To avoid disturbing animals, and birds in particular, during their breeding season, restrictions on tree felling and on forestry operations apply in forests. In towns and villages, such a ban also applies to the felling of trees growing outside forests. In recent years, the area of forest land in Latvia subject to restrictions on forestry operations during the bird nesting season has grown considerably.

The following restrictions on tree felling and forestry operations apply:

• from 1 April to 30 June
  • in all forests, thinning is prohibited in pine and broadleaved stands up to 10 years old and in spruce stands up to 20 years old, except in young stands where the average height of conifers does not exceed 0.7 metres and the average height of broadleaved trees does not exceed one metre;
  • on islands in lakes and bogs, in forest clumps, in the floodplains of watercourses and water bodies, in biologically valuable stands and in protective zones around bogs, tree felling is prohibited, as are soil preparation and forest regeneration using motorised machinery;
  • in the protective zones of surface water bodies, when carrying out clear-felling in a stand in which the dominant tree species is grey alder;
• from 15 April to 30 June
  • final felling is prohibited in urban forests;
  • the felling of trees growing outside forests within the territory of towns and villages is prohibited, unless felling the tree is urgent;
• from 1 April to 30 September, final felling is prohibited in the zone of restricted economic activity along the coast of the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Riga.
• from 15 March to 31 July:
  • forestry operations are prohibited in nature reserves, with the exception of the felling and removal of hazardous trees;
  • forestry operations are prohibited in nature parks and protected landscape areas, with the exception of the felling and removal of hazardous trees, forest regeneration using non-motorised hand tools, and the thinning of young stands where the average height is up to 0.7 metres for conifers and up to one metre for broadleaved trees.
• from 1 March to 31 July
  • in buffer zones around micro-reserves for capercaillie leks, forestry operations are prohibited, with the exception of fire-fighting and forest regeneration, which may be carried out by hand only;
  • in the buffer zones of micro-reserves for the black stork, black kite, red kite, osprey, short-toed eagle, greater spotted eagle, lesser spotted eagle, peregrine falcon, eagle owl, northern goshawk, European roller and stock dove, all types of felling, timber extraction and mechanised soil preparation are prohibited;
• from 1 February to 30 October, all types of felling, timber extraction and mechanised soil preparation are prohibited in the buffer zones of micro-reserves for the white-tailed eagle and the golden eagle;
• In micro-reserves established for the protection of the lesser spotted eagle, the felling of spruces damaged by pests is permitted on the basis of a sanitary assessment by the State Forest Service, as is the removal of dry or fallen trees amounting to 10 cubic metres within the boundaries of the property per year, from 1 October to 31 March.