Forest under a nature restriction: the annual compensation you can claim in 2026

When a restriction earns you money

Not every ban in a forest is pure loss. If economic activity on your stand is restricted or prohibited because of a nature-protection status, that restriction has another side: an annual compensation from the state or the EU budget.

The right to compensation arises in three typical cases: the property falls inside a specially protected nature territory (ĪADT), it belongs to the Natura 2000 network, or a microreserve has been set around a rare bird's nest, a beaver lodge or a protected biotope. What they share is one principle — the law limits felling, and in exchange it provides compensation.

The legal basis is the law "Par kompensāciju par saimnieciskās darbības ierobežojumiem aizsargājamās teritorijās" and Cabinet Regulation No. 891. The law sets out two types of compensation: an annual support payment and a land buyback by the state. This article is mostly about the annual payment — it is the one most owners qualify for, and the one many never file for simply because they do not know the right exists.

How much per hectare

The amount depends not on species or age but on how strict the ban is. For forest land, Regulation No. 891 sets these annual rates:

The logic is simple: the more options you lose, the higher the payment. A full ban on economic activity and a ban on the main felling are valued the same — €196/ha — because both strip the owner of the main income from the stand. A ban on clear-cutting alone leaves other options, so the rate is lower.

A detail that is easy to miss: these amounts were raised relatively recently. The amendment to Regulation No. 891 adopted on 2 July 2024 brought the state-budget rates up to the level paid for Natura 2000 restrictions from EU funds for the 2023–2027 period. Before that the payments had gone unrevised for years, so any lower figure you may remember is now out of date.

The minimum area to apply is 0.1 ha. The stand must have reached at least 20 years. Compensation is not paid, for instance, for protected trees and stones as such — it is tied specifically to the restriction on economic activity over an area.

• €196/ha — all forestry activity prohibited, or felling prohibited in both main and tending fellings;
• €145/ha — felling prohibited in the main felling;
• €52/ha — clear-cutting (kailcirte) prohibited.

Two routes: through DAP and through LAD

Who pays, and how you apply, depends on whether the property is part of Natura 2000.

State budget — through the Nature Conservation Agency (DAP). This route is for specially protected territories that are not Natura 2000, and for microreserves whose area does not qualify for EU-fund money. The application goes to DAP — by post or electronically with a secure signature. This is also where the second type of compensation is handled — the land buyback, if the property is unbuilt and lies in a nature reserve or in a strict / regulated-regime zone.

EU funds — through the Rural Support Service (LAD). This route is for forest land within Natura 2000. The compensation (NIM) is filed not separately but together with the Single Application in LAD's electronic system (EPS), in the Natura 2000 forest annex. The applicant must be the owner or legal possessor as of 15 June of the current year, and the restriction must be in force as of 1 March. Bogs do not count.

Because the rates of both routes have been aligned since 2024, the payment per hectare is broadly comparable — what differs is the administration, the source of the money and the deadlines. The exact rate in force for your case is worth checking on the LAD website in the rates section, because the final per-unit amount paid out can be adjusted once applications are assessed.

And the key limit: only one compensation per property per year is due — either from EU funds or from the state / municipal budget. If a one-off compensation has already been received for the stand under the dedicated law, you can no longer claim the annual payment or the buyback.

Deadlines: the DAP window opens on 1 July

For the DAP route the deadline is set directly in Regulation No. 891: applications are accepted until 1 October of the relevant year. In practice the window opens in summer, and it is worth applying closer to the start than to the deadline itself — the Agency needs time left to review and pay out within the same year.

From there the calendar is predictable: the decision to grant or refuse the payment is taken within one month of receiving the application, and the payment itself is made within three months of the decision — provided funds for this purpose have been allocated in the budget.

The LAD route follows a different logic: the Natura 2000 compensation is filed together with the spring Single Application, and its deadline comes earlier — you have to follow LAD's general area-payment calendar, not DAP's October deadline. If your property is in Natura 2000, check the Single Application deadlines in advance: miss the spring window and you wait until next year.

What it means when buying and selling (and where MezaData fits)

For a seller or owner the takeaway is direct: if your forest carries a nature-protection restriction, you are most likely owed money that many people simply never collect. It does not fully offset the loss in stand value, but €52–196/ha a year is a real cash flow worth filing for before the relevant deadline.

For a buyer the picture is two-sided. A property with a restriction loses commercial value — part of the area cannot be felled, and that has to be priced in. But the same property also carries an offsetting compensation flow that passes to the new owner along with the restriction. In a price negotiation it is fair to count both sides, not just the discount.

The first step either way is to find out whether a restriction exists at all. Nature-protection layers — microreserves, biotopes, Natura 2000 — are checked in the "Ozols" nature-data system (ozols.gov.lv) and on geolatvija.lv. MezaData helps earlier: for each stand we surface the `saimn_d_ie` field from the State Forest Register — the flag for economic-activity restrictions. If the value is neither empty nor neutral, that is a signal not to sign blind but to open "Ozols" first and find out the type and area of the restriction. It does not replace an official record, but it lets you decide in a minute whether to dig deeper.

Sources

• likumi.lv — Cabinet Regulation No. 891 "Noteikumi par saimnieciskās darbības ierobežojumiem, par kuriem pienākas kompensācija…" — forest-land rates (€196 / 145 / 52 per ha), minimum area 0.1 ha, deadline 1 October, decision and payout timeframes. Latest amendment — No. 426 (02.07.2024).
• likumi.lv — Law "Par kompensāciju par saimnieciskās darbības ierobežojumiem aizsargājamās teritorijās" — two compensation types (annual payment and land buyback), one compensation per property per year, no double-claiming after a one-off payment.
• VARAM — "Precizēti kompensāciju apmēri…" (02.07.2024) — alignment of state-budget rates with the Natura 2000 / EU-fund level for 2023–2027.
• VMD — "Atbalsts par mežu Natura 2000 teritorijā" — the LAD route: Single Application in EPS, ownership as of 15 June, restriction as of 1 March, bogs excluded.
• Nature Conservation Agency (DAP) — compensation — administration of the annual payment and land buyback through DAP, how to apply, checking a property in "Ozols".