Restoration of peat production areas in North Ostrobothnia and Kainuu 2024-2026 – POPKA

In summer 2024, the Finnish Game Management Foundation started a project to restore decommissioned peatland areas in North Ostrobothnia and Kainuu in the period 2024-2026 (J11067). Five different areas were selected for the project, in Pyhäntä, Kajaani, Pudasjärvi and Siikalatva. On this page you will find information on the objectives, progress and areas of the project.

Project objectives

The project aims to rewet approx. 75 hectares of former peatland (see map at the bottom of the page) back into wetland habitats by redirecting water from water basins above the area and damming the peatland to retain water in a controlled way, so that otherwise carbon-emitting drained areas can be brought back under water. The project’s objectives support a number of sub-objectives such as increasing biodiversity, reducing carbon emissions and halting climate change, and protecting water.

Basic information about the project

The project period of the POPKA project is 1.6.2024-31.12.2026

The project has a budget of 439 388 euros and is made possible by JTF funding from the Economic Development Centre of North Ostrobothnia.

The project’s landowners include both individuals and companies.

Landowners and site users (hunting clubs) agree, as part of the restoration conditions, to maintain the site as an open and functional habitat, to remove small predators from the site and to keep hunting harvest numbers low.

The project’s facilities:

Isoahontaussuo and Kotisuo, Pudasjärvi

Lamminneva, Pyhäntä

Kivisuo, Kajaani

Houru, Siikalatva

Progress of the project

• The POPKA project wetland planning was put out to tender at the end of 2024
• Most of the project’s site plans (Lamminneva, Houru, Isoahontaussuo) were completed in September-October 2025, while the plans for two sites (Kivisuo, Kotisuo) were re-tendered and will be completed in Q2/2026.
• Following the responses to the requests for advice, tenders for the POPKA project were issued during Q4/2025 and will continue during Q1-Q2/2026.
• A contractor has been found for Lamminneva and Houru, the search for other sites is ongoing.
• Engineering work will start in spring 2026 for Lamminneva and in summer and autumn 2026 for the other sites, depending on weather conditions and site requirements.