At a meeting, LVMI “Silava” reported on the results of the annual “Monitoring of damage caused by deer family animals to young forest stands”. As part of the monitoring, approximately 600 pine, spruce, and aspen young stands located throughout Latvia, regardless of ownership, are surveyed annually by counting fresh damage and animal excrement by species. Monitoring data show that in a large proportion of young stands, there is a high number of severely damaged and destroyed target trees.

“Although data on damage in LVM show that the volume decreased in 2020 and one could conclude that the animal population has declined, such conclusions are premature, as the 2019-2020 winter was mostly snowless and animals had access to a greater quantity of food. The number of areas where high-quality forest stands can no longer be grown, even with protection using repellents, continues to grow. We have started fencing off areas in these territories,” explains Edijs Leišavnieks, Head of Forest Protection and Firefighting at LVM, referring to “Deer family animal damage in LVM in 2020”.