At the end of June, the Kittilä mine’s environmental engineer Tero Reijonen and trainee environmental engineer Lilja Ojala were joined by nature surveyor Pia Kangas in inspecting the condition of the Lapland buttercups that we replanted two years ago. Pursuant to Finland’s Nature Conservation Act, we had been granted permission to transplant these buttercups growing in the vicinity of the mine to the Lapinleinikinmukka conservation area, which we established for this purpose on the west side of the Seurujoki river. Read more about the transplantation process here.

The plants were planted in a grid with 11 squares. Under the transplantation plan, the replanted Lapland buttercups will be monitored and inventoried over the next four summers. The size, condition, and position of the Lapland buttercup plants will be recorded via UHEX forms in monitoring reports to be delivered to the Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment of Lapland and Southwest Finland at the end of the year.

When recent weather conditions are taken into account, the Lapland buttercups were doing well. “I think the situation is promising,” explained Kangas, adding, “Because summer arrived late this year, the Lapland buttercups were not in full blossom and the leaves were still small when we visited the location.” Our next visit to the location will take place next summer.

You can view pictures from our inspection visit by checking our Facebook page.