Vaara-Kainuu Art National Park
A plan for a new national park that would be located in the municipalities of Hyrynsalmi and Puolanka in Upper Kainuu.
What
These Art National Park pages present the plan for a new national park to be located in Vaara-Kainuu.
The park would be situated within the municipalities of Puolanka and Hyrynsalmi.
Explore and join us!
The pages will be updated as the project progresses.
Where
The new national park would be located in the nature tourism development area of the Kainuu regional plan.
The area contains some of the most attractive sights in Vaara-Kainuu, such as Hepoköngäs in Puolanka, chosen by the Retkipaikka community vote as the 2022 Excursion Destination of the Year. It is one of the highest natural waterfalls in Finland. In Hyrynsalmi you can find, for example, Komulanköngäs—a still little-known gem—and the impressive Vorlokki gorge valley.
“Hepoköngäs is without a doubt one of Finland’s most spectacular waterfalls and is an especially excellent destination because it is also accessible.” – Retkipaikka.fi
The area already has a vibrant nature tourism industry: hotels, rental cabins, and various activity services for visitors who love both tranquillity and outdoor pursuits.
The majestic Paljakka Nature Reserve would be connected to the national park, but it would retain its current purpose as a strictly protected nature reserve where movement is restricted to designated trails. The Natura 2000 areas and other already protected sites would naturally be included in the park.
Read more about the Paljakka Nature Reserve here.
In the national park, routes would run from Siikavaara in the north, through Paljakka, to Hyrynsalmi. The area is crossed by the UKK Trail and many smaller nature trails. The national park would consist of several sections.
When
Our goal is that the next Parliament could decide on establishing the Vaara-Kainuu Art National Park during the government term 2023–2027.
Development of the national park is already well underway because the plan is based on an earlier proposal for a Vaara-Kainuu national park. What is completely new is the idea of integrating art into the national park.
You can read the earlier proposal from about 10 years ago here and here.
Join us!
Everyone is welcome to support the project and help create the Vaara-Kainuu Art National Park. Everything is currently run by volunteers.
Several individuals, local tourism companies, and organisations have already joined as supporters. As the project progresses, their thoughts and visions will be featured on these pages.
You can sign up to the working group by contacting us via email or on Facebook / Messenger / Instagram.
You can also support the project by liking, commenting on, and sharing our posts and website.
It is important to spread the word about the park project to as many people as possible. You can let decision-makers know that national parks are important to Finns, and that the unique nature and landscapes of Vaara-Kainuu deserve their own national park—something that does not yet exist.
The park would complement Finland’s national park network, and its focus on art would make it entirely unique on a global scale.
A petition supporting the Art National Park will be opened later on these pages.
FAQ ↓
What is a national park?
Finland has 41 national parks. National parks are large protected natural areas whose purpose is to safeguard biodiversity while giving people the opportunity to explore and enjoy nature.
National parks are established on state-owned land, each through its own special act.
Read more about national parks on Metsähallitus’s luontoon.fi website and on the Ministry of the Environment’s National and Nature Parks page.
National parks provide a major boost to local economies, and municipalities actively compete to have one in their area.
Here you can see how many visitors and how much revenue national parks bring to local economies according to Metsähallitus’s Parks & Wildlife Finland.
Why should a national park be established specifically in Vaara-Kainuu?
The unique nature of Vaara-Kainuu cannot be protected anywhere else.
The hill range (vaarajakso) is geologically exceptional. The highest point in Kainuu, Iso Tuomivaara in Hyrynsalmi, rises to 387 meters. Paljakka is 384 meters above sea level.
Kainuu is known for its extensive spruce forests on high hills and the intricate network of waters and wetlands between them. The region has great natural diversity. Kainuu is home to one of Finland’s key rich-fen and grove forest centers, which are the province’s most valuable and biologically diverse habitats.
Many increasingly endangered species live in Vaara-Kainuu, including the red-flanked bluetail, golden eagle, willow tit, wolverine, forest reindeer, and freshwater pearl mussel.
Read here about the moth Xestia borealis. It was long believed to live only in the thick-moss spruce forests of Central Lapland, until it was discovered over 450 km away in Paljakka, Puolanka. On social media we also present other rare species and highlights from the park area.
Only a few percent of Finland’s forests are grove forests, so their protection is urgent. Because groves are rare, few people have had the chance to explore these lush, species-rich habitats, and a national park would offer new experiences for many visitors.
Kainuu has long suffered from population decline. In Vaara-Kainuu, nature tourism is an important future industry, which we hope the state will support by establishing the Art National Park. It would also help address major environmental challenges of our time, such as halting biodiversity loss.
