When the vacancy was announced at the beginning of December, Jussi Myllys knew immediately he wanted to apply for it.
Metsä Group had been piloting the forest nature management specialist role for a couple of years, and Myllys had been following the project. The decisive moment came at a meeting of Metsäliitto Cooperative’s District Committee, where a nature management specialist talked about his work.
“I got a strong feeling that the job was really interesting and something I’d like to do.”
After a week on the job, Myllys is in high spirits.
“I’m happy. After six years working in the office, I got to spend four days of my first week outdoors, which felt really good. There’s good demand for this work and plenty of work to be done.”
Myllys became interested in the forest sector early on.
“I’m from Joutseno in Lappeenranta. You could see the mill stack from our garden, and three of my uncles worked at the mill. That’s probably what drove me into the forest sector.”
Myllys studied at Karelia University of Applied Sciences in Joensuu, and as soon as he graduated in 2015, he got a job as a forest specialist in Rantasalmi. For the last six years, he has been working in various positions at Metsä Group.
Preparation of subsidy applications and outdoor work
The forest sector has changed in recent years. One visible change is in the forest sector’s social acceptability.
“Natural values and biodiversity are now more prominent. I feel I’m playing an important role because this is exactly what my job promotes.”
Myllys operates in an area that covers the Mikkeli and Jyväskylä districts. As a nature management specialist, he supports Metsä Group’s forest and operations specialists.
“We provide assistance if they have questions such as how to take particularly valuable nature sites into account.”
The work includes cooperation with the authorities and the preparation of environmental subsidy applications for Metsäliitto Cooperative’s owner-members.
“If a member has a site they want to exclude from forestry, we prepare and submit the application and related calculations to the Finnish Forest Centre.”
At the beginning of June, Myllys visited three forest sites with a forest specialist to assess their eligibility for an environmental subsidy.
“Among other things, we saw a herb-rich forest and an area where flying squirrels had been observed.”
Rewarding and important work
The media closely monitors how the forest sector takes care of the environment. Myllys says that being under the microscope places forest specialists under strain. Forest nature management specialists provide a support organisation that promotes forest specialists’ wellbeing at work.
“It feels rewarding that I can support the performance of my co-workers through my own actions.”
Myllys points out that sites with important natural values are often small. They may be of minor significance for forestry – but all the more important for biodiversity.
“By paying attention to these sites, we can promote the entire industry’s reputation.”
Text Maria Latokartano
Photo Mikko Kankainen
This article was originally published in Metsä Group’s Viesti magazine 3/2025.