Storms and wind damage are the main cause of biomass loss in forests of Northern Europe, as well as they are synergic with the disturbances causing intense water and temperature stress. This highlights the necessity for climate-smart management at landscape level coupling ecological demands of forestry species with their wind resistance. Silver birch (Betula pendula Roth.), which is highly plastic species, appears to be promising for a wider application under such conditions, as it is believed to tolerate wide range of weather conditions. Though silver birch can be sensitive to water deficit and windthrow, local information on its wind tolerance in sites with different moisture regimes is advantageous. Mechanical stability of 71 mid-aged silver birches (Betula pendula Roth.) growing in seven dry (Hylocomiosa) and five periodically waterlogged (Myrtilloso-sphagnosa) sites with mineral soils in Latvia (hemiboreal lowland conditions) were assessed by the destructive static pulling tests. Site type had a significant, yet intermediate effect on the stability of silver birch. As expected, trees under periodically waterlogged conditions were more prone to collapse under static loading, however, they showed a better resistance to primary failure (beginning of wood structure deformation). Uprooting was the most common form of tree collapse. Surprisingly, considering similar root depths, stem breakage was more frequent in the periodically waterlogged than dry sites (21.9 vs. 5.1%, respectively), indicating high loading resistance of roots, supporting high plasticity and wind resistance of the studied metapopulation of silver birch. Nevertheless, in the periodically waterlogged sites, the difference between forces needed to cause primary and secondary (collapse) failures of stem decreased with age/size, implying necessity for optimization of rotation length. Accordingly, quantification of wind resistance can aid climate-smart selection of species for forest regeneration depending on landscape, suggesting birch as wind resistant option under periodically waterlogged conditions.

Fire is a common disturbance in boreal forests causing changes in biological diversity at various spatial scales. In the past 100 years, forest management has limited fire outbreaks, but in the future, the fire-affected forest area is expected to increase in many regions due to climate change. Burned forests are typically salvage-logged, but the effect of this type of management versus natural regeneration on biological diversity is not well understood, particularly the mid-term effect to tree establishment and understory vegetation composition and diversity. Various management methods were used after a large fire in 1992 in a peatland-forest complex and neighbouring managed forests, which created an experimental setup for study of the effect of management after fire in the Sliteres National park, northwestern Latvia. Understory vegetation was described in plots using a design of four forest and three management types: natural regeneration (unmanaged) and managed sites with salvage logging followed by no further human intervention and salvage logging with planting. Post-fire management had different effect in each forest type. Species richness was higher in forest types with salvage logging than in natural regenerated sites on rich wet and rich dry forest types, but not for the poor forest types. Tree regeneration was generally greater in salvage-logged stands, but differed between forest types. Species composition was related to tree regeneration and canopy openness. In contrast to other studies, salvage logging had a positive mid-term effect to ground vegetation diversity and tree establishment in the studied stands, implying potential for concomitant management and conservation of ground cover vegetation in semi-natural stands.

The preservation and management of riparian zones in nature protection areas are challenging due to the simultaneous demands of nature protection regulations, active nature tourism burdens, and local community needs. The local community’s willingness to participate in riparian zone management is an essential contribution to establishing successful long-term riparian zone management. This study aimed to gain insight into the perceptions of the local community, particularly landowners, on the management perspectives of riparian zones in nature protection areas. We used a questionnaire survey to gather data from three distinct localities within the North Vidzeme Biosphere Reserve (NVBR). In total, 734 respondents were interviewed, of which 40% were landowners who owned land in riparian zones. Landowners did not differ significantly from those without property rights in their willingness to undertake voluntary work to improve the quality of riparian zones. Landowners more often use riparian zones for cultural and recreational activities. Overall, the landowners had similar perceptions of riparian zone management to respondents without property rights in the NVBR.

A large proportion of the forest stands in the hemiboreal zone of Europe are managed for timber production using clear-cutting systems. Stands usually are even-aged, monodominant, or two-layered stands with Norway spruce in undergrowth. There is limited information on the mortality pattern/survival of trees after wildfire in these novel ecosystems. A vast majority of forest fires (e.g., 1000 wildfires per year in Latvia on average) are human-induced. Fires are usually not stand-replacing fires, but there is scarce information about the growth of surviving trees after fires. Therefore, the aim of our study was to assess the factors affecting the probability of survival and increment of fire-damaged trees. We established sample plots in the 27 stands as soon as possible after wildfires which occurred during 2004, 2006, and 2008, and measured the diameters and heights of the trees as well as the damage level (scorching of the stem, damage to the foliage, and burning of major roots). For survival analysis, the trees were assessed twice a year for upto 4 years. Additional diameter increments of 607 surviving pines were assessed 5 years after the fire using trees in the stands of similar age and forest type as a control. The results revealed that the probability of survival was positively correlated with tree diameter and negatively correlated with stem-scorching height and the proportion of uncovered root systems. In cases of low fire severity, trees can even increase their diameter increment; however, with increasing fire severity, increment becomes negative, i.e., undisturbed trees generate more stem volume than trees affected by fire.