The pathway for efficient operations in private forests : O1: Handbook

Net4Forest;priročniki;zasebni lastniki gozdov;zasebni gozdovi;handbook;private forest owners;private forests;Net4Forest;info:eu-repo/classification/udc/630*68

The pathway for
efficient operations in
private forests

O1: Handbook

Net4Forest – O1: Handbook: The pathway for efficient operations in private forests

2

Imprint
This document is issued by the following partners:
Slovenian Forestry Institute (Slovenia)
Foundation Centre for Support of Forest Owner Cooperation (Latvia)
Estonian Private Forest Centre (Estonia)
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Sweden)
Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (Spain)

Submission date: October 2019

Lead Partner for the compilation of this document:
Slovenian Forestry Institute: Darja Stare and Nike Krajnc
Contact:
Slovenian Forestry Institute/Gozdarski Inštitut Slovenije
Večna pot 2

SI-1000 Ljubljana

Dr. Nike Krajnc
Tel: +386 1 200 7817
Fax: +386 1 257 3589
E-mail: nike.krajnc@gozdis.si
E-mail: net4forest@gmail.com

Further information about the Net4Forest project on:

Slovenia: www.gozdis.si/projekti/net4forest-mreza-znanja-za-ucinkovitejse-gospodarjenje-z-
zasebnimi-gozdovi-/
Latvia:
www.mezsaimnieks.lv/jaunumi/projects/erasmus-projekts-network-of-knowledge-
for-efficient-private-forests/
Estonia:
www.eramets.ee/net4forest/
Sweden:
www.slu.se/institutioner/skogsmastarskolan/forskning/net4forest/
Spain:
http://blog.ctfc.cat/en/?s=net4forest ; https://twitter.com/ctforestal?lang=ca

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INTRODUCTION
An innovative handbook for forest owners is developed to increase income from their forest
through lowering costs without neglecting environmental constraints on one side and
efficient marketing of wood and forest services on the other side.
Handbook is presenting situation in all participating countries by giving the insight on private
forest owners sector and their main innovation needs. Partners will identify the needs of
forest owners and address them in one chapter of this handbook. Selected and presented
topics (in handbook) will be further elaborated in technical guidelines that will further support
efficient forest operations in private forests.

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Table of Contents
ESTONIA .....................................................................................................................................
6
1.1.
Forests and forestry in Estonia....................................................................................
7
1.1.1.
Issues regarding forests and forestry in Estonia
..................................................
9
1.1.2.
How climate change affects forestry in Estonia? ..............................................
10
1.2.
Forest production chains...........................................................................................
11
1.2.1.
Reforestation .....................................................................................................
11
1.2.2.
Forest maintenance ...........................................................................................
13
1.2.3.
Clear cutting .......................................................................................................
14
1.2.4.
Service providers
................................................................................................
14
1.3.
Wood market ............................................................................................................
15
1.4.
Forest ownership
.......................................................................................................
19
1.4.1.
Private forest owners
.........................................................................................
20
1.4.2.
Identification of forest owners needs................................................................
22
1.5.
References and links to available literature
..............................................................
24
LATVIA ......................................................................................................................................
25
2.1.
Forests and forestry in Latvia ....................................................................................
26
2.2.
Forest production chains...........................................................................................
29
2.3.
Wood market ............................................................................................................
32
2.4.
Forest ownership
.......................................................................................................
35
2.4.1.
Private forest owners
.........................................................................................
36
2.4.2.
Identification of forest owners needs................................................................
38
2.5.
References and links to available literature
..............................................................
40
SLOVENIA .................................................................................................................................
41
3.1.
Forests and forestry in Slovenia ................................................................................
42
3.1.1.
Managing ...........................................................................................................
43
3.1.2.
Key actors in Slovenian forestry ........................................................................
43
3.1.3.
Main issues
.........................................................................................................
44
3.2.
Forest production chains...........................................................................................
45
3.3.
Wood market ............................................................................................................
48
3.3.1.
The volume and the structure of timber removal in Slovenian forests ............
52
3.4.
Forest ownership
.......................................................................................................
53
3.4.1.
Private forest owners
.........................................................................................
54
3.4.2.
Identification of forest owners needs................................................................
57

