The State Forest Service announces the creation of a micro-reserve; restrictions will affect forest owners

The State Forest Service has announced the establishment of a micro-restriction, and the notice was published on November 12, 2026, in the official gazette Latvijas Vēstnesis, No. 219, with publication code OP 2026/219. The notice was placed in the INSTITUTIONS section of the newspaper and registered under sequence number 31. With this publication, the decision on a new territorial nature protection restriction becomes publicly available to any interested party, including the affected forest owners.

A micro-restriction is a tool that limits economic activity in a specific forest area; therefore, the service’s notice has direct practical significance for landowners planning forestry work. The official reference to the publication is Latvijas Vēstnesis, November 12, 2026, No. 219 (OP 2026/219), item 31 “On the establishment of a micro-restriction”, State Forest Service information.

The only institutional notice in issue 219

The State Forest Service is the only institution whose notice in the November 12 issue was placed in the INSTITUTIONS section. In the numbering, the publication follows the Prime Minister’s orders No. 2026/1.2.1.-321 to 2026/1.2.1.-324 (items 27–30) and is followed by local government documents — the binding regulations No. 14 and council decision No. 480 of the Cēsis Municipality Council (items 32–33).

In total, issue 219 includes 33 items, the majority of which are Cabinet of Ministers regulations and orders — including regulations No. 662 to 678 and orders No. 711 to 724. The forestry issue appears in only one item in this issue, which is specifically the service’s notice regarding the micro-restriction.

Regular, not isolated, practice

Notices regarding micro-restrictions appear regularly in Latvijas Vēstnesis — since September, they have been published in eight issues:

• September 4, 2026, No. 170, item 16 — “On the establishment of a micro-restriction”;
• September 18, 2026, No. 180, item 42 — “On the partial cancellation of micro-restriction status”;
• October 5, 2026, No. 191, item 3 — “On the establishment of a micro-restriction”;
• October 13, 2026, No. 197, items 5 and 6 — two separate notices in one issue;
• October 20, 2026, No. 202, item 3 — “On the establishment of micro-restrictions”;
• October 29, 2026, No. 209, item 29 — “On the establishment of micro-restrictions”;
• November 5, 2026, No. 214, item 3 — “On the establishment of a micro-restriction”;
• November 12, 2026, No. 219, item 31 — “On the establishment of a micro-restriction”.

This sequence demonstrates that decisions on micro-restrictions are made and publicly announced continuously, rather than as one-off events, and that the November 12 publication is part of the service’s daily practice. At the same time, the notice on the partial cancellation of status published in the September 18 issue shows that the process works in both directions — restrictions are both established and reviewed.

What this means for landowners

The creation of a micro-reserve is a territorial decision: it applies to specific forest areas, not the entire forest fund, therefore the consequences are local and specific. In practical terms, this means restrictions on economic activities in the relevant area, which must be taken into account when planning maintenance and logging work, as well as when assessing property use options.

The publication of the notice in the official gazette is the moment from which the decision is publicly ascertainable and verifiable. Therefore, for owners whose lands are located within the micro-reserve territory, the first step is to check the relevant publication and its content, rather than relying on oral information.

In the institutional news section, INSTITUTIONS’ notices are usually short and referential in nature, and they do not alter other documents in the issue — in issue No. 219, they affect neither the Cabinet of Ministers regulations nor the binding regulations of local governments.

Nature conservation interests and forestry use clash directly here: every new micro-reserve reduces the area where economic activity takes place without additional restrictions, while society gains an additional protected territory. Therefore, the November 12 notice is significant not only as an entry in the official gazette, but as a signal of a specific limitation of property rights, which must be taken into account by both owners and the local governments in whose territory such decisions are applied.

Official source: Latvijas Vēstnesis, November 12, 2026, No. 219, publication code OP 2026/219, item 31 “On the creation of a micro-reserve”, State Forest Service information; publication available at: https://www.vestnesis.lv/url/17030?content=1.