Dear TreeHugging Friends, our HaliPuu forest is in danger
For the past ten years, HaliPuu has been our way of sharing the forest with others. It’s where we make our living, but more importantly, it’s where we invite people from all over the world to experience what silence, clean air, and the embrace of trees can mean. This forest is our home, and it’s our joy to open it for others.
Now, right next to our forest, a Winter Driving Centre is being planned. The company behind it, Icecube Levi Oy, is a new venture. They told us openly that one reason to launch here is that, due to climate change, winters in Central Europe no longer offer reliable ice for driving. In other words: the very problem that threatens nature elsewhere is creating a market in the Arctic — and the pressure is pushed onto one of the planet’s most fragile environments.
We want to be clear: we are not against another business operating in the forest next to ours. We even met with them and said: “What if you become the first all-electric ice driving centre?” That would make them truly unique — and we wouldn’t be forced to stop our forest activities due to the noise pollution. There are ways to innovate that respect both nature and neighbours.
The municipality of Kittilä will decide whether this goes ahead. We trust they will weigh everyone’s interests, but right now the scales feel uneven. On one side: a big-money enterprise seeking to build a new business on the back of warming winters elsewhere. On the other side:
- Small, local businesses like us, whose livelihood depends on keeping the forest healthy and peaceful.
- The local community, who live here every day and will bear the impacts.
- And most importantly: the Arctic nature itself — the forests, the birds, the fragile ecosystems — which cannot speak for themselves.
For us at HaliPuu, this forest is not just our “workplace”. It is our family forest — the place our family found after they had to flee their home on the Ice Sea coast at the end of the Second World War, and it has been our safe harbour ever since. For more than ten years, we have made our living by inviting people here to experience its peace and beauty. If a driving centre is built next door, we lose the freedom to protect our forest in the way we choose, and with it a significant part of our yearly income and family livelihood.
This is bigger than HaliPuu. It’s a pattern we see too often: responsibility gets passed along, consequences get pushed elsewhere, and in the end nature and local communities pay the price. We’re not writing this to complain; we’re writing to name what’s happening and to invite a different kind of responsibility — the kind that protects what cannot speak for itself.
Our forest is still here. The trees still stand, the grouse still drum their wings in spring, the snow still glitters in winter. We will keep sharing this beauty, and we will protect it as best as we can.
🌲 Call to Action
If you feel this story matters, there are simple ways you can help:
- Spread the word
Share this page with your friends and networks. The more people know what’s at stake, the stronger the call for responsibility becomes. - Make your voice heard
We’ve prepared two short, polite emails you can copy and send — one to the Municipality of Kittilä, and one to Icecube Levi Oy.
👉 Go to the email page for copy-paste text and addresses - Visit us in the forest
Come and experience the tranquility of our forest and see for yourself why it is important to protect it. - Stay connected
Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok to keep up with what’s happening in the forest. Every share, comment, and bit of encouragement helps us protect this place we all care about.
🌲 With warmth from the forest,
Riitta, Steffan and the HaliPuu family
