Forest is the ecosystem which consists of different related components and fulfils important environmental, economic, and social functions. Each of these components is of particular value in public perception. In the beginning of September, 2007 social research was carried out in Latvia in order to understand the meaning and importance of forest value on the questionnaire base. This survey focuses on how people, whose everyday life is related to forest sector, perceive forest values. The forest values were divided into thirteen factors. To determine the most important forest value, the participants’ answers significance was evaluated basing upon the concordance coefficient and using descriptive statistic methods. The research revealed that despite the multifunctional use of forest the basic value is granted to timber and forest land. As well as respondents were not shown significant differences expressing their opinions when they were divided into different groups (forest owners, forest sector employees and other). Results of the survey have shown that the public in Latvia are not able to value and calculate forest environmental and social functions.

This paper deals with the evaluation of the geometrical accuracy of Lithuanian forests compartments geographical data that has been developed using different forest inventory techniques. Geo-reference background database GDB10LT was used as the standard for comparisons. 2500 control points on clearly identifiable places – crossroads, dikes’ intersections, etc. – were selected randomly. The main finding was that the maximal positional root mean square error of clearly identifiable objects in forestry geographic data was 16.47 m (12.37 m and 10.87 m for X and Y coordinates respectively). However, such rather big errors refer to the techniques of GIS database development using paper topographic maps as a background for forest maps and manual digitizing. Enhancement of techniques for GIS database development was found to lead to significant increase in geometrical accuracy of the information.

The aim of this paper is to evaluate all kinds of experiences with attractive EU funding for Latvia's private forest sector in the past and to generate new proposals for effective acquisition in near future. Latvian institution may learn from these experiences in order to improve their (acquisition) role in project proposals for the private forest sector. Consequently, the relatively underdeveloped Latvian private forest sector will get its highly needed support for better performance, and progress towards other, leading EU forest sectors. The possibilities for attractive financial EU support are reviewed through both historic experiences with the EU's 'Rural Development Program for 2007 – 2013' and the EU grants, designated for forestry projects. An extensive round of interviews is held with state forest owners and experts involved in forest management programmes and other dedicated EU forest funding initiatives. Following the expert interviews, two key indicators are developed to evaluate the support from the EU. Contacts with the EU countries (the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland and Poland) where similar forestry activities have been done as in Latvia were made. Research done in this work is unique as according to the author's information these countries do not have similar research related to the EU funds efficiency and Rural Development Program for 2007 – 2013. The successfulness of Latvian applications for the EU funding is one major indicator for further fund raising. The EU supported investments generally have higher economic results in comparison with their non EU funded counterparts.

One of the key factors affecting the formation of high-quality forest is thinning. Latvia's yearly budget of commercial thinning is not met; therefore, there are plenty of forests which are not thinned as planned and this leads to declining quality of forest stands. The timber processing industry needs significant excluded volume of timber, but forest owners are unable to maximize profits in future. Extensive logging of commercial thinning is hindered by economic factors and forestry regulations. Logging business is not satisfied with the productivity indicates and restricting forestry and environmental laws. The world's leading forest engineering firm offers a variety of forest harvester design and structural solutions. The first real use of commercial harvesters in commercial thinning in Latvia's conditions revealed several problems. The most important one is how to increase harvester productivity, while ensuring the quality of residual stands. To increase effectiveness of the logging machines and the proportion of commercial thinning, it is necessary to explore main factors affecting harvester productivity. This work aims to clarify the main pressures hampering harvester productivity and evaluate the quality of remaining trees in commercial thinning in Latvia. The main results are that during night productivity of harvester decreases by 12%, while marking trees to be cut down with fluorescent colour increases productivity of harvester at night by 15%. Productivity of harvester in thinning depends on average volume of harvested trees. These results of the work were obtained through various experiments on twelve different commercial thinning areas in Latvia.

The effect of growing conditions, age and stocking density on the amount of deadwood in the pine forest stands of Latvia was analyzed in this research. The material for studies was collected within the framework of the National Forest inventory of Latvia in the period 2004 to 2008. From databases of the National forest inventory the data about 1627 sample plots dominated by pine were selected and analysed. The total amount of deadwood (m3 haE-1) was compared among five forest edaphical rows - forests on dry mineral soils, forests on wet mineral soils, forests on wet peat soils, forests on drained mineral soils and forests on drained peat soils. Deadwood was also analysed in five age groups – young, middle age, premature, mature and over-mature stands, as well as in six groups of stocking density – small-density, sparse-density, middle-density, high-density, full-density and over-density stands. It was found out, that the growing conditions (p = 0.000 is less than α = 0.05), stand age (p = 0.000) and stocking density (p = 0.000) have significant influence on the amount of deadwood in pine forest stands. The highest amount of deadwood is in the pine stands on wet mineral soils – 18.6 ± 2.09 m3 haE-1. With increase of the stand age the amount of deadwood also increases and in the mature pine stands the amount of deadwood is 17.8 ± 1.58 m**3 haE-1. The amount of deadwood in the pine forest stands also increases with stocking density and in the over-density stands it is 21.6 ± 2.50 m**3 haE-1.

