Koiva-Gauja forestry heritage culture and conservation area
On 1 October, the heritage culture maintenance and conservation area of the Koiva River, which runs through the counties of Valga and Valka, was opened, covering 80 kilometres of forest trails. The 18 km bicycle trail, with seven points of interest, begins and ends in the Tellingumäe car-park. This is also the location of the beginning and end of a 2 km trail with nine points of interest.
The aim of this joint area is to introduce the varied heritage cultural objects of the area. “For example, old farm and manor buildings, mills, boundary markers, notable wooded meadows, sacrificial stones and pines.
According to the leading partner of the project, RMK, the joint heritage culture maintenance and conservation area is located on the banks of the border river Koiva/Gauja. The heritage culture area, established in Valga County on the Estonian side and Valka County on the Latvian side, involves three trails of different lengths. The longest is a cross-border 60 km bicycle trail, with 29 different points of interest, connecting the villages of Tellingumäe in Valga County and Olinas in Valka County.
The forestry heritage culture of Estonia and Latvia involves the signs of lifestyles left behind by former generations in the forests. The heritage culture maintenance and conservation area was established in cooperation between the State Forest Management Centre (RMK), the Latvian state forest keeper State Forest Service, and the administration of Northern Vidzeme Biosphere Reserve. The established maintenance and conservation area was funded with EEK 500 000 from the European Union. In total, almost EUR 1 million has been planned for mapping and exhibiting the heritage culture of the area in 2009–2010, 85% of which is being covered by funds of the European Union.
