An interview with Modris Fokerots, a farmer and forest owner
As the saying goes – you have not put all your eggs in one basket (not all your properties are in one place)!
That is how it turned out! My farm is 26 years old (founded in 1992)! In one sense, it is not ideal if a property that we consider a single unit is 'scattered' across different parts of Latvia; conversely, if something happens in one area – like the dry summer of 2018 with its fire risks or flooding – only one or two properties will suffer, while the others remain untouched.
The wealthy can buy land wherever they want, while those less well-off buy where it is offered and where it is cheaper! That is how my farm was built over the years. At first, I bought good forests where one could cut immediately and earn money, but later, the main criteria for purchasing were land area and price, rather than the quality of the timber. At the turn of the millennium (the late 90s and early 2000s), there were some agile folks in Latvia with a 'special talent' for finding rural residents and forest owners and persuading them to sell their forests. These were quickly clear-cut, and those same people would then move on to another location with the same intention. That was the era, and land where the forest no longer existed ended up on sale for relatively little money.
Is there a forest growing there again (young stand)?
There is a forest growing everywhere there now! Very often, the forests that came on the market were 'violated', and it hurts to see such things! What does 'violated' mean? It means cutting everything that can be cut, often more than the law allowed, just to get quick cash! According to the dealers themselves, when forest rangers met them with a gun or the heavy hand of the law tried to seize these 'over-harvested' properties, they would sell them cheaply and run off. At that time, for instance, broadleaved trees were of no interest to these people. In the late 90s, grey alder did not 'count' as a tree. They would saw down pines and spruces, haul them away, and leave the broadleaved trees lying in the clearing! They left the logging sites untidy and in a terrible state. You won't find such clearings nowadays!
First, I sent a professional brigade to these newly acquired properties to clear young stands, plant trees, and tidy up the territory. Now it is a joy to see – there are beautiful forests growing on these lands!
After the work of professional loggers, the clearing is left empty, with only a few scattered trees. It looks a bit 'uglier' when the site is ploughed to prepare it for planting. Two or three years pass, the saplings take root, the little trees are still small, but after a few more years, beautiful young stands form. Especially if the forest is managed!
In the cleared areas, I mostly replant spruce for practical reasons. Pine saplings are more or less 'eaten' by wild animals; they are hard to protect, and it takes a lot of chemicals and labour to grow pine. Birch, aspen, and grey alder stands 'come in' naturally. I am thinking a bit about grey alder – as a so-called energy crop! In forestry, you have to look ahead - a farmer must know what is happening and what the market requirements will be. For example, new woodchip-fired boiler houses are being built in Liepāja and Ventspils; the forester Modris is collecting grey alder seeds and growing energy crops, keeping an eye on the coming demand.
Reforms in the forestry sector. Many and varied. Were they necessary, and what impact have they had on the private owner?
Good question! I have had to live through all the reforms of the last 26 years. One could say: as the country grew, so did the new forest owners! In the beginning, neither state officials, nor forest rangers, nor new private owners had any experience with private property. It is difficult to analyse what happened in detail because I do not have a forestry education. By investing money and working in my own forests, I have gained a solid practical education and experience! The justification for reforms has often been different. When I was younger, I objected and resisted more; younger people have hotter blood and need a revolution. As I grow older, I become more conservative and calmer. Even in our country, influencing the mechanism called state power is very difficult. Over time, we have reached a fairly acceptable and normal legislative basis, where a few small changes should be made to compete with neighbouring countries and ensure that complying with the law does not harm forestry. Adapt, adjust, see the positive! If you have bought forests in different corners of the country and are driving four or five hours to work, enjoy the journey, make plans, watch the surroundings...
Forests and recent 'green' activities. Your experience.
I was recently in Egypt! As soon as it gets dark and cold in Latvia, my wife and I head to warmer lands. I like to play ball. In Egypt, we met a group of sturdy men who, leaving the playing field, shouted: 'Long live Donetsk!' I understood where they were from, we chatted, and we learned what their profession was. They have one of the strongest armies in the world, well-trained. They say, 'We can protect anyone!' I said: 'Guys, with your protection, you are just like our greens; they too are ready to protect anyone, even those who do not ask for it!'
In Donetsk, after the 'protection', only piles of rubble remained, and the people have left. Let's hope there won't be a war, but there will be such a fight for peace that not a stone will be left standing!
There is an osprey living near Kolka. They are establishing a 100-hectare protection zone around the nest. The osprey moves from one large tree to another. It does not nest in the forest, but in the ecological trees left in the clearing. It feeds in Lake Engure or the sea – about 2-5 km from the nest, not in the forest, not in these 100 protected hectares! The osprey has been spotted in the place where the nest is for about 7 years, maybe it has been living there even longer, and people with their forestry activities did not bother it. The 'greens' come to protect the osprey and ban forestry activities in 100 hectares... Healthy (high-quality) forests will not grow there; there will be many bird cherries and deadwood that will rot, and whether the osprey will live there in another 7 years, no one knows... They lived side-by-side for a long time - both people and birds! Should the balance be disrupted just because someone wants to access project funding, and with unpredictable consequences at that...
Employees tell me about black grouse that come to the field in the early morning to feed and 'watch' what is happening. The birds find it interesting what the human is doing there in 'their territory'! If they are not hunters, no one bothers anyone; they live peacefully side-by-side, but each in their own world! If a forest is managed properly, it is clean of bushes and wildlife likes it there! In the perception of many people, a normal forest is pine trees on the seashore. There is no undergrowth there, no hazelnuts, no bushes!
