The Central Forest is the nature-wise municipality's first test

The municipality of Kirkkonummi has joined the Nature-Wise Municipalities network (Luontoviisaat kunnat). The council decided to join last year, based on a motion the Greens made in 2022. In the network, Kirkkonummi commits to safeguarding biodiversity, mapping valuable natural sites and taking them into account in planning, and increasing what decision-makers, residents and businesses know about biodiversity.

Why is the Central Forest the first test?

The first test is already here. After a vote, the Urban Development Committee decided to put the Central Forest (Keskusmetsä) plan out for comment. The Central Forest stretches from Masala all the way to the municipal centre. It is the everyday outdoor forest for residents of Masala, Vasikkahaka, Kvisi, Laajakallio and Jolkby.

The plan is not new. It has been discussed in previous council terms and returned for further preparation so that the forest would stay a forest. The last time, in 2024, the Community Engineering Committee unanimously returned the plan for further preparation, with instructions that would safeguard the forest’s nature and lighten the infrastructure.

What would the Central Forest plan bring into the forest?

The plan now on display does the opposite. It brings a three-metre-wide paved route into the forest, with lights the whole way from Masala to the municipal centre. Landowners have opposed lit routes. Residents have opposed wide, paved routes. There are also nature reserves along the route, through which such a route cannot be built. So at whose wish is such massive infrastructure being brought into the forest?

How should the Central Forest be developed?

People find recreation in the forest among paths, silence, darkness and animals. Developing the Central Forest means duckboards over wet spots, bark mulch, gravel and signs on the existing paths. That is exactly how the very popular Meiko loop was built. An accessible nature experience means accessible entry to a real forest, not a paved road through it.

Nor is biodiversity increased by clear-cutting, and clear-cutting has not been categorically ruled out in the Central Forest.

The Central Forest must stay a forest that is easy to reach from both existing and future residential areas. The route network is built on the existing paths and connections. Paths are not replaced with roads. As more people come out, paths are protected from wear with duckboards, wood chips and gravel, and signposts are put up at junctions.

In September, Kirkkonummi bypassed residents in planning forest logging. Local nature is everyday recreation for residents and the municipality’s trump card.