Lithuania due to its geographical situation was not accessed by the foreigners quite long time. Only in the middle ages there were some movements to a very isolated country. Why was it isolated? The answer is forests, forests and forests. Deep forests were a big trouble for German crusaders, because there were no roads or paths. From these times more than half of the forests were cut or destroyed. Now more than 30% of Lithuanian territory is covered with the woods. Forestry in Lithuania had a huge crisis couple of years ago. The main reason was crisis in Russia because huge export of wood material was towards East. After the crisis the big part of market was lost, so a lot of not realized material was compiled. This led to the decrease of wood prices. The wood become cheap that's why export to West increased, especially to Poland. By no means it is harm to Lithuanian forests, because new woods are planted every ear instead of old and sick forest territories (couple of years ago huge territories of woods were infected with some insects and therefore cut out). The change of world climate influenced by the warmth of the atmosphere also caused some troubles for Lithuanian forests. Half of year ago the storm called Anatol destroyed some woods. Every ear various storms uproot some big trees. That makes some unplanned cuts, but the material should be sold or used for another purposes. This situation led to surplus of wood material and decrease in wood prices. There are some problems with forest thefts in Lithuania. The economical situation in country side is quite bad, so people try to earn their living in any ways, including stealing private or state woods and selling them. Another big problem is unwise forest use. After regaining independence in 1990 the privatization process began. There was some forest property restored to the previous holders. Some of them were living in a city and did not have any clue how to work with land and especially with the forests. Some anarchic principles were considered to be absolutely right: it’s my forest; I can do whatever I want, even cut all the trees out and sell. Some people did it, but now the new regulation has been set, so forest owners are not allowed to cut wealthy trees without consulting local forester. Also owners are obliged to clean their property cutting out sick or dry woods and pay attention to the limited distance from one tree to another. Also in case of cutting out entire territory, new trees should be planted. This control does not allow anarchy in forests and help to keep general Lithuania forest level. Lithuanians export not only raw material, but also furniture. There are several big furniture manufactures, which specialize in creating and producing furniture both to local and Eastern and Western markets. The furniture is of high quality and made from real wood. It is more expensive than artificial wood production, but longer during. Westerners take this as a big value and are interested in buying such kind of production, which is cheaper than produced in Western Europe. Still the interest of foreign capital and investment is a little bit vague, but in future, it should increase also, especially when Lithuania will be accepted to European Union (officially it is planed to do this in 2003, but the process of negotiations can be prolonged). The future of Lithuanian forests has also been considered. The main goal is to keep the constant territories of woods by planting new and cutting out old or commercial ones. This percent of 33% is intended to be kept as it is now. Such kind of situation enforces to educate new specialists in wood industry and foresters. There are a few vocational forestry schools and a faculty of forestry in Kaunas Agriculture University which prepare highly educated young forest professionals. The scholars also have a lot of work. Lithuanian Forest Research Institute make a lot of researches about current situation of Lithuanian forests, organize conferences and publish a lot of scientific papers both for Lithuanian and international press. Basically they are collecting and analyzing data, which is used in understanding and planning future strategies how to deal with Lithuanian forest industry. Lithuanians say forest is one of national prides. Other countries cannot be proud of it because there are no natural forests left, or left, but only tiny ones. Lithuanian Government is doing everything they can (financially) to keep current condition of the forests in order to let citizens of Lithuania and entire world breath clean air.

Here you can read about ecological situation in Lithuania