The terms old growth or ancient forest apply to a forest or woodland which has a mature or overly mature ecosystem, containing significant amounts of old growth stands that have been subject to negligible amounts of unnatural activities.
A spokesman for forestry group Metshallitus said the claims were misleading, and based on assumptions.
There was no scientific evidence nor demands from environmental authorities for increasing the protected areas in Lapland, he said.
Greenpeace forest campaigner Andy Tait claimed that although dialogue had started this year between Metshallitus, WWF and the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation, logging continued in one old growth area in the Inari region, home to the Sami community.
But UPM-Kymmene Forests environmental manager, Pivi Salpakivi-Salo- maa, said the company was not buying or logging wood from the Inari region.
UPM-Kymmene actively supported the dialogue process, she said, and took account of the site-specific decisions being made for its wood procurement.
The Metshallitus spokesman said there were no forestry practices in the Mountain Birch range of the Sami region or the low productive forests.
Forest management only takes place in the productive pine forests, and 50% of the productive forests are protected, he said.
Story by Andy Scott