Vaara-Kainuu also contains a large number of archaeological sites. Culturally and historically, it is a fascinating region with many stories to pass on to future generations.
Read the article by Mustarinda’s Executive Director Miina Kaartinen in Ylä-Kainuu here, and an opinion piece in Kainuun Sanomat here.
“An enormous potential lies in the area, which has not yet been fully utilized.” – Miina Kaartinen, Ylä-Kainuu, 10 Jan 2023
Who decides whether a new national park will be established?
National parks are always established by a separate law. If the government and its ministers wish to proceed, the Ministry of the Environment prepares the national park proposals, and the Parliament of Finland decides whether to approve them.
Metsähallitus manages the national parks.
How does the Art National Park campaign progress?
The campaign continues in its natural rhythm and schedule. At this stage, the campaign team consists entirely of volunteers.
Mustarinda Association, which has extensive experience with various projects, coordinates the volunteer work. The current goal is to make the idea known to as wide an audience as possible and to grow the number of supporters.
What does “art” mean in the Art National Park?
Art can mean many things. It should be understood broadly as culture—both traditional and contemporary.
National parks collaborate with local nature tourism companies. In the Art National Park, partners could also include heritage organizations, cultural associations, art institutions, and independent artists.
The national park could also inspire new forms of events and artworks that emerge from the relationship between humans and nature.
One well-known art landmark in Kainuu is Reijo Kela’s Silent People, an excellent example of how art in nature attracts interest and promotes tourism. You can read about it here.
How are a national park and wind power development compatible?
Several new wind farms are currently being planned in Kainuu as part of the transition away from fossil fuels. The green transition and climate action are important for Finland, and Kainuu’s municipalities are open to wind power construction.
Since natural areas are disappearing due to development, it is important to define which areas will be dedicated to conservation and nature tourism. In Vaara-Kainuu, tourism is already an important industry and will continue to be so. There are many holiday-home owners, and their well-being is significant for the local economy.
The most valuable undeveloped areas for tourism and nature protection should be preserved from wind power development. We believe that with good planning, legal compliance, and dialogue among stakeholders, different interests can be reconciled.
How are a national park and forestry compatible?
National parks are established on state-owned land, with a minimum size of 1000 hectares, and must contain valuable natural habitats. They should also complement the existing national park network.
In Vaara-Kainuu, there are no large areas of untouched natural forest left. The remaining patches of natural forest should be included in the park.
Grove forests are Finland’s most endangered forest habitat and should not be taken into forestry use. Seventeen percent of Finland’s endangered species depend primarily on grove forests. Read more about groves here.
The Vaara-Kainuu Art National Park would likely also include younger forests, which would become the old-growth forests of the future. These areas would be removed from forestry use, but Finland is committed as an EU member to the biodiversity strategy, which aims to halt biodiversity loss and restore positive development by 2030.
We hope Metsähallitus will take into account the local desire for a national park when drafting its new natural resource strategy.
If logging were to occur in the proposed park area (which we naturally do not hope for), we ask that multi-use forests be managed with nature-respecting, continuous-cover methods only—without clear-cutting or heavy thinning, and preserving deadwood and deciduous trees. All forest-law protected sites should be carefully preserved.
By doing so, the state could maintain the forested landscapes along hiking routes and safeguard biodiversity and ecological corridors during the transition period.
Who founded the Art National Park campaign and these webpages?
The Mustarinda Association, based in Hyrynsalmi and also involved in the earlier national park working group 10 years ago, initiated and explored the project.
Mustarinda launched the campaign in summer 2022 and invited various parties to reflect on and develop the project. A team of volunteers, Mustarinda staff, and interns created these webpages.
How can I personally participate in the national park campaign?
First, if you use social media, follow the Art National Park channels! You can find us on Instagram and Facebook. Like, comment, and share posts.
If you wish, sign up for the campaign team—for example, to help with communications.
Tell as many people as possible about the Vaara-Kainuu Art National Park: friends, local politicians, media, social media communities, colleagues, parents, members of Parliament, ministers, the president—anyone. The more people know, the better; there is strong enthusiasm in Vaara-Kainuu to protect nature for recreation.
You can also help the national park initiative by visiting nature sites in the area and sharing your photos on social media. We appreciate it if you use the hashtags:
#taidekansallispuisto #vaarakainuu #kansallispuistoesitys
You also support the Art National Park when you tag the project on Instagram and Facebook while hiking in Vaara-Kainuu—perhaps already in a new national park established during the next government term.