### 14 October in Talsi, forestry company Priedes AG World Strongman Championship

### September and October Līgatne Nature Trails Acorn Gathering Campaign. ...we invite everyone to join the acorn gathering campaign and provide treats for the winter for the inhabitants of Līgatne Nature Trails – wild boars, squirrels, roe deer, elk, and even bears. Acorns are considered forest sweets, and the animals very much enjoy this bitter treat.

A few days after the new Minister of Agriculture took office, the Forest Certification Council of Latvia (LMSP) proposed the idea of logging more trees in state forests. They justify this need by citing a crisis in the timber industry and arguing that more material would allow it to be overcome, while Latvijas valsts meži would earn more money.

 

In recent years, the timber industry experienced a real bubble – raw materials from Latvijas valsts meži were cheap, but the prices of finished products were high. The joy and record profits did not last. Prices collapsed within a few months, but wood from Latvijas valsts meži turned out to be too expensive. To drive prices down, loggers are asking to increase logging volumes in state forests.

 

We have already written about how the dry and cold spring, as well as the dry start of summer, affected the forest stands planted this spring and how the trees could be helped. However, a significant factor is not just how dry or wet it is in the young stand, but also the wind.

 

Scientists believe that the sweet cherry is the tree of the future, which is already successfully growing in plantation forest stands today by carrying out intensive management – maintenance, pruning, fertilisation – and thus it is possible to obtain high-quality and valuable wood.

 

Ernests Bušers from Rendenieki owns his own farm, Zāgkalni, with a beautiful recreation area by Lake Usma. His family has worked with horses for a long time – visitors can see, photograph, feed, and also go for a ride on them. As a self-employed person, E. Bušers builds log cabins. They are made to individual order, but finished ones can also be purchased.

 

 

Within 10 years, the European Union must become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth, more and better jobs, and greater social cohesion.

 

Annual inflation fell to 3.3% in September and is now the lowest in Latvia among the Baltic states; inflation in Lithuania has fallen to 3.6%, and in Estonia to 4.2%. Currently, price increases in our country are also slower than the Eurozone average – while the harmonised index of consumer prices in Latvia rose by 3.5% year-on-year in September, it rose by 4.3% in the Eurozone. The last time price growth in Latvia was lower than the Eurozone average was in March 2021.

 

 

The EU support programme implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture for the supply of fruit, vegetables, and milk to educational institutions has gained great popularity among children and young people over several years.

 

On job opportunities

 

To reduce fragmented forest stands and promote biodiversity in Rāzna National Park, the Nature Conservation Agency (the Agency) has started planning forest naturalisation in Andzeļi Parish, Krāslava Municipality. Currently, in this area, fragmented forest stands are adjacent to plots with defined natural values, while planted continuous spruce stands have significantly lower biological value.

 

In the Natura 2000 territory of the Kreiču Purvs nature reserve, a/s Latvijas valsts meži (LVM) has completed the construction of seven dams, which is part of a complex of recovery measures for Kreiču Purvs and the surrounding swampy forests. The purpose of optimising the hydrological regime, alongside thinning out the overgrowth in swampy forests or complete logging of trees in degraded high bogs, is to restore bogs, swampy forests, and make the bog suitable for the capercaillie living here.

 

A court of first instance has revoked the building permit issued for the construction of a row house in Mārupe near a felled ancient oak tree. Meanwhile, the trunk of the felled ancient tree must not be moved because a protected species – the shining ant – has taken up residence there...

 

An assessment of trees in the Great Cemetery conducted by experts concluded that out of approximately 2,500 trees inspected in the historic area, 12 trees are dangerous and must be felled for safety reasons, while about 50 trees need to be evaluated in more detail. It is possible that some of them can be saved...

 

 

 

Personal experience stories collected by Delfi are very different. The common thread – the situation in the public sector is more severe than in the private sector. Psychiatrists themselves say that they are very busy – the longest queues since the pandemic have formed right now. We explain the biggest challenges for specialists, workload, and availability.

 

...local residents have just installed two benches on the sides of the road called “Take me!”. These are the first benches of this type in Latvia, and their main goal is to encourage passing drivers to stop and take their fellow citizens to the nearest town in the parish – Varakļāni.

 

...discoveries in the Beļava Manor house in several rooms (but the most extensive in the former master's living room, which was an assembly hall during the operation of the Krišjānis Valdemārs school) were obtained during the architectural and artistic research of the building, which is being carried out on the initiative of the Gulbene Region History and Art Museum. In November, the museum plans to hold a conference, possibly even at the site of the great event, the Beļava Manor house. The results of the research will be presented – museum director Valda Dārgais informs Dzirkstele.