Lithuania’s spruce forests decline as birch woodlands expand, forest service reports

Lithuania is seeing a steady decline in spruce forests while birch woodlands are expanding, according to the latest data from the State Forest Service, cited by public broadcaster LRT on Sunday.

Over the past 18 years, the share of replanted spruce forests has halved—from 79% to 42%—while birch plantations have grown from just 0.3% to 11.5% of all reforested areas, said Gintaras Kulbokas, head of the service’s National Forest Inventory Division.

Each year, roughly 31.3 million seedlings are planted across 8,300 hectares to restore cut-down forests, with both state and private landowners required to replant within three years. New forest expansion remains modest, however, with only 2.3 million trees planted annually on 700 hectares of previously non-forested land.

Spruce (3,500 ha), pine (2,600 ha), black alder (1,100 ha), and birch (1,000 ha) dominate reforestation efforts. Over 60% of Lithuania’s forests regenerate naturally without human intervention, covering 12,500 hectares—primarily broadleaf species like birch, aspen, and alder.