Comment by distances

This wasn't some ancient oak forest, but rather a pine tree plantation that would be cut for timber in a timely rotation of cutting and planting anyway. If you want to build anything in Finland, you first cut the trees. Because trees grow everywhere, and if you leave a place unattended for a little while, it gets reclaimed by the forest.

So no, cutting the trees isn't the topic. The topic is the skipped bureaucracy. Outcome would be the same, but of course you need to follow the steps first.