Vuosaareni peak is a wonderful, man-made environment that imitates the natural environment. The unique recreation area located in Eastern Helsinki comprises a 53-hectare meadow area and the surrounding forest. The area is also a good place to familiarize yourself with the fight against alien species.
At the end of May, a team of workers from RT and member companies arrived at Vuosaarenhuipu to learn about the control of alien species. City of Helsinki employees act as guides. In the talkos, the lupins were largely replaced by the weeding of fodder goat peas, as this aggressively spreading alien species had been freshly harvested from the Vuosaarenhuipu area shortly before the talko people arrived.
An exciting topic for builders as well
The fight against alien species is a topical issue for builders as well. RT is currently preparing a common biodiversity map for the sector, which also includes the control of harmful alien species. Promoting biodiversity by combating alien species is also the theme of the Siisti raksa campaign this year.
Development Director of SRV Miimu Airaksinen was one of the residents of Vuosaarenhuipu and is involved in preparing the biodiversity map of the area.
"At SRV, I am responsible for a life-cycle-wise strategy, one of the key goals of which is to increase biodiversity and bring urban nature closer to people," says Airaksinen.
"In practice, it means, for example, that in the yard plans the originally valuable species are preserved and new, genetically diverse species are brought to the construction site," he continues.
According to Airaksinen, when harmful alien species are detected at the construction site, they must be dealt with in the right way so that they do not spread elsewhere. Practical work on construction sites is not yet that far, but he believes that the industry is very willing to adopt the means to combat alien species.
"The importance of biodiversity and nature is also clearly visible in the customers' wishes, and the operation has strong business foundations," says Miimu Airaksinen.
In the picture on the left, Peab Industri's Maiju Räsänen's style sample shows how to get rid of the roots. SRV's Miimu Airaksinen presents fodder goat pea, which had appeared in abundance on Vuosaarenhuipu before the arrival of the people from Talkoo.
Also Peab Industri's environmental and occupational safety manager Maiju Räsänen got a taste of combating alien species in taluks. Räsänen's business at Peab includes asphalting and concrete and aggregate matters.
"Reducing emissions from production facilities plays a big role in my own work on the environmental side. There are already alternatives in biofuels, and for example the use of biogas and bio-oils at asphalt stations is increasing rapidly," says Räsänen.
"On the product side, for example, Peab's ECO-Asfalt shows the direction we are going in the paving side. In its production, fossil fuel has been replaced with biofuel produced from residual food products, which cuts carbon dioxide emissions in half," continues Räsänen.
Participating in foreign species talks was a natural thing for Maiju Räsänen, as nurturing biodiversity can also be seen in her civilian activities.
"This is familiar work, this is how I manage my own lands and forests," he laughs.
Tuuli Kunnas, who is responsible for the Siisti raksa project at RT, reminds us that planning plays a big role in combating alien species in construction.
The control of alien species can be taken into account in construction in many ways.
"Builders can prevent the spread of harmful alien species by mapping the alien species of the construction site and its surroundings and by planning the construction activities in such a way that alien species cannot spread. The most effective prevention is to do it before starting the construction work. If control is not possible before construction, the vegetation must be marked and clearly demarcated," says the standardization manager and Siisti raksa representative Tuuli Kunnas from RT.
Employees should also be encouraged to report sightings of alien species so that actions can be targeted correctly. Some of the species require a long control period, so monitoring and aftercare must also be taken care of, according to Kunnas.
East Helsinki's unique recreation area
The western part of Vuosaaren peak consists of the renovated old landfill and the eastern part of the land filling area. Today, the entire meadow area functions as a nature oasis, which attracts not only animals but also people to go outside. The opening of the recreation area of Vuosaarinu, which was built on the site of the former landfill of Vuosaari, was celebrated two years ago.
"When a valuable natural area is in danger of being under construction, the land in such an area can be cleared and moved to the Vuosaarenhuipu area. The soil material is transported to the soil filling area layer by layer. It now serves as a seed bank for many plants", says about the birth of the Vuosaarenhuipu recreation area Maarit Naatus From the city of Helsinki.
Unfortunately, alien species also migrate to the area at the same time. Alien species are species that originally did not belong to the region's ecosystem, which humans have brought outside their natural distribution areas knowingly or inadvertently. They compete for living space with native species and cause a lot of harm in their new habitat. In the areas of the city of Helsinki, giant tuber, black rose, giant balsam, lupine and tartar are at the top of the list of non-native species of plants.
There is a lot of information on the fight against alien species and it is also worth getting to know the regulations related to them. The Alien Species Act, which entered into force at the beginning of 2016, stipulates how the EU Alien Species Regulation, which binds member states, is implemented in Finland. In addition, the Alien Species Act provides for alien species of national importance to Finland, which are not part of the EU alien species list. They can be found in Finland's national alien species list, which is regulated by a government decree.
