Aneta Rulle, head of the forestry services cooperative society (MPKS) “Mūsu mežs”, voices firm support for the amendments to the Forest Law submitted to the Saeima, which provide for lowering the final felling age.

While populist slogans try to frighten the public, the industry is calling for the right to manage its forests rationally, rather than watch Latvia's green gold turn into low-value firewood and breeding grounds for pests.

“Nobody is forcing anyone to cut – we are asking for the right to choose”

“It is time to stop peddling the myth that a forest owner is the enemy of their own property,” says Aneta Rulle. “These amendments are not an order to fell; they finally give the owner the freedom to decide about their own asset at the moment when the timber is at its most valuable. It is equally mistaken to think that a forest owner is the enemy of their own property; quite the opposite – the owner has every interest in seeing the forest regenerate and remain valuable for the generations to come. Nobody is making felling compulsory. These amendments simply give the owner the right to decide about their own property. We urge an end to frightening the public with myths.

In Latvia, felling a forest is not an ending but the beginning of a new forest – we plant and tend it so that what remains for future generations is not rotting scrub but valuable stands.

The cooperative highlights three main arguments:

• An end to climate hypocrisy: Only a young, healthy, growing stand actively absorbs CO₂. An old, decaying forest is not a set of “lungs” but a source of carbon.

• Discrimination in competitiveness: Latvia's foresters are currently backed into a corner by bureaucracy, while in neighbouring countries and Scandinavia forest management is flexible and economically sound.

• Energy security: Timely felling feeds our domestic economy and our energy independence, instead of leaving resources to rot in the forest.

Other influential industry organisations have also voiced support for the amendments to the law. The Latvian Forest Owners Association stresses that abandoning the outdated site index system will simplify management and reduce the risk of corruption. The largest cooperative of private forest owners, meanwhile, has set out precise data on its members' properties showing that forest owners are capable of taking considered decisions rather than simply “clearing the lot”.

Industry facts against emotional myths

Contrary to fears of “wholesale clear-felling”, the forest cooperative's data show the opposite. The figures from MPKS “Mežsaimnieks”, which represents more than 1,200 members and manages over 30,000 hectares of forest, are unequivocal:

• Annual increment: More than 200,000 m³.

• Actual felling: Only around 100,000 m³ a year (including thinning fellings).

• Accumulated resource: More than 13% of members' forests (those without restrictions) are already mature or over-mature stands.

“These figures prove it clearly: forest owners are more cautious and manage their land more sustainably than the law requires,” the management of MPKS “Mežsaimnieks” stresses. The amendments are needed to allow flexible action when it makes sense in forestry terms — before rot and bark beetles get there first.

A call for pragmatism

“Opening up the law is a chance to give commercial forests their freedom, not to touch nature reserves,” A. Rulle adds. The amendments do not repeal or weaken nature protection requirements. They do not change the rules governing specially protected areas, micro-reserves or any other restrictions in force; they concern the management of commercial forests.

“We are calling for a debate grounded in science, not in fear. Latvia's budget needs revenue for national defence and for people's well-being, and the forest sector is ready to provide it if the bureaucratic shackles are removed.”

https://titania.saeima.lv/LIVS14/SaeimaLIVS14.nsf/0/67B2E188923EE19FC2258DCA0020646D?OpenDocument