170 years ago, in a cooper's family in Riga, was born Eižens Ostvalds, the founder of forestry education, forest science, and forest drainage in Latvia, and brother of the famous chemist Vilhelms Ostvalds.

Coming from a Baltic German family, Eižens acquired his knowledge of silviculture at the highly regarded and intellectually progressive Saxon Forestry Academy in the town of Tharandt in eastern Germany.

Upon his return, he began working in his field; in 1882, he was appointed manager of the Riga city forests and held this position until 1906.