2019

Enjoy the Beauty of Forests without Motorized Vehicles

Increasingly, those enjoying the peace and quiet of the forest are disturbed by off-road vehicles, such as motorcycles or quadricycles. Employees of JSC “Latvia’s State Forests” (LVM) have put up information signs in places where reckless riders are more often to be spotted reminding them to be responsible, to take care of their own safety and safety of the environment, and to preserve natural values and valuable forest stands. The traces left by motor vehicles destroy the undergrowth, damage the soil surface, and can destroy infrastructure, historical evidence, as well as cause devastating fires, especially during the forest's fire period.

“People who move around the forest by motorized vehicles without a permission are often unaware of the values in the area and the measures needed to protect them. For its part, LVM, through its sustainable forest management work, cooperates with nature experts to assess the environmental impact of planned forest operations to protect natural values from the impact of economic activity,” says Edmunds Linde, LVM Silviculture Planning Manager.

Rare and protected species of plants, mosses and lichens are found in the forest cover, and they grow slowly, often for many years.
Large tree fallen deadwood that is destroyed by motorized vehicles also serves as a significant habitat of rare and protected species of moss, lichen, polypores and invertebrates. Motorized vehicles have especially unfavourable effect on steep slopes and dunes. By destroying the natural topsoil and destroying the soil surface, the slopes are exposed to soil erosion by wind and water, and natural vegetation cannot be sustained for a long time.

Forests contain areas important for the nesting of specially protected birds, such as the black stork and eagles of different species, so there are restrictions on economic activity to avoid disturbance. The movement of motor vehicles in the forest generates a lot of noise, which scares wild birds and threatens their successful nesting.

Section 5 of the Forest Law provides that vehicles may be used only on roads and natural carriageways, except for carrying out forest protection, national defence or public safety tasks, as well as forest management work in coordination with the forest owner or legal possessor. The law also stipulates what constitutes a natural carriageway, namely, an unmade carriageway up to four metres wide for forest management and protection purposes.

In mining sites where unauthorized use of motor vehicles is prohibited, unauthorized driving mixes mineral deposits thus causing damage to mining equipment, endangering human safety and causing losses to the owner. After the extraction of mineral resources, the mining sites are recultivated; often the recultivation is started already during the mining process.

The use of motorized vehicles in peat extraction areas during dry and flammable periods is particularly dangerous because of the risk of fire causing significant hazards to the environment.