Monitoring of water exports of forestry - description
Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) is monitoring changes in water quality and element exports caused by forestry activities. The network was established in 2014 and consisting of both pristine and managed forested headwater catchments throughout Finland. Pristine areas provide a reference basis for the exports caused by human activity.
Why is monitoring carried out?
The monitoring provides information on the quantity and quality of water discharging from the catchments. This empowers forestry operators by furnishing insights into the influence of their practices on water quality, thereby facilitating decision-making for water protection initiatives. Furthermore, the network enables the assessment of long-term predictions of climate change on water quality and provides a mechanism for monitoring the impacts of changes in forestry intensity.
The most significant challenge in Finnish watercourses is eutrophication and brownification, caused especially by the loadings of nitrogen, phosphorus, and suspended solids. Our watercourses are burdened by, for example, agriculture and forestry, communities, dispersed settlements and peat production.
The most significant detrimental effect of forestry on waters is caused by the solids load caused by ditch network maintenance and the long-term nitrogen and phosphorus exports from old drainage peatland areas.
Results
The results of the monitoring network are freely available in Luke's Luonnonvaratieto (Natural Resource Information) -service. The information of the annual exports will be updated in the service by the end of May of the following year. The data can also be found in the open environmental information management system Hertta on the website of the Finnish Environment Institute.
Information on forestry treatments carried out in catchment areas that have the most significant impact on water exports are collected and compiled annually from the following sources:
Regeneration fellings and thinnings: Information on forest notifications collected by the Finnish Forest Centre.
Ditch network maintenance: Notifications collected by Ely-centers (Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment in Finland).
Fertilizations: Forest fertilizations in state-owned lands. Source: Metsähallitus Metsätalous Oy Ltd.
