The new website for Punkaharju Nature Reserve has opened in October 2009.
Punkaharju Esker is a beautiful ridge between two large lakes in South-eastern
Finland. The area’s landscape is easy to explore along marked trails and paths
which crisscross along the ridge. The area has been an internationally known
tourist destination for two hundred years already due to the natural beauty of
its landscape.
Punkaharju Nature Reserve the oldest protected areas in the world
Nature protection has long traditions in Finland. Punkaharju Esker was
granted the status of a Crown Park Reserve as early as in 1843. In the first
half of the 1800s, Punkaharju Esker started to gain in popularity as tourist
attraction. By the end of the 19th century, it had also become a national
landscape praised by artists.
When Finland became independent in 1917, the Nature Protection Act was
decreed, and it became effective in 1923. It took, however, 15 years before the
first national parks and other protected areas were established. Punkaharju
Nature Reserve received its present status as a nature reserve in 1991. Nowadays
there are 35 national parks and 19 strict nature reserves in Finland and a large
number of other protected areas, and the work for nature protection continues.
More information