Fact of The Day

Back in 2012, Yale University published Environmental Performance Index in which Lithuania got the 1st place for the Forest preservation in the world. In the overall ranking, which includes pollution, infant deaths, water quality and many other criteria, Lithuania is in the 17th position.

There is 0,64 hectare of forest per each inhabitant of Lithuania. Total area of Lithuanian forests is 2177 hectares, which makes it the one third of the countries area. More than half of all woods in Lithuania are conifers consisting mainly of pines. Among broad-leaf woods the most popular forests are birch trees.

Oldest forest in Lithuania is Vingio parkas in Vilnius, where pines can be as old as 300 years.

Top ten biggest forests and woods in Lithuania (thousands ha):

1. Dainava or Gudų wood (Druskininkai–Varėna forests) – around 145
2. Labanoras-Pabradė wood – 91,1
3. Kazlų Rūda forests– 58,7 
4. Karšuva wood (Viešvilė–Smalininkai forests) – 42,7
5. Rūdninkai wood – 37,5
6. Lavoriškiai wood (Lavoriškiai–Nemenčinė forests) – 31
7. Gaižiūnai–Rumšiškės forests – 30,4
8. Kapčiamiestis wood – 27,7 part of Augustavas wood, 160 000 ha)
9. Ažvinčiai-Minčia wood – 22,4
10. Biržai wood – 17 

References: 

http://www.amvmt.lt/Pub/default.aspx

http://epi.yale.edu/ 

http://grynas.delfi.lt/gamta/paaiskejo-kad-seniausias-lietuvos-miskas-vingio-parkas.d?id=60038747