Appropriate discount rate for forestry is still an issue for the forest economy. Therefore, it is significant to understand the importance of discounting, and how costs of forestry production process are valued. Forest regeneration and new stands tending costs are considered as investments; they are related to each particular stand. For that reason, the goal of this study was to compare how the value of this investment is growing at the bank deposit or 1 ha forest stand. The study examined the growth rate of two different tree species value with young forest stand establishment and tending investments depositing in the bank or the growth rate of compound interests. As discounting formula derived from a compounding formula, it would allow to find an appropriate discount rate for each timber species. High rates of compound interest cause a very rapid and unrealistic future value increase, while low rates cause slow value increase for a very long period represented by a common forest rotation; for that reason high discount rates used in forestry are not rational. Taking into account an income from intermediate cuttings, the value of timber species in comparison with the deposit significantly improves. Suitable discount rate determination in forest assessment is mainly determined by the species of wood productivity and cutting age. As it is hard to find two identical forest properties, each situation should be considered individually, taking into account and understanding the relationship between a growth rate of timber and compound interests, thus choosing an appropriate discount rate.

The forests and woods are the main resources in Latvia. It is vital to understand the amount of wood resources that is being extracted from private forests now and in future in order to be able to predict the forest sector development and growth. The study objective was to identify the key factors in the wood resource availability and assess their role in private forests. In October 2009, the study was conducted to appraise the private forest owners the operational results and find out the future plans in connection to wood resource extraction. In the study a random sampling method was applied, where in the respondent selection the State Forest Service database information was used. In the study the respondent interviewing method CATI with computerized telephone interviews was used. In the selection of affecting factors the expert's method was applied. The study showed that only 25.40% of all private forest owners claimed that there was wood resources extraction in forests, but 29.50% of all private forest owners claimed that they were planning to perform the wood resource extraction in 2010. If the timber selling prices increased by more than 10 LVL per m3 in 2010, then 38% of all respondents claimed that they would increase the wood resource extraction in forests. The study data show that 30% of all private forest owners admit that there are growing stands in the forests, but they can’t be harvested, because road infrastructure is poorly developed or there are no roads in the forests.

This paper discusses the use of medium resolution Landsat TM satellite images to support conventional approaches of Lithuanian forest inventory practices. Estimation accuracies achieved using just field measured sample plots, Landsat TM satellite images and two non-parametric k-nearest neighbour and most similar neighbour estimators were studied at a level of compartments. 19 mature forest areas, prepared for final felling with GPS measured borders and all trees callipered, were used for validation. Notably higher estimation accuracies were achieved using field sample plots distributed through the whole forest area studied than just ones located on mature forest stands. The root mean square deviations in estimating compartment-wise volume of growing stock per 1 ha was around 27-28% if the best variant of estimation approach was used. Possible influence of the accuracy in locating the borders of validation areas on the estimations is discussed in the paper, too.

Rural areas in Poland are characterized by great diversity in their functional spatial structure. Throughout history, their distinct features have been shaped by natural, historical and socio-economic factors. The aim of this study was to analyze the changes in the functional spatial structure of North-Eastern Poland. The analysis involved a comparison of data for 1988 and 2012. Research data was supplied mainly by the Central Statistical Office in Poland. The key drivers of change in the investigated region are agriculture, tourism, forestry and environmentally-friendly industrial processes. The results of the economic and social development are constantly changing in rural areas. Based on analysis, the functional structure of rural areas in North-Eastern Poland between 1988 and 2012 shows that they are more diversified. Over the years, rural areas in North-Eastern Poland were identified with agriculture but now they have multifunctional character.

Rural areas in Poland are vastly differentiated in their level of social and economic development. Adverse natural, social, economic and technological processes contribute to the formation of problem areas. Negative phenomena can spread across several municipalities, contributing to the number and severity of problems. Rural municipalities characterized by a low level of social and technical development are not attractive sites for prospective investors or home buyers. Geographical location can also contribute to the formation of problem areas. The Region of Warmia and Mazury borders the Kaliningrad Region, and it is one of the least developed areas in Poland. Rural areas in Warmia and Mazury are characterized by significant disparities in the level of social and economic development. The aim of this paper was to identify problem rural areas in the Region of Warmia and Mazury based on indicators of social, demographic, economic and infrastructure development. Problem areas in the Region of Warmia and Mazury were identified using Hellwig’s taxonomic measure of development. The results of our analysis indicate that in rural areas in the Region of Warmia and Mazury, the most severe problems are observed in typically agricultural municipalities which have a peripheral location and where state-owned farms had acted as the main employer.