We are justifiably proud of our natural environment. It is here that south meets north, and east meets west, with species encountered in the tundra living beside those we are accustomed to seeing in the Mediterranean countries. We are a borderland for nature.

It is estimated that there are around 40,000 species of animal, plant, and fungi living in Estonia. Just as nearly half of Estonia is covered with forest, about half of our species are forest-dwelling, meaning our forest is home to at least 20,000 different species. The forest is more than just trees. Birds, insects, mosses, fungi and lichens all play a vital role in the forest ecosystem, using different parts of trees for attachment, nesting, food or other essential purposes. In fact, it could be said that all these species (including several that have yet to be discovered) together make up the forest.

The biodiversity of the natural forest also acts as a conservation buffer of sorts for the forest, protecting the forest from external threats. No beetle (including bark beetles) or fungus can overpower a species-rich forest or inflict severe damage because it is surrounded by natural enemies and simply does not have the space to spread out (for example, in the case of fungi). Finding balance is important in both the forest ecosystem itself, as well as in how we humans use it.

By discussing the nature of the forest, we can describe two points of view in a simplified way: the forest as an ecological whole, comprising a network of thousands of inter-species links, and the forest as a timber-producing unit.

Problems begin with the fact that the timber production begins much earlier than the connections, and especially the more complex ones, can develop. In other words, the forest reaches economic maturity earlier than ecological maturity, which is where the contradiction begins because many species can only live in a forest that is more than a hundred years old. In addition, there are many other species which, in turn, depend precisely on those species that are unable to develop without old-growth forests in order to be able to engage in their life processes – that is to say, feeding, sheltering, etc.

Once a natural forest has reached sufficient age, it becomes a self-regulating system that can cope with almost anything that happens in the environment, such as fires, pests, floods, aggressive fungi, and unprecedented alien species.

Our post-glacial swamp forests are struggling at the moment

The geographical boundary between the taiga zone and the European mixed forest zone is located in Alutaguse, Ida-Viru County, historically home to the largest coniferous forests and swamps in Estonia. In other words, the border between Asia and Europe is found there. We also have relict forests from the Atlantic climate period. The most notable of these are the oak stands in Abruka and Puhtus, along with the oak stands in Veskimetsa, in the heart of Tallinn, which is one of the northernmost oak stands in the world.

With the retreating of the ice, the watery swamp forests were the first to resemble what a modern Estonian would recognise as a forest. The bison and aurochs have disappeared, but the trees remain. While broad-leaved lime, oak and ash forests are a reminder of the nature that dominated Estonia 5,000 years ago, it is worth bearing in mind that the first forests here were swamp forests. As the ice retreated, the watery swamp forests were the first to resemble what a modern Estonian would recognise as a forest

These sprawling initial forests were home to our first forest species, such as the moor frog and the mountain hare, which managed to survive here alongside the birds. Swamp forests are struggling at the moment.

70,000 km long ditch network amplifies spring drought

More than 700,000 hectares of forest land have been drained in Estonia. The drainage ditches, which were built mainly during the Soviet occupation, could be used to draw almost two imaginary circles around the globe, we are talking about an imaginary ditch that is more than 70,000 kilometres in length.

This fact is especially important to bear in mind now, given that Estonia is facing successive spring droughts, with the ditch system greatly contributing to the extent and impact of the droughts. There are surely sympathisers among the ranks of forest growers, whose newly planted young forests are once again drying up.

Today, more than a fifth of Estonia is covered by protected areas. These are places that are, at least according to our understanding, the richest in terms of biota. They are places where the network of species is the densest and most characteristic of our latitude, climate, and Estonia as a whole. This fifth comprises our forests, bogs, heritage meadows, rivers, lakes and much more.

There have never been so many protected areas in Estonia before, which is why nature conservation is now so strongly associated with our everyday lives. However, we recognise that nature conservation is not only a topic of discussion in Estonia, but almost everywhere in the world, as the consequences of extensive human activity on the natural environment are being experienced through droughts, floods, pandemics and shortages of clean drinking water.

For the first time in the history of the European Union, one of the key issues in the last European Parliament elections was whether to support or oppose the Nature Restoration Regulation. The regulation aims to restore 20 per cent of Europe’s nature. The regulation has now been adopted, and it is gratifying to note that Estonia played an active role in driving this process forward.

Rehabilitation of bog forests

Ecological restoration involves returning nature to its natural state. The intention is not to create anything new or unprecedented; rather, it must be based on the area’s history and attempt to repair the damage caused by man to nature. The restoration of historical bog or wet forests is an example of such an activity.

In addition to ecologically functioning habitats, our network of protected areas also includes regenerative habitats (often created with human assistance), such as bogs with ditches, overgrown meadows, and bog forests ruined through drainage. The recently completed action plan for mire or wet forests aims to restore approximately one hundred square kilometres of forests damaged by drainage in our protected areas. Although less than two per cent of all drained Estonian forests are covered, we hope that this project will provide a lifeline for many of those living in wet forests.

On almost a daily basis, new connections are discovered between various lichens, fungi, beetles, plants, and mosses, which surprise us over and over again and surpass our imagination with their subtlety and the elegance in which they function. Caring for these species is one of the main tasks of nature conservation. By protecting and restoring our ecological assets, including the forests that are home to our forest species, we can ensure that forests outside of protected areas are managed in accordance with the best and most sustainable methods of forestry science.