Coniferous forest area shrinking in Estonia

Estonia's Environment Agency presented the results of its 2025 statistical forest inventory on Tuesday. Such inventories have been conducted in Estonia since 1999, and this year several improvements were made to the assessment methodology, including refined calculations of tree height, growth, tree mortality and overall forest increment.

According to the latest data, forests cover 52.1% of Estonia's territory, and the total area of forest land continues to gradually increase.

Timber stocks have stabilised

Agency director Taimar Ala said timber stocks overall have largely stabilised, but commercially managed forests need to be considered separately: for seven to eight years, logging volumes in these forests have exceeded net timber growth. He noted this does not signal a crisis but is an important indicator for future forest management planning.

About half of Estonia's forests are state-managed, while the rest belong to private individuals and legal entities. The area of forest owned by legal entities continues to expand.

Spruce hit by bark beetles

Logging volumes have remained at 11-12 million cubic metres in recent years. Roughly 8% of this consists of dead wood harvesting, while more than three-quarters comes from clear-cutting and other felling aimed at forest regeneration. Spruce is felled most, followed by birch.

The area of forest dominated by coniferous species is shrinking, and experts expect spruce logging volumes to decline further, while birch forests still have potential for increased harvesting. Ala explained that spruce forests are significantly affected by damage, particularly the spread of the spruce bark beetle, which has required additional felling in recent years, making it impossible to continue managing spruce forests at previous volumes. Pine forests also face several factors requiring separate analysis, though he stressed that reforestation and care of young stands are needed if pine forests are to regrow after logging.

About a quarter of commercially used forests consist of mature stands ready for felling. The area where no forestry activity takes place has grown to roughly a fifth of all forest land, with increases seen in both young and old forest areas.