The thesis was commissioned by a private person who is interested in establishing a game management area in Siikalatva municipality in Northern Ostrobothnia. Nowadays game management in Finland is carried out by managing the game habitats on a larger scale. The game management can be carried out in different ways, many of which also increase biodiversity. For example, such methods include the establishment of forest thickets for game in commercial forests and also the establishment of wetlands and game cover crop areas. The number of wetlands has decreased significantly around the world and also in Finland. Wetlands are of great importance in water conservation as a habitat for game and in terms of nature's diversity. In Finland there is especially a need for more wetlands, which serve as nesting habitats for waterfowl.

The purpose of this thesis was to plan a game management area for the former peat production area, which includes a wetland and a game cover crop area. The goal was to make plans that would deal with the licensing and legislation related to their establishment, funding opportunities, and cost estimates.

When compiling of the thesis many different sources of information were used. Visits to the terrain were made and materials of geographic information were used. Geographic information system QGIS was used to process the information. Other sources of information were different specialists, Finnish publications and literature of the field. In the making of cost estimate prices were asked from different enterprises, such as agribusiness companies. Cost estimates were done with Excel spreadsheet program.

Based on the information an establishment plan and a cost estimate of two different size wetlands and a game cover crop area were made. Most of the funding costs of the wetland came from making of the embankment. Most of the fundings targeted for building a wetland were not available for the commissioner of the thesis because different funding terms could not be fullfilled. Building the bigger wetland was not profitable because the average depth of it was too much for the dabbling ducks.