Each district is led by a forest district manager, who has autonomy in managing forests according to the forest management plan and who is responsible for their condition. There are 430 forest districts, with average area of 17 500 ha. This means timber sales must finance the “basic forest management tasks” (e.g. silviculture, forest protection) that the LP carries out. When the Forest Act was passed in 1991, it included no taxation of timber sales income, the aim being to facilitate the LP’s transition to a market economy.