Wilderness

Archipelago National Park: Marine Wilderness in the Baltic Sea

We recently informed about a potential new Wilderness candidate on the Baltic coast in Northern Germany, in the Nationalpark Vorpommersche Boddenlandschaft.

We would like to remind our fellow Wilderness advocates of the already existing and certified marine Archipelago National Park Wilderness on the south-west coast of Finland in the Baltic Sea, not far from the Nationalpark Vorpommersche Boddenlandschaft .

At the official website this area is introduced as The World’s Most Magnificent Archipelago! It states that:

It is the labyrinth of islands in Archipelago Sea, at the southwestern corner of Finland, with more islands than any other archipelago in the world. It has also been described as the world’s most beautiful archipelago. The archipelago scene varies from larger islands dotted with rustic pastures and vibrant villages, to wild and windswept rocky islets.

The website describes many natural features and tourism attractions and provides guidance on how to visit  this remarkable area. What we would like to add to this post is that this area is home also to a very unique marine Wilderness. It has also been a member of the European Wilderness Network since 2007.

The  ‘Wilderness zone’ with a size of 10,600 ha has been identified in the outer archipelago ‘Restricted Zone’ of Trunsö on the southern limits of the park. The wind-exposed Storskär islands and neighbouring skerries were always unforested and a good place for birds and seals. Access by boat was always difficult and because of strict protection is not allowed anymore.

The Archipelago Wilderness provides a large unfragmented piece of land plus another, separated piece of land with a size of 1770 ha and both areas are located in the outer archipelago. Neither of them include public access. It was therefore already during the very first verification recommended to delineate and designate a further area as a Wilderness.

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