‘We’re basically starting from zero’: Restoring Finland’s river ecosystems

Rewilding teams are facing a huge task to encourage the return of wildlife after decades of damage by the forestry industry

Chopping down trees is not how most people would expect a river restoration project to begin, but Janne Raassina - who is expertly using a chainsaw to take down four or five earmarked trunks around the Sarkkajoki River in remotest eastern Finland - explains that the rotting wood will be hugely useful to the ecosystem.

This is a huge buffet for insects, and it's something that has been missing in our nature for 100 years," he says. We are creating the food chain from scratch."