A high-ranking Latvian forestry delegation has praised Welsh woodland management as “world-leading” during a four-day fact-finding tour.
The visit, attended by the deputy director-general of the State Forest Service and the director of the Forest Research Institute, was the first of its kind by such high level officers.
It was organised after Latvians read ‘Woodlands for Wales’, the Welsh Assembly strategy which pledges to move away from single-aged forests and clear-felling of huge areas to continuous cover management systems.
A copy of the strategy was sent to the State Forest Service by Latvian forester Talis Kalnars, who has lived in Wales since 1959. He said the Latvians regarded Wales as leading the world in woodland management.
He said: “In Latvia, the decision to convert large areas of forests in Wales to a continuous cover system is regarded with admiration and considered an historical event.”
The tour party, which also included the director of the WWF in Latvia and foresters from the private sector, visited woodlands managed by Mr Kalnars for the past 40 years on a continuous cover basis and also saw Assembly woodland identified by the Forestry Commission for transformation to continuous cover.
Chief conservator for Wales Simon Hewitt described the background to the policy and explained how the Commission hopes to encourage similar conversion in private sector woodlands.
The Forestry Commission hopes the visit could be the start of a twinning arrangement where closer links are established between the two countries.
All Welsh Assembly woodlands are certified against the UK Woodland Assurance Scheme as being sustainably managed by the Forestry Commission.
