European Rewilding Network
ERN2203

Kivisuo Peatland

Marshmire of Stones

Kivisuo Peatland is part of the Landscape Rewilding Programme.
Mika Honkalinna
Kivisuo is a natural carbon sink, alleviating northern climate change using natural means.
In 2020 Kivisuo was formally protected under the national HELMI Programme.
Mika Honkalinna
Kivisuo is an aapa peatland and home of many nesting and staging birds.
Mika Honkalinna

Kivisuo Peatland is a biodiversity hotspot located in the villages of Muhos and Utajärvi. It is a part of 20 kilometer wide string of peatlands which are major carbon storages (accumulated since last Ice Age and / or glacial uplift). Kivisuo is a natural carbon sink, alleviating northern climate change using natural means.  There are over 5 million hectares of drained peatland in Finland, presenting an unprecedented opportunity to select high natural value locations for rewilding and restoring natural ecosystems and biodiversity. In these areas, carbon sequestration can be combined with the development of other socio-economic activities – such as wildlife watching, water storage and the sustainable harvesting of natural products – to generate revenue and create new jobs. Kivisuo is a 620 hectare peatland rewilding site in Muhos community in central Finland. It is part of a nationally-relevant 20-kilometer-wide Muhos-Utajärvi peatland complex. The site was included into the Landscape Rewilding Programme in June 2020. The site was formally protected in September 2020. It is a mostly intact boreal peatland / marshmire as well as a major carbon sink in the Sub-Arctic in Finland.

Kivisuo is an aapa peatland. It is the home of many nesting and staging birds, including waders. Of special value is the nesting of Peregrine Falcon  in the area. Kivisuo is the largest site in the Landscape Rewilding Programme. Currently inventories have documented over 29 species on Kivisuo, but this is to be considered a very preliminary number as the surveys will continue over the next few years.

Specification Description Achievements Exchange
Project: Kivisuo Peatland
Region: Central Finland
Type of project: Creating space for wilder nature, Fostering the development of nature based economies, Increasing interest in the wild through communications, Magnification of rewilding impact and practices
Aim and vision: Rewilding actions include
1. Investigation of expanding the site with neighboring land owners
2. Restoring the channels that runs through the site as needed, timetable: 2021-22
3. Inventories of key species, vegetation, GHG (first bird surveys completed in 2020)
Other activities: Community involved, Education, Research
Results so far: In 2020 Kivisuo was formally protected under the national HELMI Programme. Kivisuo, over 600 hectares, secured in 2020 was able to be expanded close to 40 hectares with the Paanakka Expansion Site. The newly acquired site supports an establishment of an ecological corridor East of the original Kivisuo site to forested areas; secures the nesting areas of two rare European predator birds, the Peregrine Falcon and European Honey Buzzard as well as rare waders and duck species; and maintains tree stocks over 100 years old. In addition, the Paanakka expanded site secures a massive amount of stored carbon on the ground, maintains a natural carbon sink, and expanded climate stabilization area up to 660 hectares of uninterrupted territory. Paanakka site is also extremely important to the local communities of Muhos and Utajärvi as pristine system and Snowchange continues to implement co-management and support traditional land uses and knowledge in the rewilding processes.
Inspirational value: Rewilding and restoring large natural sites to serve as internationally relevant biodiversity hotspots and carbon sinks helps to both store carbon (in the peatlands and forests) and actively trap carbon dioxide in the future when fully restored. The ecosystem benefits will service local communities and interconnected catchments. Restoration leads to the natural succession-based return of species, water tables, ecosystem characteristics and carbon trapping.
Experience you would like to share: Traditional and indigenous knowledge, basin rewilding and peatland restoration without carbon credits. Kivisuo is a symbol of the change we need in the North to secure intact habitats for communities and to fulfill their rights in conservation, to rewild and restore past damages and to increase natural sinks wherever we can.
Experience you would like to gain: Advancing community-based and -controlled efforts to fight impacts of climate change, enhance biodiversity and protect waterways.
Map
Country
Finland
Start year
2020
Size (ha)
620
Area type
Northern coniferous forest, Wetlands
Natural process
Flooding, River dynamics, Wetland dynamics
Flagship species
moose
Kivisuo Peatland
Kivisuo Peatland is part of the Landscape Rewilding Programme.
Mika Honkalinna
Kivisuo is a natural carbon sink, alleviating northern climate change using natural means.
In 2020 Kivisuo was formally protected under the national HELMI Programme.
Mika Honkalinna
Kivisuo is an aapa peatland and home of many nesting and staging birds.
Mika Honkalinna

