The importance of knowledge grows if it is not only acquired but also published. For the Latvian forestry sector, internationally published knowledge is becoming increasingly important with every moment – only with such can one resist various emotional, unscrupulous and even ignorant claims, for example, that Latvian forestry is bad, depleting or unfriendly to nature. This time our assessment is better, and we have also received the highest possible rating for the institute's economic importance.

(...) Currently, space is starting to become an issue at the forest research institute – as many as four people have to sit in small offices in the four-storey building. We do still have the large hall, the lobby and the director's office, which could be converted into workspaces. Twenty years ago, when the modern development of Silava began, parts of some floors or groups of rooms were even disconnected from heating so that we could pay for it. The offices were cold and the corridors were dark. There was a time when only a couple of dozen people worked at the institute. Slowly, the number of employees recovered, and we are currently close to two hundred.
Photo by Frank Horvat