Twenty-five years ago – on 28 October 1999 – AS “Latvijas valsts meži” (LVM) was founded. Over those years, LVM has grown and developed from a relatively mid-sized Latvian company with a turnover of 24 million euros into one of Latvia's largest companies, with a turnover of more than half a billion euros. A healthy, well-tended forest also makes a substantial contribution to reducing CO₂ emissions in Latvia and to mitigating climate change.
By responsibly balancing economic, environmental and recreational interests, LVM's commercial performance over 25 years has also delivered stable and steadily growing payments into the state budget in the form of taxes and dividends: since its founding, the company has paid 2 billion euros to the state.
The growing stock in Latvia's state forests is increasing and currently stands at 325 million cubic metres. Latvian-grown timber used in the construction of buildings also increases Latvia's overall CO₂ sequestration, helping to mitigate climate change. Each year, as the forest grows, the growing stock increases by 11.3 million cubic metres. In the forests managed by LVM, the accumulated stock of timber is more than 10 times greater than the annual felling volume.
The goals set out in forest policy have been met – the value of the capital must not decline but must increase, and the management of forest stands must generate income for the state. Through efficient work and innovative solutions, LVM has succeeded in doubling the value of the forest capital: from 1.76 billion in 2000 to 4.67 billion in 2024.
“Through its work, “Latvijas valsts meži” convincingly confirms that we are Latvia's greenest, most powerful and most efficient company. Whereas back in 1999, when the company was founded, much of the knowledge and many of the ideas were borrowed from others, for example from the Swedes or the Finns, today – 25 years on – we are equal partners, and in many fields it is others who are learning from LVM. The team at “Latvijas valsts meži” will continue to work so that the forest sector goes on strengthening Latvia's economy, fostering the development of Latvia's regions and offering every resident of Latvia ample opportunities to relax and enjoy the forest landscape,” explains Pēters Putniņš, Chairman of the Board of LVM.
Since the company was founded, forests have been regenerated across 330 thousand hectares of Latvia's state forests. During this time, 8.9 thousand kilometres of forest roads have been built and forest drainage systems have been rebuilt across 318 thousand hectares. Meanwhile, recognising young people's desire to learn practical skills outdoors, almost 176 thousand pupils and teachers have taken part in the annual forest environmental education programmes.
Forestry is LVM's main field of activity, but the company also develops other lines of business: it provides hunting and recreation services, produces selectively bred seed and planting stock for forest regeneration, manages subsoil resources by extracting mineral materials at 120 quarries, and develops geospatial data services.
“LVM is today not only one of the best-managed companies in Latvia, but also one of the most efficient managers of state forests in Europe. And excellent results have been achieved not only in forestry, but also in other business areas connected with land management and LVM's processes,” adds P. Putniņš.
To ensure high-quality, high-yielding planting stock for the forests of the future, LVM owns 10 tree nurseries with a combined area of 434 hectares. Over 25 years, LVM has grown 992 million forest seedlings – more than 460 seedlings for every resident of Latvia!
LVM GEO, the geospatial information technology platform developed by LVM, is one of the most comprehensive and significant geospatial solutions in the country – successfully used across a range of sectors, it supports the management of more than 2 million hectares of land throughout Latvia. What is more, this year the LVM GEO team has also made a confident mark beyond Latvia's borders – LVM GEO solutions are used by Sweden's national real estate administration as well as by forest management companies in Estonia and Lithuania.
Sustainable forest management is no longer conceivable today without the use of the latest technologies, and so LVM makes ever wider use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, in its operations. LVM now uses more than 172 drones on a daily basis across 8 different units.
Over 25 years, the area managed by the company with environmental protection as its primary aim has grown substantially: from 5% of the territory in 2001 to more than 25% in 2024. As LVM's environmental experts survey planned sites of commercial activity each year – for example, sites for planned forest road construction and subsoil extraction – ever more new species localities are recorded in state forest territories. This makes it possible to refine LVM's planning of voluntary nature conservation areas, and it can also serve to improve the state-designated specially protected nature territories.
Alongside its day-to-day environmental protection work, since 2021 the company has also been actively involved in environmental projects with external co-funding. Its participation in one of these was successfully completed at the end of 2023, having restored EU-important habitats and the habitats of rare species in 14 specially protected nature territories covering almost 800 hectares in total. In 2024, work continued on improving water quality in the catchment basin of the River Aģe using green and blue infrastructure elements, as part of the “LIFE GoodWater IP” project. Planned work likewise continues in the “LIFE-IP LatViaNature” project, which is both improving the quality of EU-important forest habitats dependent on natural disturbance and finding the best methods for managing these habitats in future, and curbing the spread of the invasive Japanese rose in the “Ziemupe” nature reserve.
All work to restore and improve forest habitats is based on a modern nature conservation approach that combines management grounded in the ecological requirements of the particular habitat with allowing natural processes to run undisturbed.
The public values the opportunities for recreation – the forest is a place for walks, active leisure, mushroom and berry picking and other pursuits. Across almost 5% of its territory the company carries out forest tending that provides for these leisure opportunities, and more than 300 free recreation sites have been created for the residents of Latvia and its visitors, balancing economic, social and environmental interests.
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