A natural disaster has been declared in Trakai District Municipality after a bark beetle damaged more than 25,000 cubic metres of spruce trees.

According to the Department of Environmental Protection, the volume of dried and drying spruce stands due to the pest's damage amounts to 26,100 cubic metres and exceeds the threshold for a natural disaster.

Therefore, the Ministry of the Environment has decided to declare a natural disaster in forests in the territory of the Trakai District Municipality. Following the declaration, special measures for protection and recovery from natural disasters in forests will be put into effect.

In June, a natural disaster was declared in the municipalities of Kazlų Rūda and Vilnius District, and in July in the municipality of Šalčininkai District.

When a natural disaster is declared in forests, forest managers, owners and users are obliged to inspect their forest holdings in the following municipalities within ten days of the notification of the natural disaster.

During the period of the disaster declaration, forest managers, owners and users must survey their stands at least every two weeks during the growing season and at least every month at other times.

When trees with developing bark beetles are observed, they should be marked immediately and cut down by sanitary felling, in the early stages of the beetle's development – before the pupae are formed, in the pupal stage, or in the juvenile stage, – at the latest, before the next generation of beetles has flown.

According to the data of the Ministry, about one million cubic metres of spruce trees were damaged last year due to the damage caused by the bark beetle tipograph in spruce forests, and since the beginning of 2024, 467,500 cubic metres of spruce trees have already been damaged in Lithuanian spruce forests.

According to the announcement, this year, as last year, the abundance of bark beetles in forests is very high, and therefore it is expected that intensive harvesting and removal of spruce trees damaged by the pest will be necessary during clear-cutting and selective salvage felling.

Visitation to forests affected by the disaster will not be restricted, except in areas where felling is taking place.