Bottenwiek National Park
| Bottenwiek National Park | |||
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| Location: | Lapland , Finland | ||
| Next city: | Kemi , Tornio | ||
| Surface: | 15,700 (of which land: 250) ha | ||
| Founding: | 1991 | ||
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The Bottenwiek National Park ( Finnish. Perämeren kansallispuisto , Swedish. Bottenvikens nationalpark ) is a national park in the Bottenwiek , the northernmost part of the Gulf of Bothnia , in northern Finland . It was founded in 1991 and is maintained by the state forest authority Metsähallitus .
geography
The Bottenwiek National Park is located in the outer area of the archipelago off the coast of the cities of Kemi and Tornio in the south of the province of Lapland . It has an area of 157 km² (of which 2.5 km² is land).
The area consists of shallow, mostly less than 10 meters deep sea waters and around 30 islands and cliffs, some of which are forested and some only consist of rocks. Due to the postglacial land elevation , the archipelago rises 9 millimeters per year. The first islands in the national park rose from the sea around 1000 years ago. They were used as bases for fishing on the high seas until the 20th century. During the fishing season, the fishermen lived on the islands continuously for several months and brought cattle with them, which grazed on the islands and characterized a meadow landscape. Only after the emergence of motor boats did the fishermen give up their bases in the archipelago. On the islands of Selkä-Sarvi, Iso-Huituri and Pensaskari some historical buildings of these fishing villages have been preserved. There is also a border marker from the 14th century on Iso-Huituri, which marked the border between the tenth territories of the dioceses of Uppsala and Turku .
Flora and fauna
Around 60 species of birds breed in the area of the national park, including arctic terns , velvet ducks , black guillemots , turnstone , Temminck sandpiper , little tern and scallop .
In addition, some rare plant species such as Primula nutans grow on the archipelago of the national park . This primrose plant occurs only in coastal areas that have been created by land uplift.