Rules governing the use of Wilderness Areas are given in the Forest Recreation Regulation and management guidelines are in the Backcountry Recreation Management guidebook. There are two kinds of wilderness areas that can be established. Second, Non-Designated Wilderness Areas are provincial forest lands allocated to wilderness use through approved Integrated Resource Management Plans. A Wilderness Act was legislated in 1991. Table 1 provides an outline of the conservation areas in Finland.
Wilderness areas are multiple-use areas where timber harvesting is generally forbidden.
Management plans are currently being written for each wilderness area and the current forestry practices are being evaluated during the planning process. Past harvesting in wilderness areas was subject to nature-oriented forestry, where no clearcutting, little to no site preparation, and usually only natural regeneration was allowed. The Forest and Park Service encourage the careful planning of logging road networks, to ensure large unbroken tracts of forest are left in commercial forestry, as well as protected areas. The entire land base of the country has been intensely managed for centuries. Areas are being protected under the Nature Preservation Act and the State Forest Laws with the intent of becoming future old-growth areas.