An interview with Edgars Birks, Senior Forester at “SCA* mežs Latvia”
On social media, you place great emphasis on what is personal and important to you: family, children, the forest...
Yes, that is true! It started in Jelgava, during my first year of studies at the Faculty of Forestry. In those first months, I met my future wife, who was studying wood processing. That is how it began – we are both busy in the industry, our friends and hunting companions work in the sector. Family, children, the forest. Everything is clear!
Did you have any connection to the forest before your studies?
Until the moment I enrolled at the university, I had no connection to forests at all! My mother worked in veterinary medicine, my father was a long-haul truck driver! My first thought was to study at the Police Academy; I wanted to work in criminal investigation. A health check did not 'allow' that.
It just so happened I was in Jelgava during the “overnight document submission” period at the LLU. Plus, it was the last day to choose. Since I had only just finished secondary school and needed to study further, I thought... That night I walked around, looked, and chose “forestry”. Of course, knowing nothing, I had to ask the senior female students who were accepting the documents: what exactly should I choose? They recommended forest science. I liked it!
Do you have to use science in your work, or do you have to pay attention to it?
There is little science in my work, it is more about the practical side. But, of course, it is good to use the knowledge acquired and to “play around” with it, for example, in soil preparation with mounds, using a tiller or an agricultural plough. By following all of this, you see how the planted trees grow and develop, you compare them in different locations, etc. There is some kind of research in all of that!
Already during my study years (in the second year), I started working for my now-former lecturer Modris Kalvāns: I was felling, clearing ditches, marking tracks, measuring timber, and learning to write projects. In parallel with my studies, I worked like this for three years: on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I was at work, and the rest of the time was for studies and leisure. That is how those three academic years passed. It was good that I earned for myself; I was not dependent on my parents. I must say, I was “lucky” with the year I entered university, because that year there was not much competition for state-funded places! Upon finishing my studies, I looked for other work, because how long can you go on felling and clearing ditches: with a university diploma, one must move on!
Not even a week after my studies, without taking a break, I started working as a timber measurer. For four or five years, life went on in Riga – enough to understand that the capital city or a big city is not for me! Better to be away, in a small town, where it is freer and closer to the trees! Of course, I gained some experience in the measurer's job, but for the most part, the work was on-site, indoors. I wanted the forest and to work more in it and with it.
A job offer in Rēzekne brought big and rapid changes, because we had literally just bought an apartment in Riga and managed to renovate it. It is a coincidence, but the day before leaving for Rēzekne, we attached the last shelf in our “new home”. The next morning, I was already on my way to Latgale. Before Christmas, the whole family moved to Rēzekne. We rented a house; at that time, the heating had broken down, and on the first night, we all sat by a lit fireplace, where we slept that night.
Rēzekne was unknown to me; no friends, no relatives, only a few fellow students lived in the city. If I compare Riga and Rēzekne now, I would undoubtedly give preference to Rēzekne! I do not understand why people move away from there! Everything is there! I worked for a Swedish-owned company, I learned about the Swedish long-term mindset in forestry, and about long-term investors.
In Latgale, I managed several properties for the company “Meža īpašums”, with which we participated in the “Tidiest Forest” competition, and I was also in charge of “Nirzas mežs” and “Briģu mežs”.
What are the forests of Latgale like?
It is different there. Not because it is Latgale! Not at all because of that! Now, serious changes can be seen and felt in this region, but at one time there was a lot of abandoned land. Not so long ago (in the 90s and a little later), many forests were felled; one after another, you could see clear-cuttings (about 5 ha) that had belonged to different owners. After logging, nothing was done; deciduous trees grew naturally: aspen and grey alder. There were especially many grey alder stands! We wrote projects and tried to change the situation: we felled the grey alders, bought seedlings, carried out agrotechnical measures, and thought about what to do with forest animals, because the roe deer density in Latgale is excessive. Now, when talking to colleagues in the Valmiera area, I tell them that in Latgale, we also “smeared” spruce trees with protective agents. They don't believe me: “What nonsense, roe deer don't eat spruce!” In the forests of Latgale, they certainly did! The roe deer population there is numerically large and dense!
Bears? What about the bears there?
They are there, they are! Moreover, it seems there are a few locals, not newcomers. Both bears and their tracks could be seen in the forest from time to time!
How did you end up in Valmiera if Rēzekne was so close to your heart?
The main reason: we wanted the children to see their grandparents more often. My parents live in the Salacgrīva area, in Korģene, my wife's parents in Riga. From Rēzekne to them or for them to reach us is a long road (about 4 hours). Of course, at one time I could not have imagined that I would like Rēzekne so much and that we would settle in so well: excellent and interesting work, good friends, the time spent there left the best memories.
