2007

DAMAGE CAUSED BY THE STORM IN EUROPEAN FORESTS

The storms that raged in Europe in early January caused significant losses not only in Latvian forests but also in other countries’ ones. The European State Forest Association (EUSTAFOR) has summarised the news about felled forests received from the association members.

According to the initial information about 42.5 million m3 of wood are felled today. The storm, which Latvia suffered from, felled around 12.7 million m3 of wood and the biggest damage was done to the forests of Sweden where about 12 million m3 of wood were felled. According to the information provided by the Lithuanian State Forests about 300 thousand m3, from which 200 thousand m3 belonged to the state forests, were felled.

A week ago the hurricane “Ciryl” caused damage to the forests located in the central part of Europe. Germany suffered the most. For example in Nordrhein-Westfalen about 8.7 million m3 of wood were felled, in Bavaria – 5.7. million m3 and in Hessen – 3 million m3.

In spite of the size of the damage it is forecasted that thanks to the high prices of wood material and big demand for raw materials from the lumbermen side the consequences of the storm in European forests will be eliminated in a rather short time.

The European State Forest Association was founded in 2005 during the 6^th state forest manager conference. The LVM chairman of the board Roberts Strīpnieks was elected to the association board.