Green Party chair Sofia Virta has admitted that she made inaccurate statements about the extent of logging on land partly owned by her spouse in Southwest Finland.
Last week, an aticle in the tabloid publication Seiska claimed that nearly 30 hectares of forest on the property in Naantali had been clear-cut.
In response to that allegation, Virta issued a statement on Facebook, denying that extensive tree felling had been carried out on the property. She claimed that logging had been carried out on about three hectares. She requested that the article be corrected.
Later, Seiska and daily tabloid Iltalehti reported that more than three hectares of the property had actually been clear-cut.
In an email to Yle, Virta did not dispute the reports that more than three hectares had been cut.
Forestry terms
According to Virta, her husband told her that the clear-cutting took place on about three hectares of forest. Additionally, she said that seed-tree and shelterwood cuts had been carried out on around seven hectares of the land, due to thorny bark beetle damage.
Seed-tree cutting involves the harvesting of all but a few appropriately placed seedlings to provide seed for natural forest regeneration. Meanwhile, shelterwood cutting removes old forest to make room for natural regeneration under the shelter of remaining older trees.
According to Seiska, Virta said that the extent of the thorny bark beetle damage was assessed last autumn.
"Trees at risk of the pest were removed by felling in 2025, in accordance with recommendations from [natural resource management firm] Metsähallitus, in order to prevent the spread of the beetles," she said at the time, according to the publication.
"Logging was limited to the smallest possible areas in the 30-hectare forest, approximately three hectares in total, separated from each other," she continued.
However, Seiska reported that aerial photos suggested that there were few trees left in the area in question.
'Not intentional'
In her email to Yle, Virta admitted that her initial statement was not accurate.
"I commented on the matter in the midst of the election rush with incomplete information, but I did not intentionally offer false information about it," Virta's email said.
"So, in my ignorance, I used the term final felling when I should have only used the term clear cutting when correcting Seiska's incorrect statement — and I raise my hand to indicate my mistake," Virta's email to Yle said.
Final felling involves the removal of virtually all trees in a forest area.
Virta emphasised that she does not own the forest in question and has not been involved in decisions about its handling.