LANDSCAPE ECOLOGICAL CHANGES IN

THE KUHMO BORDER AREA AFTER 1940

- A CUMULATIVE EFFECTS ASSESSMENT APPROACH

By: Albert S. Sigurdsson *

A view from Lammasperä, west of Lake Kivi-Kiekki

ABSTRACT

The study paper front cover

Finnish forests have been intensively cut and managed since WWII. The cumulative effects of forestry related activities were examined in the landscape of the Kuhmo border area in Finland, adjacent to the Russian border. The study was focused on spatio-temporal changes in the landscape as far back as the 1940s, when the first extensive clearcuts have been documented, using geographical information system techniques. The data come from different time periods in the form of aerial photos, forest inventories and various maps.
The aim of the study is to explore the visible landscape ecological changes due to forest cutting, mire drainage and road building, particulalry regarding the possible cumulative or synergistic environmental effects.
It was found that due to forest fragmentation, edge effects and loss of habitat diversity the environmental effects of human activities may be synergistic in such a way that the overall impact is larger than the sum of input activities that contributed to the effects.
The main cumulative effects are found to be losses of biological and habitat diversity in the long term.


1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 The study area
1.2 Study boundaries
Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 3, Figure 4.

2. METHODS AND MATERIALS
2.1 Cumulative environmental effects
2.2 The landscape ecological approach
2.3 Materials used
Figure 5, Figure 6, Table 1.

3. RESULTS
Figure 7, Figure 8, Figure 9, Figure 10, Figure 11, Figure 12.

4. DISCUSSION
4.1 Forest cutting
4.2 Mire drainage and its ecological effects
4.3 The effects of roads
4.4 The cumulative effects of cutting, drainage and roads
Figure 13, Figure 14, Figure 15, Figure 16, Figure 17, Figure 18.

5. CONCLUSIONS

6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

REFERENCES

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* This study was previously published by the Finnish Environment Institute (The Finnish Environment series, vol. 275, 1999). But due to mismatch in color separation of map layers in the printed version the author felt this paper should be made available on the internet as well.