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A tool for forest owners to prevent the destruction of bird nests during logging – The Nature Target List limits logging outside the bird nesting season
Many forest owners do not think about the impact of forest logging on birds. However, in Finland, approximately 100 bird nests are destroyed during logging every summer.
Bird nests are protected and nesting should not be disturbed.
“Hardly anyone would consciously want to destroy bird nests and chicks. Logging can easily be scheduled outside the breeding season. It also makes sense for the forest owner, as it reduces both harvesting damage and forest pest risks,” says Compensate Foundation executive director Annukka Valkeapää.
A tool that protects birds
The Compensate Foundation has produced a practical tool for forest owners to protect bird nesting sites.
Forest owners can prohibit logging during bird nesting periods and protect baby birds in their own forests by attaching a list of nature objectives to the logging agreement.
The nature goal list can be found About the Forest Value service. It can be included as part of the logging agreement, which is a binding document for the wood buyer. The nature target list limits logging outside the bird breeding season from 15.4 April to 31.7 July.
Several pairs of birds per hectare
The first birds are currently starting to build a nest in Southern Finland.
When forests are cut down between April and July, bird nests are likely to be destroyed.
“One to two pairs of birds typically nest in one hectare of forest, but in a lush forest, up to five pairs of birds can nest per hectare,” says Birdlife Finland conservation expert Tero Toivanen.
When a tree is cut down, the bird's nest, eggs, and chicks inside it fall to the ground.
The baby birds die either immediately when they fall, when a forestry machine runs over them, or within a couple of days at the latest from cold and hunger.
Nests and chicks are also destroyed during preliminary clearing related to logging and due to the disturbance caused by logging.
The forest owner decides whether to take birds into account or not.
Text: Uusiuutisten editorial team
Photo: Micha Fager. Half a moon of a chaffinch. Logging also reduces the number of chaffinches. In the summer, the harmful effects of logging are compounded, as both the habitat of forest birds and the summer chicks are destroyed.
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