Forestry
Key forestry indicators are used to estimate forest area, felled area and standing timber in breakdown by type of felling; logging production in breakdown by form of ownership; forest regeneration and afforestation areas; as well as distribution of tree species all over the territory of Latvia.
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Concepts and definitions
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Concepts and definitions
Forest
Forest land
The land covered by forest, land under the forest infrastructure facilities, as well as overflowing clearings, bogs and glades falling within and neighbouring the forest.
Land covered by forest
Part of the forest area.
It excludes areas where neither a forest (clearings, defoliated stands, damaged stands) nor forest crops are growing (artificially afforested areas that are not yet included in forest-covered areas).
New stand
Forest stands of coniferous trees, ash trees and oaks aged up to 40 years, forest stands of white alder aged up to 10 years, and forest stands of other tree species aged up to 20 years.
Forest stand
Total standing timber
Forest stand age
Biological age of the dominant tree species of a forest stand. If the age of the dominant tree species of a forest stand differs, the forest stand age is determined based on the biological age of the tree group with the widest area of standing timber.
Middle-age stand
Middle-age stand – one of the five stand age groups.
A middle-age stand is at the age between end of the young growth and beginning of the seasoning stand. The interval of the middle-age stands is defined by the tree species and felling age.
Seasoning stand
Seasoning stand is a stand that has reached age class the highest limit whereof is cutting age.
Overseasoned stand
Overseasoned stand – a stand the age of the predominant tree species whereof starts with the third age class after the felling age has been reached.
Maturity stand
Maturity stand – a stand the age of the predominant tree species whereof meets the felling cycle or one age class above the felling cycle.
Felling cycle – the time interval of the age class the lowest limit whereof is felling age.
Monitoring of forest resources
Acquisition of information regarding forest and adjacent bogs, forest infrastructure objects, overflowing glades and bogs falling within the forest area located in specific forest ownership or tenure and documentation of the information acquired.
Forest regeneration
Timber felling
Felling (types)
Final felling is a kind of felling intended for general harvesting of wood performed in one or several attempts after final felling has reached definite age or diameter.
Clear felling - a method in final felling. This type of felling implies that within a year since its outset the basal area of the forest stand or a part of it is reduced below the critical basal area.
Thinning is a type of felling intended for improving the stand composition, growth conditions for the remaining stand.
Improvement felling is a type of felling intended to remove the unproductive forest stands seamlessly or selectively.
Sanitary clear felling is a type of felling with the help of which the stands, which have lost the growing ability due to diseases, pests, wild animals, or abiotic factors (water, fire, wind etc.), are removed.
Sanitary selection felling is a type of felling with the help of which forest stand is cleared from trees overturned and broken down by wind, damaged by diseases, pests, animals or injured otherwise, and which have lost their ability to grow.
Other felling is a type of felling intended for the maintenance of forest infrastructure, landscape forming, collecting of dangerous trees, felling of dead trees, as well as for the preservation of nature values.
The last attempt of selection felling is a kind of final felling by means of which the forest stand is felled in several attempts. The shortest interval between the attempts is five years. During the last attempt of selection felling the forest stand is felled in full.
Removals
Forest damage
Partial or complete loss of growth potential of a forest stand due to the impact of pests, diseases, animals, humans, wind, snow, fire and similar factors.
Afforestation
A set of measures for afforestation of land which in the Real Estate State Cadastre Information System is not registered as forest.
Protected landscape areas
Nature reserves
Nature parks
Nature monuments
Nature reserves
Micro-reserve
The territory, which is determined in order to ensure the conservation of the specially protected species or biotope outside special areas of conservation, as well as in the special areas of conservation, if any of functional zones fails to ensure that.
National Parks
Large areas, characterised by nature formations of outstanding beauty; landscapes and cultural landscapes unaffected or slightly transformed by people activity; bio-tropical diversity; profusion of culture and historical monuments; peculiarities of cultural environment. The main task of the National Parks is the environment protection and research.
In Latvia there are 4 National Parks: Gauja National Park (1973), Ķemeri National Park (1997), Slītere National Park (1999) and Rāzna National Park (2007).
Data collection
Data source
Data on felled areas and removals are acquired from State Forest Service report "Report on wood felling".
Data on regenerated and afforested forest areas and logging production in breakdown by form of ownership, protected forest areas, forest damage, forestry restrictions, forest fires, crimes, number of game animals and animals hunted are based on the information compiled by the State Forest Service.
Until 2006 tables MSG010 "Latvian forest land and timber stand", MSG020 "Breakdown of selected tree species in all forests of Latvia" and MSG030 "Forest cover and types of trees by statistical region and distric" contain the State Forest Service data.
Starting from 2006, the data are acquired from the Forest Statistical Inventory carried out by the State Forest Research Institute "Silava". The monitoring of forest resources is based on measurements from sample plots, and as a result of that high precision information characterising forest resources is obtained. Starting from 2009, the State Forest Research Institute "Silava" will carry out the Forest Statistical Inventory once in five years.
Data revision
The published data are final and are not revised.
Contact person on methodology
Alda Jirgensone
Environment and Energy Statistics Section
Senior Officer