Management of biotopes and protected areas with Timbro

Biotopes - their diversity and compensation

There are many different biotopes, and the good news is that many of them do not involve radical restrictions on management. The most unpleasant restrictions from a financial point of view are micro-reserves and restrictions on protected areas, where any forestry activity is prohibited - in these restrictions, the owner can only claim compensation.

Amount of compensation

The amount of compensation is the most painful point in the issue of biotopes and protected areas, which unfortunately leads to negativity and also many destroyed biotopes. Compensation, depending on the form of prohibition, ranges from 43 to 160 euros per hectare per year.

Imagine how a forest owner feels who has a forest property worth 100,000 euros, which has been saved for unforeseen life situations, receiving a notification about a micro-reserve in which no economic activity can be carried out, receiving 160 euros per hectare per year for it. With such a compensation mechanism, biotopes are even more endangered, because it is only logical that many, upon learning about a possible biotope, will try to destroy or hide it.

Be informed about the regulations for biotopes and protected areas!

There are many different biotopes and protected areas, and each has its own rules, such as a large part of the Gauja National Park, where economic activity is partially restricted. We often encounter situations where forest owners are not informed about what is allowed or prohibited on their properties where there are biotopes and/or protected areas and therefore give up and do nothing.

Timbro services in the management of biotopes and protected areas

Consultants at the Timbro Rural Advisory Center have diverse experience in forest management, including on properties where there are biotopes and/or protected areas. Management of biotopes and protected areas with Timbro includes the following services:

• Identification of biotopes and possible restrictions at the table and after inspection in nature
• Organization of the development of a forest management plan, involving the necessary experts
• Determination of the value of the property and cutting area after documentation and inspection in nature
• Preparation of documentation – forest inventory, cutting area sketch, cutting application, reports to the State Forest Service
• Preparation of the property before logging – arrangement of borders and boundary markers, strip road marking, marking of trees for felling, surveying
• Preparation of assortment sheets
• Logging - felling and wood delivery
• Logistics and roundwood sales
• Arrangement of the property after logging – leveling of ditches, roads and ruts

Timbro will organize all the processes for you, saving you time and ensuring that, if the law allows it, you can generate income from your land where there are biotopes or any other restrictions.

Biotopes and protected areas – Gauja National Park

Gauja National Park (GNP) is one of the largest protected areas of this type, where properties are owned by many private individuals who are often not informed about the management rules in the GNP, as a result of which they can either violate the rules or fail to generate potentially higher income. The Timbro Rural Property Advisory Center has experience in forest management in various types of GNP properties, providing forest owners with thoughtful and legally compliant forest management.

Forest management in the GNP takes place according to strictly regulated rules, where in the strictest restricted zone it is not allowed to:

• cut trees in reconstruction felling and main felling after the average diameter of the main felling
• create forest haulage roads in straight lines
• carry out logging in the following places:
  • in pure stands and mixed stands of oak, ash, linden, maple, wych elm, elm and willow, where the total composition of species is greater than 40 percent and their age exceeds 60 years
  • in swamp and floodplain forest types
  • on the banks of rivers and lakes, ancient shores and ravines, where the slope of the slopes is higher than 25 degrees
  • in specially protected biotopes and habitats of specially protected species for which micro-reserves have been established or which are indicated in the forest management plan
• cut growing trees whose diameter at a height of 1.3 meters above the root collar exceeds - 50 cm for oaks, 65 cm for pines, 70 cm for spruces and larches, 60 cm for ashes, elms and wych elms, 30 cm for lindens, 45 cm for black alders, 60 cm for willows, 60 cm for birches, 65 cm for aspens,
• cut dry trees whose diameter at a height of 1.3 meters exceeds 50 cm
• remove windthrow whose diameter in the thickest place exceeds 50 cm

This is part of the most important rules that regulate forest management in the GNP, where there are many biotopes and other protected species. To determine exactly what is allowed on your property, you need to contact Timbro consultants, and we will develop a thoughtful and legally compliant management plan, involving all the necessary experts.