Northern forests

Most of Finland falls within the northern boreal forest zone, which is marked with green on the large map. How about the area where you live? In the map display you can see how the various forest vegetation zones depend on the climate.

Finland is the most forested state in Europe: roughly three quarters, or 25 million hectares, of Finland’s land area is covered by forest. Most of Finland falls within the cool, northern boreal forest zone, which is the most expansive vegetation type and also the most important for the forest industry in the northern hemisphere. The northern boreal forest zone is quite consistent in terms of tree species: the dominant species consist of a few genera of coniferous trees, complemented by various deciduous tree species.

Finland’s northern boreal forest zone is divided into six different forest vegetation zones according to the climate. The zones are determined based on the growing degree-days, meaning the sum of the number of degrees for when the daily average temperature is above 5°C during a growing season. The accumulated temperature is higher in Southern Finland than in Fell Lapland. In contrast, the northern climate offers more light during the growing season. In Finland, the boreal forest zone borders the Arctic fell birch zone in the north, and the central European herb-rich forest zone in the south.