The job in Valmiera is again for a Swedish company (SCA), which has been working in forestry in Latvia for a relatively short time – since 2019. Currently, we manage about 20,000 hectares in the country. The goal, which is no secret, is to manage about 100,000 hectares. Both in Rēzekne and now in Valmiera, I work with so-called “investment forests” – forests in which one must invest. It is common local practice – a Latvian company buys a forest from an owner, develops what it can, and sells it to long-term investors, who are mostly Swedish companies. We buy clear-felled areas that require renewal; we plant spruce and birch. We only renew pine where the regulations require it, because the problem with forest animals is quite significant everywhere in Latvia. Protection against them requires quite considerable investment.
Long-term is a popular word. Is it a common thing for Swedish foresters?
Compared to Latvia, the Swedes have much, much more experience in long-term forestry, spanning many more years! We have been hindered by the Soviet period with its different forestry practice.
You haven't experienced the Soviet times. Is the reference to them in recent years always appropriate and justified?
I think that in the forestry sector, the “craziest” time was the 90s. Even in the so-called “Soviet years”, forestry in Latvia was at a high level, and professional people worked in it. Forests were tended, roads were built, ditches were cleared; the most problematic thing was the expropriation of property from locals; Latvians were left poor, and when regaining their properties in the 90s, more than one felt as if they had been thrown out of a boat and did not understand what to do. Unfortunately, many then chose the easiest path: to sell to someone. At the beginning of the millennium, investors with long-term plans started working in Latvia, gradually buying up land.
What, in your opinion, is the main problem (absurdity, error) in our forests?
A lack of willingness to invest in the forest, not thinking further: into the future. Those who have knowledge and education will invest in the forest. Those who have access to funds will also do it. For those who lack knowledge or funds, the forest in their property remains to grow on its own. The forest requires a lot of work and money; renewing one hectare will cost about 800 euros. If you do it yourself, it will be a little cheaper, but you have to count on 500 euros. For many, that is a large sum!
How do you view the increasing number of “forest experts”: for those who are not lazy and have a tongue in their head, they have “knowledge” about the forest?
People have a desire to talk emotionally from time to time about things they don't really understand. It is in human nature! The more a professional talks, the more they explain, the better the knowledge will be for those not connected to the industry, and we will hear or feel fewer emotions. I myself have few friends who are not involved with the forest, but I still try to explain, talk, and show. Many like big, thick, old, and fabled oaks and often associate the forest with them, thus believing that felling, sawing, or developing a “fabled oak forest” is bad and wrong. Yes, as soon as a dry branch of a big, thick oak breaks off in the wind and lands on the car of someone expressing such an opinion – it will be bad, and the branch or the tree will need to be sawn! It is very easy for a person to talk if it does not personally affect them or their property!
How do you look at the recent conflicts: environment and forestry?
I try to look from the sidelines because I don't like extremes. Conversations about the industry remind me of a situation: a seller (owner) wants 1500 euros for a product, we are ready to pay 1000. In these figures, the desires of the owner and the buyer are relatively close, an agreement is possible. If we compare the current situation in discussions about forests: the owner wants 5000 euros, the buyer is ready to pay 500. An agreement is not foreseeable; there are only two extremes. As I see it, the industry is trying to do and act; many companies have FSC or PEFC certificates, which are specific sustainability indicators. As a forester, it is very unpleasant and painful for me to hear that “everything has been cut down, everything has been stolen” and similar, unfounded claims. We wouldn't have many of the beautiful forests today if someone hadn't planted them at one time, after felling the forest that had grown there previously. The forest has been grown, tended, and looked after so that it can be used one day, so that the children and grandchildren of the forest tender (owner) can earn an income. It is a certain cycle.
My grandfather's forest is in Korģene; the forest was planted anew: it is a mixed stand – spruce, pine, birch; in another block, there is only a young spruce stand that has already been tended twice. We left a small block to renew naturally – an aspen mixed stand is forming there. Natural forests are undoubtedly beautiful, no one denies that, but an economic calculation is also necessary. Currently, I am not a forest owner. In Latgale, I owned a small property that I afforested myself. Since I currently work and plan to live far from this property, it is difficult to look after the area daily; the forest will not grow untended, it also has a certain supervision period. I sold the property, but I hope to settle down for good in the Valmiera area and am thinking about purchasing forest land in this region. I know that pine forests are valued in Vidzeme, but I would not want to plant pine, because a lot of work and a lot of time must be invested in its protection. I am thinking about some clear-cut or young stand that will belong to my children and grandchildren after some years.
The children are still small, we go to the forest, I tell them and show them. Right now, it is important for them not to mix up a pine with a spruce, because both have needles...
*Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget
Photographs by Edgars Birks and zemeunvalsts.lv have been used