Tampere to establish nearly 400-hectare Kauppi–Niihama nature reserve

Tampere will establish a nearly 400-hectare Kauppi–Niihama nature reserve close to the city centre in early 2028. Preliminary work is due next year, when trail building and new rest spots will begin, YLE reports.

The decision builds on the city’s March nature protection programme, which added new protected areas and adjusted protection in the Kauppi–Niihama area. It also ties in with planned upgrades to outdoor recreation services starting in 2026, including trail improvements that will run through 2028 planned recreation upgrades.

A May 2024 citizens’ initiative led by the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation’s Pirkanmaa district and other groups initially proposed protecting more than 800 hectares. The city owns about 660 hectares in the area; council motions in January 2025 pushed protection forward and the city board approved an expansion in March. The formal establishment will be decided by the city’s vitality centre based on the application.

The planning area contains a wide mix of habitats, including groves, lush spruce forests, grove-like heath forests, rock forests, small springs, streams and wooded mires, and it includes shoreline along Näsijärvi, Alasjärvi and Niihamajärvi, environmental planner Eeva Punju says. City environment director Kati Skippari credited conservation groups with getting politicians into the forests and helping shape a much larger protected area.

Nature values will be safeguarded while leaving room for recreation. Ski trails, the Niihama lodge and a disc golf course are planned outside the reserve boundaries. About ten new rest sites and some 40 kilometres of new or renovated routes will be built; some paths will be inside the future reserve and others adjacent to it.

The city is also planning two new residential areas nearby, one by Tampere University Hospital for roughly 2,500 residents and a larger development at the golf course for about 6,700, along with a tram extension toward Niihama. The city says these projects are expected to raise visitor numbers in the coming years.