JSC “Latvia’s State Forests” (Latvijas valsts meži, LVM) has completed work on the establishment of a demonstration area on the banks of the Tora River and in the Vidriži forest massif in LVM West Vidzeme region. The two areas offer a variety of environmentally friendly solutions, designed to improve water quality in the formerly straightened Tora River and in the catchment area of the Aģe river. The first monitoring results show the effectiveness of the measures implemented as well as the positive environmental impact of these different solutions.

On 24 April, LVM organised a demonstration seminar with the participation of representatives of the Baltic Environmental Forum, the Latvian Fund for Nature, Pasaules Dabas Fonds, the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre, the Latvian State Forest Research Institute “Silava” and LVM to present the work carried out during the project.

Linda Fībiga, Deputy Project Manager of LIFE GoodWater IP, points out:

“I am very pleased to see that the ideas that were conceived at the beginning of the project have been put into practice – first by studying the Tora basin and selecting the most suitable sites, then by finding appropriate solutions to reduce the pollution load, and now also by seeing the completed, built solutions. Now comes the next step – a science-based assessment of how effective they are and whether they are worth implementing elsewhere. I would particularly like to highlight the diversification of the forest stand along the banks of the River Tora – a really great job has been done, removing spruce trees and planting so many deciduous trees, including almost three thousand oaks.”

Two major tasks have been carried out on the banks of the River Tora to improve its water quality: a sedimentation pond with a spillway dam has been built, and the forest stand in the river protection zone has been diversified: count of spruce trees has been reduced and replaced by around 7 000 desirable deciduous trees over a 2 km stretch along the river, covering a total area of around 10 ha.

About two kilometres further on lies the second area where work has been done, the Vidrižu forest massif. Here, LVM has installed three different types of sedimentation ponds in the forest drainage system, one of which is standard and widely used in current forestry practice, and two of which are atypical, one equipped with a grid and woodchip sorbent, as well as one that is crescent-shaped.

Both areas subject to scientific research, as they are also the territories of the Latvian State Forest Research Institute “Silava”. All practical works carried out by LVM have been based on the scientific recommendations of “Silava”.

“Silava” scientists have established monitoring plots on the banks of the river Tora, where tree litter and rainfall traps and groundwater wells have been placed.

The litter traps will allow to assess the amount of natural material (litter – needles, leaves, etc.) finding its way into river, and the groundwater wells will provide insight into groundwater level fluctuations in different seasons. Once per month (both before and after the construction of the sedimentation ponds) water samples are acquired for chemical analyses. This way, the effect of both the sedimentation ponds and forestry works can be measured.

Furthermore, the data will help to compare the effectiveness of the sedimentation ponds constructed in the Vidriži forest massif. The results so far show that the standard sedimentation basin traps the most suspended particles – 70% – while the crescent-shaped sedimentation basin traps 50%.

Everyone is welcome to take a look at the work done following a 3-kilometre-long trail marked with wooden posts. Several groups of forest-related students and forestry professionals have already visited the demonstration area for educational purposes. It will continue to serve as a pilot-territory of good forestry practice in interaction with water management.

Part of the trail runs along and across the river Tora, and part along a stand of deciduous trees. The felling of spruce trees helped uncover biologically old oak trees, which are particularly important for the survival of species of conservation importance. On one of the oaks, LVM Senior Environmental Expert Ilze Kukāre also found the ceramic fungus (Xylobolus frustulatus), which occurs on dead branches and fallen oak leaves of biologically old oaks. LVM has installed several footbridges for crossing the river, as well as a bench for resting in the demonstration area by the Tora river.

LVM has carried out the work as part of the LIFE GoodWater IP project, co-funded by the European Union, which aims to improve the status of water bodies at risk in Latvia by implementing measures set out in the management plans for the Daugava, Gauja, Lielupe and Venta river basins.