Koli National Park

Koli National Park spans the municipalities of Joensuu, Lieksa and Kontiolahti in North Karelia, Finland, protecting about 30 square kilometers of forested hills on the western shore of Lake Pielinen. Created in 1991 and managed today by Metsahallitus after earlier oversight by the Finnish Forest Research Institute, it preserves traditional agricultural practices from a landscape once used as a sacred site and for slash-and-burn farming. Hay is still cut yearly and traditional Finnish cattle and sheep breeds graze the meadows of Koli.