2018

Young Forest Stand Surveying and Planning Works Take Place in State Forests

A high-quality and beautiful forest starts from correctly and well-tended young forest stands. Well-targeted planned tending works are carried out in young forest stands managed by JSC "Latvia's State Forests" (LVM) to provide high-quality, productive, and viable future forests of optimal composition.

The latest data show that LVM holds 231 thousand hectares of young forest stands aged 4 to 20 years. This year, forestry workers surveyed 67 thousand hectares of young forest stands and decided on further course of their management.

Tending of 54% of forest stands is planned next year, of 27% in 2020, 13% in 2021 and 3% in 2022, while 3% of forest stands need to be tended urgently and work will be done already this year.

For 34 thousand hectares it was decided to provide tending and the tending year was set; for 24.7 thousand hectares the next survey year was scheduled, when forestry workers will evaluate the growth of the forest stands and, if necessary, plan tending works.

For 8.3 thousand hectares, experts decided to stop the survey of forest stands. This means that taxation will be carried out in forest stands and the next felling will be thinning.

"In order to be able to manage such a large holding and to carry out all tending works in a timely manner, a system is needed which helps to select the areas to be surveyed, as well as to mark the decision made on site in nature once the survey is completed. LVM has developed a system of this type LVM GEO – a set of geospatial information technology products and services," says Edmunds Linde, LVM Silviculture Planning Manager.

Since its foundation in 1999, LVM by implementing sustainable forest management has paid one billion euros to state and local government budgets. LVM's economic activities are carried out by maintaining and recovering forests, taking care of nature conservation, recreation opportunities and increasing timber volumes, as well as investing in expanding the forest land and developing forest infrastructure - renovation of drainage systems and forest road construction. The volume of timber in the forests managed by LVM increases by 12 million cubic metres annually.