Kivisuo Peatland is a biodiversity hotspot located in the villages of Muhos and Utajärvi. It is a part of 20 kilometer wide string of peatlands which are major carbon storages (accumulated since last Ice Age and / or glacial uplift). Kivisuo is a natural carbon sink, alleviating northern climate change using natural means.  There are over 5 million hectares of drained peatland in Finland, presenting an unprecedented opportunity to select high natural value locations for rewilding and restoring natural ecosystems and biodiversity. In these areas, carbon sequestration can be combined with the development of other socio-economic activities – such as wildlife watching, water storage and the sustainable harvesting of natural products – to generate revenue and create new jobs. Kivisuo is a 620 hectare peatland rewilding site in Muhos community in central Finland. It is part of a nationally-relevant 20-kilometer-wide Muhos-Utajärvi peatland complex. The site was included into the Landscape Rewilding Programme in June 2020. The site was formally protected in September 2020. It is a mostly intact boreal peatland / marshmire as well as a major carbon sink in the Sub-Arctic in Finland.

Kivisuo is an aapa peatland. It is the home of many nesting and staging birds, including waders. Of special value is the nesting of Peregrine Falcon  in the area. Kivisuo is the largest site in the Landscape Rewilding Programme. Currently inventories have documented over 29 species on Kivisuo, but this is to be considered a very preliminary number as the surveys will continue over the next few years.

Map
Country
Finland
Start year
2020
Size (ha)
620
Area type
Northern coniferous forest, Wetlands
Natural process
Flooding, River dynamics, Wetland dynamics
Flagship species
moose
Specification
Project: Kivisuo Peatland
Region: Central Finland
Description
Type of project: Creating space for wilder nature, Fostering the development of nature based economies, Increasing interest in the wild through communications, Magnification of rewilding impact and practices
Aim and vision: Rewilding actions include
1. Investigation of expanding the site with neighboring land owners
2. Restoring the channels that runs through the site as needed, timetable: 2021-22
3. Inventories of key species, vegetation, GHG (first bird surveys completed in 2020)
Other activities: Community involved, Education, Research
Achievements
Results so far: In 2020 Kivisuo was formally protected under the national HELMI Programme. Kivisuo, over 600 hectares, secured in 2020 was able to be expanded close to 40 hectares with the Paanakka Expansion Site. The newly acquired site supports an establishment of an ecological corridor East of the original Kivisuo site to forested areas; secures the nesting areas of two rare European predator birds, the Peregrine Falcon and European Honey Buzzard as well as rare waders and duck species; and maintains tree stocks over 100 years old. In addition, the Paanakka expanded site secures a massive amount of stored carbon on the ground, maintains a natural carbon sink, and expanded climate stabilization area up to 660 hectares of uninterrupted territory. Paanakka site is also extremely important to the local communities of Muhos and Utajärvi as pristine system and Snowchange continues to implement co-management and support traditional land uses and knowledge in the rewilding processes.
Exchange
Inspirational value: Rewilding and restoring large natural sites to serve as internationally relevant biodiversity hotspots and carbon sinks helps to both store carbon (in the peatlands and forests) and actively trap carbon dioxide in the future when fully restored. The ecosystem benefits will service local communities and interconnected catchments. Restoration leads to the natural succession-based return of species, water tables, ecosystem characteristics and carbon trapping.
Experience you would like to share: Traditional and indigenous knowledge, basin rewilding and peatland restoration without carbon credits. Kivisuo is a symbol of the change we need in the North to secure intact habitats for communities and to fulfill their rights in conservation, to rewild and restore past damages and to increase natural sinks wherever we can.
Experience you would like to gain: Advancing community-based and -controlled efforts to fight impacts of climate change, enhance biodiversity and protect waterways.
Kivisuo Peatland
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