“Last autumn, when driving through the forests, one could see new damage in many places, with dead spruces that react quickly to such damage and die off during the season, but this year the situation was significantly better and the damage did not ‘stand out’ as much,” says Jānis Ģērmanis, Head of the Forestry Department at SIA “Rīgas meži”.

“We always try to remove wind-thrown and damaged trees during the winter, as this is a sanitary requirement for the forest. We do this regularly. Last year we paid special attention to it. Both last year and this year we set up trap logs. 148 last year, 245 this year.”

“Compared to last year, the number of beetles we caught this year was about a quarter lower. So it is clear that there are fewer beetles this year. The beetles are tiny, 3–4 mm long. They could all fit into two large buckets and a few extra litres.”