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3.5.
References and links to available literature
..............................................................
59
SPAIN
........................................................................................................................................
62
4.1.
Forests and forestry in Catalonia ..............................................................................
63
4.2.
Adapted prevention management of wildfires in private forests ............................
63
4.2.1
Situation with private forest owners .................................................................
64
4.3.
Forest works recommendations ...............................................................................
64
4.3.1
Mosaic landscapes and different uses
...............................................................
64
4.3.2
Forest Management Recommendations at National Level ...............................
67
4.4.
Methodology to identify strategic management spots (strategic areas) .................
69
4.4.1
Typology of fires
.................................................................................................
70
4.4.2
Main silvicultural treatments for fire prevention:
.............................................
72
4.4.3
Prediction of future forest fires by means of analysing the historical ones: ....
75
4.5.
Global organisation of the wildfire prevention in the Catalan society and at EU level

 ...................................................................................................................................
76
4.6.
Summary of the key concepts:
..................................................................................
79
4.7.
References and links to available literature
..............................................................
80
SWEDEN ...................................................................................................................................
81
5.1.
Forests and forestry in Sweden
.................................................................................
82
5.2.
Forest production chains...........................................................................................
85
5.3.
Wood market ............................................................................................................
86
5.4.
Forest ownership
.......................................................................................................
86
5.4.1.
Private forest owners
.........................................................................................
87
5.4.2.
Identification of forest owners needs in Sweden
..............................................
87
5.5.
References and links to available literature
............................................................
101

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ESTONIA
Author: Livia Pošlin

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1.1.
 Forests and forestry in Estonia
In Estonia the total area of forest land is 2.33 million hectares, which is almost half of the
country’s territory (51.4 %). 48% of forestland is private (by the law there are about 80,000
private forest owners, another 33,000 private forest owners have their forest (at least 0,1
hectares) growing on a different land type). 24.6 % of the forests are protected and nearly
39% of the stands are over 60 years old. Mostly growing trees are pines (31.3%), birches
(29.3%) and spruces (18.8%). In this century the pine forests have been reduced a little bit,
but there has been small increase among spruce, birch, grey-alder forests and in aspen groves.
In 2017 the total stock was 486 million cubic meters and the area of the stands was 2.16
million hectares (Table 1). The growth of managed forest land has grown up to the last years
and reaches 14 million tons annually. Based on In Estonia there is 2,023,000 hectares
managed forestland. Its growing stock is 407.4 million cubic meters.

Table 1: Area of forest land and annual growth of managed forests (Source: Environment Agency).

2000
2005
2010
2015
2016
2017
2017/2020
Forest land,
thousand ha
2245
2270
2221
2310
2313
2331
103.8%
Area of stands,
thousand ha
2096
2107
2080
2146
2143
2157
102.5%
Total stock of
stands, Mm³
428
432
449
484
485
486
112.2%
Annual growth of
managed forests,
thousand m3
12832
12975
13244
14164
1468
14094
109.8%

Compared to year 2000, both total forest stock, forest stock per hectare as well as the
increase in the wood stock growth has gradually increased.
Estonian Forestry Development Plan until year 2020 marks that the annual cutting in Estonia’s
forests should be 12-15 ml m3. In 2017 the cutting volume reached 11 million m3 (Figure 1).
At the moment Estonian Forestry Development Plan 2021-2030 is being compiled and the
suggested cutting volumes might change for the next 10-year period considering also LULUCF
sector’s carbon sequestration responsibility for Estonia.

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Figure 1: Cutting volumes in Estonian forests (Source: Statistics Estonia [1]).

Figure 2: Logging volumes by forest owners (in private and state forests) 2007-2017 in Mm3.

Based on Yearbook Forest 2017 [2] in 2017 there was reforestation done on 9,571 hectares
in the state forests. 75% of the reforestation was planting, 22% was left for natural
regeneration. Seeding has continuously declined – in 2016 it was 3%. There was planted
mostly spruce (57%) and pine (37%), the rest was birch. The scarification was made on 7917.3
hectares in state forests. The current Estonian Forestry Development Plan foresees that by
2020, 40% of private forest regeneration fellings will be renewed by planting and/or sowing.
To achieve this goal 11.7 million forest plants per year are needed in private forests.
10556
12403
10134
9834
8102
7962
5737
5168
4639
6350
8165
8990
10182
10092
10008
10046
10738
11000
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Thousand m3
3.1
3.3
3
4.9
5.3
5.3
5
6.6
6.1
6.7
6.6
2.5
2.7
3.1
3.5
3.8
3.9
3.9
4.1
4.3
4.6
4.4
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Logging volumes in private and state forests 2007-2017, Mm3
Private forest
State forest

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Accordingly to Analysis of cultivation material production 2014-2016 [3] in private forests
there were planted on 5,377 hectares and sowed on 475 hectares. Altogether there were
used 8.7 million forest plants.
In Estonia forest regeneration is subsidized every year and its popularity has increased a lot.
Due to that about 77% of the applied plants have got approval for subsidy, there hasn’t been
enough for the rest in the budget.

