Currently, 85 percent of the forest area planned for renewal this year has already been planted in state forests, according to information on the website of the state forest management company "Latvijas valsts meži". The company explains that the planting has progressed so smoothly because of favourable weather conditions since the start of the year, as well as the availability of labour. Private forest owners are also increasingly successful with forest renewal and new planting...

Data compiled by the State Forest Service shows that last year, private forest owners achieved an area of planted and sown forests not seen since Latvia regained its independence – 7.3 thousand hectares. This record-breaking volume of forest planting has also been boosted by training on forest management provided by the Rural Support Service's Forest Consultation Services Centre, according to the centre's director, Raimonds Bērmanis.

The director of the Forest Consultation Services Centre, Bērmanis, explains that forest seedling selection is quite well-developed here, and specially grown saplings grow faster. Therefore, the trees will reach maturity and be ready for harvesting sooner than naturally regenerated forests, where spruce can be felled after 80 years and pine after 100. Both of these coniferous species, as well as birch and black alder, are the most common in forest renewal, says Dagnija Lazdiņa, a leading researcher at the Latvian State Forest Research Institute "Silava".