With the red deer population having grown considerably over the past 10 years, damage is increasing in the areas managed by AS “Latvijas valsts meži” (LVM), particularly in young stands. In order to find a solution for the future management of the red deer population, on 29 January LVM held a meeting of the parties involved, at which a decision was taken to draw up a new memorandum of cooperation.
So as not to jeopardise the growing of future forests, the Ministry of Agriculture has instructed landowners and land managers to work together with hunters to find solutions for reducing the size of the red deer population.
Following the meeting of the parties involved, the executive director of "LVM Mežkopība", Mārtiņš Gūtmanis, said:
“Cooperation and the exchange of information between landowners and hunters is the key to managing the red deer population. The aim of the meeting was to look at the data, listen to one another and agree on the next steps. We have agreed to draw up a new memorandum of cooperation, setting out clear objectives and the actions needed to achieve them, which will help to reduce damage precisely in those places where it is most critical."
The meeting was attended by LVM and representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture, the State Forest Service, SIA “Rīgas meži”, the Forest Research Station, the associations “Latvijas Meža īpašnieku biedrība”, “Latvijas Mednieku Savienība”, “Medniekiem.lv”, “Latgales mednieku un makšķernieku biedrība”, "the Latvian State Forest Research Institute "Silava", “Latvijas Mednieku asociācija” and “Zemnieku Saeima”.
After reviewing the data on the damage caused by red deer, a number of proposals were put forward on how to improve the situation. The organisations representing hunters looked back at the shortcomings in the implementation of the previous memorandum of cooperation and made proposals for more successful cooperation.
Juris Buškevics, chairman of the board of the Latvian Hunters' Union (LMS), called for consideration of active measures in regions where the red deer population has reached a critical level: “The number of hunters in Latvia is falling in proportion to the population, but I would not want that number to fall even further because of various restrictions. Among other things, the term of the hunting rights lease agreement offered by LVM will not, in my view, promote the sustainable development of hunting management or the involvement of new people in hunting. It is important to revive the implementation of the previously concluded memorandum of cooperation, including new tasks that reflect present-day realities and modelling possible development scenarios. We need to think about how to encourage hunting where it is needed.”
It is the red deer population that causes the greatest damage in LVM's young stands – in 2024, fresh damage of over 5% was recorded in 3.3 thousand ha of young stands. The damage caused by red deer results in substantial losses and reduces the chances of growing a high-quality forest for the future – young trees damaged by red deer most often grow into low-value timber that can mainly be used only for energy production and the manufacture of pulpwood. Likewise, ever greater financial resources are being invested each year in protecting young stands – the cost of measures to protect forest stands against possible damage by game animals has risen to EUR 5.74 million a year.
To reduce possible damage by animals, LVM has identified areas with a high risk of damage and has changed its forest management practices there. For example, when regenerating forest it plants more seedlings per hectare, thins young stands at a greater age, leaves branches in felling sites during the winter period as supplementary feed, and carries out work to protect young stands.
Andris Zariņš, a representative of the association “Medniekiem.lv”, put forward several proposals during the meeting on how to improve cooperation in order to achieve the goal: “Within the framework of the existing legislation and regulations, landowners could themselves register hunting districts in cooperation with other forest owners. It is worth reviewing the minimum and maximum area of districts in order to increase hunting intensity. As for red deer as an unlimited species – there is no need to be afraid of that, because the population is not under threat. In my view, the right approach would be to set up a single professional organisation with compulsory membership for hunters, which would manage its own professional environment internally, taking over certain functions from the state. Such experience can be seen elsewhere in the world.”