Vuosaarenhuippu

Earlier it was the Vuosaari dumping ground and a place where land masses from construction sites were deposited.

Through ecological restoration the area has been turned into a natural-like environment, the scale of which is unprecedented in the history of Helsinki.

[3] It seems that there was also a stone crushing plant operated in the area, since the local residents made a complaint about the dust it emitted.

At the time, Vuosaari was a remote place next to the city boundaries against Helsinki Rural Commune and Sipoo.

It was said the site was still badly managed, as it was still unguarded, and it was claimed by the media to accept hazardous waste, such as poisons, petroleum derivatives and solvents.

In 1980, the neighbourhood's housing cooperatives complained about the dumping ground to the health authorities, to the Helsinki Police Department and finally, to the Chancellor of Justice.

After the dumping ground ceased accepting waste, substantial amounts of clean soil were placed on top of it.

Just like Lapland, with all its snags and gorges.The landscape restoration by the City of Helsinki Public Works Department, and especially the head of its workshop, Mr. Jukka Toivonen, has been lauded by The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation, and they have received the Countdown Prize from the Finnish IUCN Committee.

The viper has climbed up the sunny hill, the horned lark has accepted it as its winter home, the large copper has laid its endangered eggs there.

The landfill hill have become a sanctuary to those species that spread by themselves, and as we have been promised, to the evacuees of the present and future sites that will be destroyed.Inspiration for the landscape design has been drawn from the biotopes of the outer islands of Finland's archipelagos, the open slopes of heights, increasingly rare types of groves and the grazed traditional landscape, such as the dale of Häntälä in Somero.

[8] A significant part of the flora of the landfill area has originally come here with the top soils chosen from construction sites, either as already in plant form or as seeds.

The Vuosaarenhuippu area is a kind of a reservation, into which it is possible to transfer rare and regional plant species which are overrun by the expanding development of the city.

As a result of the accumulation of land masses, the hill is a rather high one, and it can be seen from afar, and from the top, one can also see most of the surrounding areas.

The route proceeds between the old dumping ground and the reed growth of the Porvarinlahti Bay and on to the northwestern slope of the hill.

The most obvious route, and the shortest, as the crow flies, from Niinisaarentie to the eastern slope is not open to the public.

[7] STARA, the service provider of the City of Helsinki, writes the following on the site:[6] The hill offers all kinds of peculiar things, such as a large marshlike pond, a ragged gorge, and “planted” snags.

The initiator of the project is nature gardener Jukka Toivonen assisted by enthusiastic summer workers.

An excellent view opens up from the top to all directions, which is why the place is well suited to sighting of birds of prey.

Several rare birds of this kind have already been spotted in this "Himalaya", such as the long-legged buzzard and the short-toed snake eagle.