Where there is no sand, but the soil is more fertile, hazelnuts, bird cherries, and grey alder thickets grow. Many no longer consider this a forest, but that is what a natural, unmanaged forest is like here! If you do not manage the forest, there will be no good; it will be a jungle, there will be a lot of waste (trunks, branches, leaves) that rot. Animals and birds will leave this place because they do not like rotting things either. Such a forest, full of rotting deadwood, no longer produces oxygen! In Latvia, there is about one and a half hectares of forest per inhabitant, and if it is not managed, the forest will produce more waste in the form of rotting deadwood than all the inhabitants of Latvia combined! If forests are grown and trees are not thinned 'from an early age', they grow very densely, are thin, and are broken by both wind and snow. Expect nothing good there; there will be no sight to rejoice the eye, nor high-quality timber! Such a forest does not match people's idea of a beautiful forest!
It is popular to talk about 'green' ideas. Almost every citizen knows how to educate children, how to treat illnesses properly, what politicians should do, and also – how to grow a forest! If you do not encounter processes in nature daily, it seems you know everything; if you have been involved in forestry for a long time, you realise how much you were mistaken! It is quite difficult to place or read a scientifically sound, explanatory opinion about forestry in the mass media. It is not popular. The latest nonsense can also be popular because people like reading information that confirms their own thoughts and beliefs most of all. 'That is a great, smart idea if it coincides with mine!'
By wanting good at all costs, you can do the opposite! One thing is the apparent, the other – what is happening in nature! People have a tendency not to listen and not to look at what is happening in nature! We often 'get into trouble'. The mentioned story about the eagles - this year the nest is in the top of a spruce, we define a protection zone around the nest. The eagle abandons the nest and goes to another place, so he can continue there... When we ask for the justification for the size of the protection zone, there is no answer! Does the eagle live in a dense forest? No! It lives in a tree left in a clearing. Will it bother the eagle if we manage the forest 100 metres from the nest? I think, no!
Natura2000 protection zones. The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development (VARAM) says – the law is 'currently closed', maybe after two years (2020) it will be opened and something can be changed...
For example, a pine forest in such a territory (Natura2000). You cannot harvest, you cannot manage. If you do not create openings (clearings up to 2 ha) in a pine forest, it does not regenerate. In a 140-year-old pine forest, trees slowly die, dry out, break, and rot once fallen. Yes, new little pines have seeded themselves under the canopy, growing to half a metre in height, some up to a metre. They will not grow higher. The little trees lack sun! In fact, there is no forestry happening there. The forest is slowly going to waste. A pine, while slowly collapsing like this, can 'stand' for another 100 years! A tree has its own productive life, while it grows, produces oxygen, absorbs carbon dioxide, and provides wood growth. When that ends, the tree falls, starts to rot, absorbing oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide... If that is what the 'greens' and the public want, the current legislation on Natura2000 territories mandates it!
In the middle of summer, I was in Natura2000 territories in Kurzeme with journalists. 'Do you hear? Silence! No birds singing here.' Nothing can be done here, and the trees and everything else are rotting. Nobody likes rot! By wanting to do good, we achieve the opposite! Latvian nature does not like a vacuum; nothing will remain empty. If you clear it, the area will overgrow. The first to 'come' will be hazel, followed by raspberries, bird cherries... I think biologists understand this, but our 'green nature defenders' are 'common European money-grabbers', who have neither a sense of what they are doing, nor responsibility for the future! A forester is proud of the forest he has managed, which he has helped to grow! What are the 'greens' proud of? From one development project to another, like the loggers I mentioned – one forest cut down, we jump to another! How will this affect nature in the long term?
Why am I talking about this? For example, small rivers and lakes. Riverbanks and lakesides are overgrown with grey alders, bird cherries, and hazelnuts! In my childhood, we used to catch crayfish in the small rivers. Now a grey alder grows on the banks, a beaver lives in the stream, and the beaver has a dam. The alder, with its leaves and deadwood, 'fills in' the small river, and the leaves of other trees 'help'. You cannot cut in protection zones! The banks of the small rivers are so overgrown that the sun does not shine on them; there is no photosynthesis, no flow, no oxygen, no fish, no crayfish, only beavers and beaver dams that flood large areas. That is solely from the 'greens'' desire not to cut in water protection zones...
Why do fish not spawn in the lakes? Not long ago, I talked with a neighbour, a fish farmer - why do fish spawn in his ponds, but not in mine. Fish need conditions to spawn, green grass to attach eggs to. I drained the pond, grew the grass, renewed the water, and released the fish – they spawn! If conditions are not created for fish to spawn, they will not spawn! What happens in the lakes if the banks are full of grey alders or maples? Is it known how many cubic metres of leaves a maple tree gives in autumn? Every year, tons of leaves fall into lakes and rivers and rot there. Small rivers and lakes overgrow, there is no oxygen in the water, slime grows, organic sediments form, the water cannot purify itself, fish do not spawn because they do not have suitable living conditions. What happens next? We can release pike and chub fry into such a 'protected' lake, but it will not help and is pointless. Remove the reason why they don't like it there, and everything will happen! With good intentions, as they say, the road to hell is sometimes paved...
Around my ponds, I cut down all the broadleaved trees, leaving a few to provide shade. I think that everywhere around lakes and along rivers, within 20 metres, trees and bushes should not be grown, but cut; the banks should be clean and accessible, not overgrown and causing sludge and slime.
Otherwise, legislation and forestry in Latvia are good! We have very good natural conditions for growing trees! Such good conditions for this sector exist in a fairly narrow strip on the planet that we call Earth! Let us use what God has given us, grow beautiful and tidy forests, and be proud of ourselves and what we have achieved!