Health Forest Experience. Life in Finland. //Ilona_ke 

I suspect that a big part of the reason why I don't see that forest as positively as you do is that I have been in older forests in the same part of Finland and experienced it in a more natural state. It wasn't an untouched forest even back then. The micro climate and the type of soil can lead to fairly overwhelmingly pine tree dominated areas, which can look like they were planted and later thinned. Sometimes the difference isn't so obvious. I have learned to appreciate fairly wild forests. It reminds me of my earliest childhood. But planted and even monocultural forest is better than the alternative.