Background The Koli National Park in Finland includes a mix of boreal forests habitats , Fennoscandian herb-rich forests, different meadow types, lakes, eskers (ice gravel deposits) and bog woodlands. The Finnish tradition of slash-and-burn agriculture has been in use in Koli for more than 250 years, and the region’s national heritage landscapes have attracted tourists for some 100 years. However, prior to being declared a national park in 1991, more than 20% of Koli’s forests had been economically exploited: the forests lacked the decayed wood and natural fires necessary for regeneration and, in herb-rich forests, spruces were taking over. Other threats to the landscape included the overgrowth of meadows and earlier drainage of bog woodlands. Awareness of the park’s natural values among locals and visitors also needed improving. Objectives The project aimed to draw up long-term management/restoration plans for the forests, meadows and bog woodlands of the national park. A controlled burning plan lasting up to 50 years would be introduced so that by the end of the project there would be 15 ha of freshly burnt boreal forest to provide the conditions to restore cultivated forests in a total area of 100 ha. Other steps to be taken would include the removal of spruces in 5 ha of herb-rich forests, restoration of meadows in 5 ha and filling in of in ditches in 25 ha of drained bog woodlands. Public awareness of these activities would be raised by producing educational materials for schools and by producing a video about the slash-and-burn method. Guidebooks about controlled burning, and forest and meadow restoration would be produced for biotope-management specialists and the project planned to build three thematic nature trails within the national park. Results The project reached its targets, developing and beginning to implement long-term action/management plans for the boreal forest, bog woodlands, herb-rich forests, and the slash-and-burn practice and management of semi-natural grasslands. Some 107 ha of cultivated forests were restored (approximately 76 ha through increasing the amount of decaying wood and some 31 ha by controlled burning). The slash-and-burn actions increased the area of western taiga in Koli National Park from 423 ha to 547 ha. In addition, the project restored 28.3 ha of bog woodlands and 3.7 ha of various semi-natural grasslands (6520, 6510 and 9070). The project increased the area of the area of managed (mainly grazed) semi-natural grasslands within Koli National Park from 26 ha to 30 ha. Slash-and-burn agriculture (burning, sowing and harvesting) with traditional rye and turnip seeds was carried out in a 17 ha area with the involvement of the local community. To publicise the project activities, three guidebooks on the restoration actions were published, on forest and mire restoration, slash-and-burn practice and meadow management respectively. These were distributed to the educational establishment, professionals and local community. In addition, three thematic nature trails - herb-rich forests, slash-and-burn and restoration of forests and mires - were built and related educational material produced for students. A monitoring scheme was established to assess the effects of the restoration actions on forest structure, vegetation, macrophytes, forest damaging insects and slash-and-burn practice on soil. Three monitoring reports were filed during the course of the project. The monitoring scheme will continue after the project’s conclusion. Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report (see "Read more" section). This project has been selected as one of the 26 "Best" LIFE Nature projects in 2007-2008.