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A Capsule has been Embedded in the Seedling Complex of Mežvidi Nursery

On 5 October 2022, a ceremonial laying of a capsule took place in the foundations of the newest seedling sorting and processing complex of JSC “Latvia's State Forests” – Mežvidi Nursery in Jaunkalsnava Rural Territory. Representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Latvia, JSC “Latvia's State Forests”, the builder - SIA “Selva Būve”, Madona Municipality Council and Kalsnava Municipality Administration took part in the event.

After the ceremonial laying of the capsule, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Latvia Raivis Kronbergs, together with the Chairman of the LVM Board Pēters Putniņs and the Director of Sēklas un stādi Māris Druvaskalns, inspected the five greenhouses and outdoor landfills of Mežvidi Nursery. Here, already this spring the first 2.5 million pine container seedlings were sold.

“In 2020, the construction works of the new tree nursery “Mežvidi” in Jaunkalsnava were started to increase the production capacity of forest seedlings – this was a very necessary step not only for JSC “Latvia’s State Forests”, but for the entire Latvian forestry industry as a whole. This investment will allow us to increase the amount of tree seedlings grown by 21% or 11.9 million, reaching 68.2 million seedlings per year by 2025,” said Pēters Putniņš, Chairman of the LVM Board.

It is planned to build a seedling sorting and processing complex with an area of 8 000 square metres in the facility, which will house production facilities, seedling freezers, and the nursery's administrative premises. Moreover, a storage warehouse for inventory and equipment with an area of 500 square metres, construction of utility networks and improvement of the area of 2.8 hectares is planned.

“Works on the investment project “Creation of Mežvidi Nursery” are planned to be completed by the end of 2023. The further progress of this project means an easier to plan and implement seedling production process. With the completion of these construction works, it will be possible to carry out plant sorting and packing work also during the winter months, thus extending the duration of the plant production season. Storing the sorted seedlings in the cooling chambers of the newly built complex, where the impact of external factors – plant diseases, climatic conditions – on the quality of the seedlings is minimized, will allow us to offer seedlings to customers at the time and in the quantities they need,” says Māris Druvaskalns, Director of LVM Sēklas und stādi.

Rolands Orlovskis, Chairman of the Board of SIA “Selva Būve”, a long-term cooperation partner of JSC “Latvia’s State Forests”, said at the capsule laying ceremony: “As part of our activity, we have implemented more than one LVM project, and each one has had innovative solutions, which made us as builders to get involved in the construction process with special passion and ensure a good quality result. This nursery will also be made of materials not typical of warehouse-type buildings – wooden structures, with a modernized water drainage system and solar panels. We are pleased to be able to be present in the implementation of a project important to society, using environmentally friendly, sustainable materials and modern construction solutions”.

Seedlings from Mežvidi will be sold to the widest range of customers: both for LVM's needs to restore State forests, and for private forest managers in Latvia and abroad. In the tree nursery, it is planned to grow pine and spruce container seedlings, which are in demand in forestry – they are easy to plant by hand using special planting barrels, and they are also suitable for mechanized planting, which will occupy an increasingly important place in forest restoration in the future.

LVM manages the most modern tree nurseries in Europe, where high-quality young seedlings are grown from specially selected seeds. In 2021, LVM grew 56.5 million seedlings, most of which – 28.5 million seedlings – were used for the restoration of State forests, 15 million seedlings – to the owners of other forests in Latvia, and almost 13 million seedlings were exported.