Mārtiņš Gaigals, board member of JSC "Latvijas valsts meži"

Why is LVM building such wide forest road infrastructure? Every square metre left unused is extra timber.

JSC "Latvijas valsts meži" builds forest roads as wide as necessary for forest management and protection needs, to ensure that a timber truck with a trailer can move along them and to allow for safe traffic for other vehicles travelling in the forest. However, for a road to be safe, long-lasting and effectively maintained, apart from the carriageway, side ditches are created to drain water from the road and divert it to the nearest outflow, as well as ditch embankments where stumps and soil are placed that are not used for the construction of the road's carriageway. When logging occurs, logging machinery moves along these embankments, and log landings are set up there.

Has JSC LVM developed a sustainable management strategy for state-owned mineral resources (such as peat)?

The "Guidelines for the Sustainable Use of Peat for 2020-2030" for the entire country were approved by Cabinet of Ministers Order No. 696 of 24 November 2020. Consequently, the Ministry of Agriculture, in cooperation with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development and LVM, can begin work on developing a sustainable management plan for the subsoil in the possession of the Ministry of Agriculture, which would include a clearly defined national vision for the sustainable management of mineral resources, targets, economic calculations, and planned potential revenue. LVM confirms its readiness to participate once the Ministry of Agriculture begins work on developing a sustainable management plan for the subsoil in its possession.

The Latvian Forest Industry Federation predicts that already in 2021, coniferous sawlog supplies from LVM will decrease by 15%. Coniferous logging volumes are only increasing in the coming years. What is the reason for this?

For the 2021-2025 period, LVM forecasts stable annual average supplies of coniferous sawlogs in the range of 3.20-3.27 million cubic metres. The actual supply volume in a given year may vary; for instance, it can be influenced by the assortment structure in specific year's felling areas (e.g., the proportion of conifers in birch and aspen stands, the proportion of non-productive stands), changes in assortment specifications, and other circumstances.

Andris Ziemelis, doctoral student in environmental science at the University of Latvia, Faculty of Geography and Earth Sciences

How should the Nature Conservation Agency's practice of holding auctions for logging rights in specially protected nature areas, including Gauja National Park (in places where it is supposedly permitted), be evaluated?

One must become familiar with the objectives of the economic activities carried out, i.e., what improvement in the state of natural values they are aimed at. There is no ideal ecosystem that contains all known flora and fauna or all protected and rare species. Most often, the struggle for a territory is dramatic.

It could be assessed that in Latvian conditions, the protection of specially protected bird species and the preservation of forest habitats prevail, but on the other hand, we essentially need enough energetic and real activities, for instance, to restore the condition of overgrown raised bog territories, which is directly linked to the removal of trees. Conversely, the biggest problem is considered to be the decrease in the area of grassland and dune habitats, which is the major issue from the perspective of biodiversity conservation, one that cannot be solved by yet another micro-reserve for the lesser spotted eagle. Grassland, heathland and dune habitats exist only due to disturbance, including human activity. Grazing, mowing, and the removal of shrubs and trees are necessary, even blasting, as is the case in the Ādaži military training area.

By the way, a nature conservation paradox can be observed in the Ādaži training area, because it is precisely due to the disturbance created as a result of military activity that rare and protected plant and animal species are found. Currently, restrictions on economic activity, including military activity, have been set for this territory as a specially protected area. The most stringent restrictions, equivalent to those for a nature reserve, have also been established in the territory.

When modelling changes in forest tree species in GNP, has the climate change aspect been taken into account?

No, it has not been taken into account, nor has the impact of pests. These factors were not included in the formulation of the research goal, mainly because the goal of the research was to compare the differences between various scenarios. If the climate aspect were taken into account, the same climate change curves would be applied in all four scenarios. With the LANDIS-II model, it is possible to model using the impacts caused by climate change. In this specific case, the contribution that the influence of climate as a factor would provide is insignificant compared to the technical problems of including this factor in the model.

How can spruce become monodominant in the "normative scenario" in GNP if the ban on final felling is in the smallest part of the GNP territory?

That is true, but in most of the remaining territory, there is a ban on clear-cutting, which allows for individual selective felling. The model defines selective felling in areas of up to 0.2 ha. The model results indicate that, in the very long term, selective felling is a sufficient management tool to ensure, overall, the dominance of long-lived trees. It should be taken into account that a 500-year scenario is being modelled, which is a very long period of time. One should not take the distribution of specific species literally as a forecast; other management problems can be deduced from the model results, such as the differences between forestry disturbance and natural processes.

Has A. Ziemelis spoken with the developers of the GNP nature conservation plan about these scenarios - what are the park's goals and will the usual measures help to achieve them?

The interim results of the study were presented at the University of Latvia's 78th international scientific conference within the “Forest Ecology and Management” section, where the audience included officials from the responsible Nature Conservation Agency and the Gauja National Park administration, as well as the authors of the nature conservation plan.