Finland Foresters Cave In, Care for Trees : Environment: Woodland managers move away from clear-cutting practices when they are threatened with loss of markets.

Stung by environmental criticism and possible loss of markets, managers of Finland’s vast forests say they are treating their trees better after decades of abuse.

“The eyes of Europe are on us,” said Juhani Pyykkonen, trudging through the snow in a forest he supervises 350 miles north of Helsinki. “When we walk in our forests, we no longer walk alone.”

At issue is the practice of clear-cutting--felling all trees in an area, removing bushes, plowing the land and planting new trees. Wildlife habitats are destroyed; the new forests, with fewer tree varieties, are vulnerable to disease and pollution.

As a result, environmentalists say, the white-backed woodpecker could become extinct by 2000. In addition, 700 animal and plant species are disappearing because of Finnish forestry methods.

Finnish paper makers, the world’s second-largest exporters after Canada, protested when leading German printing houses declared recently they might halt imports from producers who clear-cut forests. The statement followed a campaign by the environmental group Greenpeace among major buyers of Finnish paper.

“You cannot compare our forests with the massive clear-cuttings in the Amazon, Siberia or North America,” said Vice President Pauli Hanninen of United Paper Mills, Finland’s main producer. “We don’t destroy our forests. We’re confident our felling practices will stand up to scrutiny.”

Forests provide 40% of Finnish exports. In 1993, forest products earned an estimated $8 billion, up 17% from 1992.

Hundreds of newspapers and magazines around the world use Finnish paper.

Pine, spruce and birch trees cover more than two-thirds of Finland, but heavy logging since the 1950s has destroyed more than 90% of natural forests in what had been called Europe’s last wilderness.

“One cannot call it a wilderness anymore,” said Erkki Lahde of the Finnish Forest Research Institute. “Less than 2% of primeval forest remains.”

Last year, about half the 45 million cubic yards of timber Finland’s paper mills used were from clear-cuttings.

But foresters say clear-cuttings, once commonly larger than 2,500 acres, now average 3.7 acres.

Foresters select individual trees for felling and allow more natural growth by leaving grown trees in felling areas to provide new seeds.

Deciduous trees and shrubs, once thinned out in planted conifer forests, are allowed to grow freely.

“We don’t cut down and poison saplings anymore. We let them grow as they enrich the soil and give us a better forest,” forester Pyykkonen said.

“Before, economic considerations were paramount. Now we take the environment into account at every level.”

Finland’s forests are in no danger of disappearing, industry spokesmen say. Annual fellings amount to 67 million cubic yards, while total tree growth is 104 million cubic yards.

Environmentalists say the industry’s reliance on this simple quantitative measurement is what got the trees into trouble. Felling methods were tightly controlled by a national forestry board.

Despite improvements, Finnish foresters have much to do if they intend to conform to the new international convention on biodiversity, he said.

The convention, signed by 170 nations at the 1992 Earth Summit in Brazil, calls on nations to develop ways of preserving the diversity of life and ensuring sustainable use of living resources.

“If we conformed to the convention, it would mean stopping all clear-cuttings,” Lahde said. “We are shifting in the right direction, but it may be a question of too little, too late.”