Staicele - Latvia

Staicele- Nordic pearl of Latvia

Staicele town and its rural territory

www.staicele.lv

Territory – 258.23 square km, incl. 47% of agricultural lands, 51% - forests Population 2052, density 9 per 1 square km.
Staicele town and its rural territory is situated in the north- east of Limbaži region and it borders on the Republic of Estonia.
Staicele got its name from an innkeeper, a woman of Swedish origin, who once lived on the bank of the river. Because of her tall, slender stature, she was called ‘"Stazele"’, then the name was Latvianized and thus the town got its name.
As there was no bridge across the river, the woman did also the work of the ferryman. A monument to her has been erected here and hence the history of Staicele starts.
The beginning of Staicele is the year 1897, when the construction of a paper-mill was started. In 1997 Staicele was acknowledged to be the tidiest provincial town in Limbaži region and in the “Sējējs ’97”’ for the development of the civil parish it won the first prize in the country.
There is an open-air stage "Zem Ozola" on the river bank, and many beautiful festivals, theatre performances and concerts are annually organized there. Traditionally every year on the second Saturday of May "Staiceles vimbas" festival takes place.

The territory is rich in forests, swamps and water resources, variety of flora, nesting places of birds that are scarce in the world. In the length of 30 km the picturesque river Salaca crosses it.
Populated places Vīķi and Rozēni are located in the rural territory. The distance from the town center to Riga is 130 km, to Valmiera – 62 km, to Limbaži – 45 km, to Ainaži – 30 km.

The potential of production development in the territory is mainly connected with reorientation of Staicele paper-mill. At present it produces paper-packaging bags. Forest working and woodworking is developed. It is also envisaged to begin charcoal production.

Staicele’s future plans are connected with the development of tourism. The nature has taken care of creating opportunities for wonderful rest near the waters of the river Salaca, in the surrounding woods and swamps. At present it is possible to enjoy all this while staying in the hotel "Mačkalni” and Guest house “Rozeni” which is situated 6 km from Staicele. It is impossible to separate strictly one span of the river from the other. It ties several territories closely together, making them think of a common goal. It is very important to establish contacts with other self-governments, with which we are already united by an enormous project “Ziemeļu stīga”. The boarder between Latvia and Estonia should not become a hindrance for tourism and we must find the magnet, which would attract tourists.

Such a kind of cooperation project “The Nord Livonia” has been supported by European Union Credo programme. It unites several Estonian borderlands municipalities as well as Staicele and Mazsalaca, but Staicele, in its turn, can be considered to be the point of contiguity for Latvian and Estonian Livs. On 27^th March, 1999 the first estate of Salaca district (Metropolis) Liv culture and information centre- museum ”Privālind” was opened in Staicele.

In Europe and in the whole world extinction of different species of animals and birds can be observed. In some countries also stork is almost fully extinct (e.g. Belgium, Denmark, Holland). Staicele is the farthest northern place where these magnificent birds nest in colonies. In Staicele town emblem a white stork is outlined against the background of the dark blue sky. In September of 1998, supported by Staicele town council, an open public foundation "Latvijas Stārķa fonds” was founded. It is this foundation that determines the local inhabitants' attitude, choice and necessity to preserve everything and to demonstrate it to others in a scientifically correct way. According to the existing information such a museum, specially built for the stork, can be met neither in eastern nor in central Europe.

The dream of Staicele is to establish Tourism and information centre “Stork” in order to reflect the diversity of natural resources of the region and to form the awareness in the north Vidzeme reserve of biosphere. Establishing this centre topical, problems of the reserve as well as those of the whole of Latvia will be solved:

• ensuring of biological diversity of international significance tracts of swamps,
• estimate of territorial natural resources and popularization of the possibility of their long–term utilization
• formation of social awareness and environmental education, popularization of environment-friendly life-style, European scale endangered bird species – black and white stork – biological estimate and protection of their population.
• The museum will be formed with a special image, beginning with its architectonic performance resembling a bird with folded wings in flight. Its beak will be made of a transparent 18 m high tinted glass pyramid and it will be placed on the highest hill in Staicele – Ruku hill. Down below the Salaca – not always peaceful river – can be seen. In the future artificially made stork nests will be placed (two of them have already been put up) in the territory of the center.

In Staicele district descents in dingoes along the river Salaca are very popular in summer, starting from the lake Burtnieki in Valmiera region and going as far as Salacgrīva, where the Salaca flows into the wide waters of the Baltic sea – thus uniting us farther with the wide world.

Sports fans are invited to a modern sports center with several Mini golf courses.

Beside the tourism development areas mentioned above, in the future Staicele development will be closely connected with Youth Football centre of  Vidzeme region who is situated in Staicele .In summer of 2004 there are opened hostel with 160 places for young football players who are learn in  a specialized football boarding- school.

One of the main goals of the municipality is to raise the quality of local public life and to ensure long-term regional development based on active participation of the inhabitants. Therefore during the last half-year the self-government has been trying to find out all its values and needs to elaborate the most well- becoming plan for development of territory.