Government plans to delist 3,900 hectares for Kapčiamiesčio military area

The government plans to remove nearly 3,900 hectares of state-significance forest from the official list because it falls within the planned Kapčiamiesčio military training area in Lazdijai district, LRT reported.

The Environment Ministry has proposed changing the boundaries of state-significance forests in Lazdijai district. The Defence Ministry initiated the change to implement a law adopted by parliament, which requires forests within the planned military training and training area to be removed from the list.

The same government measure would revise forest boundaries in Jurbarkas, Plungė and Rokiškis districts. In Jurbarkas, 2,300 hectares are proposed for removal in connection with the Tauragė and Šilalė military training areas and planned military infrastructure development. In Plungė and Rokiškis, the proposed changes address errors found during state forest inventory checks. The State Forest Enterprise proposes adding 22.5 hectares in Plungė and 123.3 hectares in Rokiškis to the state-significance forest list.

The State Defence Council decided last December to establish a brigade-sized training area in Lazdijai municipality. The plan prompted opposition from the local community, including a protest. LRT reported that resistance on social media intensified and was also associated with Russia. Parliament approved legislation to establish the training area in April.