More than half of Latvia is covered in forest

Latvia is one of Europe's greenest countries, with forest covering approximately 45% of the land area. Foraging is also popular, and unlike in most countries, anyone is free to pick and eat whatever they find in state-owned forests. Every Latvian household can legally cut down one pine tree during the Christmas season.

Latvia's forest ecosystem is the most important part of the country's environment. The most common tree species are pine, fir, and birch. Forest land in Latvia accounts for 2,923 thousand ha. The area of forest land in Latvia has nearly doubled since the turn of the century. Historically, the expansion of forest land area has been linked to both natural overgrowth of land no longer used for agriculture and intentional afforestation of such land. Forests are expected to cover 50–55 percent of Latvia's territory in the near future, thanks to afforestation of land no longer used for agriculture and other purposes.