, fax +358 20 450 2380 M Edita-bookstore in Helsinki: ENT 28 | 2006 Annankatu 44, phone +358 20 450 2566 ISBN 952-11-2319-2 (pbk.) ISBN 952-11-2320-6 (PDF) ISSN 1238-7312 (print) ISSN 1796-1637 (online) Finnish Environment Institute THE FINNISH ENVIRONMENT 28 | 2006 Mires of Finland – Daughters of the Baltic Sea Raimo Heikkilä, Tapio Lindholm and Teemu Tahvanainen (eds.) Helsinki 2006 Finnish Environment Institute The Finnish Environment 28 | 2006 The Finnish Environment Institute Layout: Martti Salo Cover photo: Teemu Tahvanainen Painotalo Casper Oy, Kurikka 2006 ISBN 952-11-2319-2 (pbk) ISBN 952-11-2320-6 (PDF) ISSN 1238-7312 (print) ISSN 1796-1637 (online) The Finnish Environment 28 | 2006 Contents Guide to the landscapes of Finnish mires from the Baltic Sea coast in different times of the Holocene .............................................................. 5 Aapamire in southern Lapland .................................................................. 7 Rich fens in a northern dolomite bedrock area ..................................... 17 Wet aapamires and raised bogs: a paradise for birds ............................ 23 Aapamire development in a land uplift coast ......................................... 31 Sedge aapamire massif with a well developed structure ...................... 41 Mire Wilderness ......................................................................................... 49 A bird sanctuary in a flat uplifting landscape with a shallow bay and wide meadows ..................................................................................... 57 5000 years of mire development within a few kilometres .................... 67 Downy Birch Finland, mires after silvicultural drainage ........................ 74 Locus Classicus site of the Finnish aapamire concept ........................... 77 Clearing and burning mires to make them arable fields ...................... 81 Three mire reserves in western Finland ................................................. 85 Mire restoration as a tool to make a national park .............................. 107 Cases of raised mires: concentric and plateau mire massifs ................119 Central European or hemiboreal swamp? ............................................. 129 When several units make one large bog massif ................................... 137 Restoration of forest and mire mosaic ................................................... 143 Flora and land bird fauna of the presented mire sites ......................... 147 The Finnish Environment 28 | 2006 Location of the mires presented in this book and the excursion route of the 12th International Mire Conservation Group field symposium in 2006. The Finnish Environment 28 | 2006 Guide to the landscapes of Finnish mires from the Baltic Sea coast in different times of the Holocene Raimo Heikkilä, Tapio Lindholm & Teemu Tahvanainen This book presents a transect of Finnish mire nature from Forest Lapland in the north to the hemiboreal mires on the southern coast of Finland. It has been compiled in con- nection with the International Mire Conservation Group field symposium in Finland in July 006, but the editors of the volume wish it to give a more general overview of the biodiversity of Finnish mires on mire system, massif, site and species levels as well as about the utilization, conservation and restoration of Finnish mires. A special topic is the primary succession of mires on the land uplift coast of the Bothnian Bay, which is a globally unique phenomenon in the boreal zone. The mires described in this book cover a wide range of mire massifs from northern flark aapamires to sedge aapamires and eccentric bogs in central Finland, concentric raised bog in western and southwestern Finland, and the plateau bogs in the southern coastal area. There are successional series of the development of young aapamires and bogs from shallow coastal waters in the land uplift coast near Oulu town, and recent mire succession due to the lowering of the water table of lakes. Mire site types in the mires cover a wide ecological range from bogs to rich fens, spring-fed mires and flooded swamps. Almost all mire plant and bird species recorded from Finland can be found in these mires. Most of the mires presented here are protected as national parks, strict nature reserves or mire reserves. Thus this book gives a positive view over Finnish mires. We must remember, however, that about 7 % of Finnish mires have been destroyed by forestry drainage, agriculture, peat mining or reservoir building. Therefore, it is essential to continue the work to protect the remaining pristine mires, especially in southern and central Finland. One aim of this book is to emphasize the great diversity and high conservation value of Finnish mires. During the compiling of this book it was revealed that despite a long mire research tradition and intensive inventories conducted in nature reserves recently, we know surprisingly little about our mires. Even though the examples described in this book belong to our most famous protected mires, the knowledge about site types, plant species and development history of them is very scattered. For example, we found pollen diagrams for only two of the mires, and there were several, for which there was no knowledge about peat deposits at all. Macrosubfossil studies revealing the development of the mire itself were also very scanty. The knowledge about birds covers mainly land birds, for which line censuses are suitable, but information about waterfowl was hard to find, even though mires host a rich fauna of it. Knowledge about other animal groups was almost lacking. Some mires have been well studied for hydrology and ecology, but from most of them there is no concrete data. All this emphasizes the importance of mire research in Finland – land of mires. The Finnish Environment 28 | 2006 6 The Finnish Environment 28|2006 The FinnishEnvironment Topographic map of Teuravuoma mire reserve. Each grid square is 1 km2. False-colour infrared aerial photograph of Teuravuoma mire reserve. The red line shows © National Board of Survey, permission no. 7/MYY/06. the boundary of Natura 2000 area. © National Board of Survey, permission no. 7/MYY/06. Aapamire in southern Lapland Teuravuoma-Kivijärvenvuoma mire reserve Eino Lappalainen, Eero Kaakinen & Teemu Tahvanainen The Great Teuravuoma aapamire system in western Lapland lies some 10 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle, and is the biggest mire system in Finland. It covers an area in excess of 000 hectares. In this system, there are separate mires. The largest mire massif is the Teuravuoma massif that covers 7080 ha and is the biggest single mire in Finland. In addition, there are 1 lakes and the 80 km long Naamijoki River and its tributaries within the Great Teuravuoma system. More than 10 springs discharge to the mires. The springs have greatly influenced the vegetation and the paludification during the last 10000 years. The total amount of peat accumulated is 60 million m and as much as million tonnes of water is held by the peat layers. Only the eas- tern part of the originally huge mire system is in its natural state and included in the Teuravuoma-Kivijärvenvuoma reserve. The area of the European NATURA 000 network in Teuravuoma-Kivijärvenvuoma is 788 ha. The area was included in the National Mire Protection Programme in 1981 and it is included in the Ramsar list (Ramsar site no. 1). Reindeer husbandry is an important livelihood in the surrounding areas and also permitted in the reserve. Hunting, fishing and picking of mushrooms and berries are permitted as well. Vast aapa massifs are the dominant feature of the Great Teuravuoma system, whi- le another distinct feature is the great number of scattered forest islets. The reserve consists mostly of mires, and forests only make up about 10% of the area. Open mire types cover 60% of the mire area. Drier, treed mire types are mostly pine mires, while spruce mires are also common. There are altogether 61 ha of rich mire types in the Natura 000 reserve, most of which are located within the Teuravuoma massif. Of this area, 8 ha are open rich fens. Rich spruce mire types and rich birch fens together add 90 ha to the area of rich mire types. The rich birch fens are especially important as habitats for threatened species