1.1.1. Issues regarding forests and forestry in Estonia
In the processes of compiling new Estonian Forestry Development Plan 2021-2030 [4], experts
who are representing different stakeholders brought out 12 issues regarding Estonian
forestry. The reason for selecting issues is that they are giving focus on the Forestry
Development Plan that is being composed at the moment. These 12 issues are following:
• the financial mechanism for preserving the natural values of forests is not sufficient,
sustainable or fair;
• measures to fairly compensate for the restrictions have not been sufficient;
• compensation of forest owners and local governments for loss of income due to
restrictions is often insufficient or non-existent;
• the impact on forest management and land use on the carbon stock of Estonian
forests needs to be clarified with the aim of increasing the carbon stock and carbon
sequestration capacity of forests through knowledge-based management;
• the cutting volume is at level that threatens biodiversity through changes in the age
structure of forests and may threaten other ecological functions of forests. When
wording the last problem, the experts representing different stakeholders were unable
to reach consensus;
• the problem of maintaining and stimulating the productive (woody and non-woody)
functions of forests is that the maintenance and development of forestry-related
infrastructure (roads) is not sufficiently guaranteed;
• the problem of preserving, protecting and adequately improving the biodiversity of
forest ecosystems, which changes tree species mixture of private forests
economically less valuable tree species;
• problem related to the maintenance of socio-economic functions and conditions that
forest management and forest protection are in one ministry;
• the problem related to the maintenance of socio-economic functions and conditions
that the state does not have a long-term comprehensive plan for the proportion of
managed forests, restricted forests and strictly protected forests, with an impact
assessment on forestry education and employment. The development plan explains
that Estonian forestry does not have a long-term vision and that forest management
scenarios have not been prepared together with an impact assessment on forestry
education and employment. Nor does the state have a long-term plan for the
proportion of managed forests, forests with economic restrictions and strictly
protected forests;
• the continuous decrease in the number of individual forest owners and the forest
land owned by them and the intensive increase in the forest area of legal forest
owners;

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• insufficient teaching in schools of ecological traditions and forest-related traditions
of Estonian folk culture;
• natural sanctuaries would speak to more people in today's culture if they were
interpreted in terms of the relationship between forest and health.

Numerously most problems were highlighted in the fields of ecology and economy. Issues
were also formulated that were either contradictory in substance or dealt with the same issue
from different angles. Although there was mutual understanding about the need to protect
nature values and that the financial mechanism for preserving forest values was not sufficient,
sustainable or fair for forest owners. Regarding forest management it has been acknowledged
that the annual harvest will decrease due to the decline of mature forests in the future, but
activities to ensure long-term wood use are important.

1.1.2. How climate change affects forestry in Estonia?
There have been made some future prognosis how climate change affects forestry in Estonia.
The peculiarity of Estonia is the variation of air temperatures over the years and this will
remain high. The winters will certainly be warmer in the future. Precipitation and humidity
are very low throughout the year, and summer precipitation may decrease. In more negative
scenarios, weather changes lead to droughts, storms, floods.
It is difficult to predict the composition of tree species in the future. However, it can be
predicted that a significant amount of tree species will not be accrued, but neither will they
disappear. Estonia is located in the northern part of area of dominant tree species, there is
few hardwoods. As the weather gets warmer, the better for deciduous trees. The situation of
spruce trees is the most problematic in the future. Estonia’s weather varies greatly over the
years. For conifers, winter minimum temperatures become crucial, the frost on the cone has
a negative effect because it breaks certain substances from the needles - the tree consumes
energy to rebuild them and becomes more susceptible to disease. As the air warms up, the
spread of diseases, especially thorns and rootworm will be more intense. Windstorms are a
problem in the management of spruce trees, with less risk for pine and mixed forests.
Compared to half a century or a century ago, our forests have started to grow faster. Trees
grow meter and a half higher than a century ago in the same unit of time. Therefore, the
rotation may become shorter in the future. When considering the increase in rainfall,
management should plan how to do drainage and clean up the forest roads.
Approximately 38,000 people are employed in the forest sector, as well as people who are
indirectly connected with forests and the management thereof, e.g. people working in the
fields of transport, tourism and collection of non-wood products. Climate change may
considerably affect the capacity of the sector and its share in economy and employment. The
composition of forest crop and through that the quality and availability of timber from
excessively wet forests may deteriorate as the result of climate change and the costs in the
forestry sector may increase. Estonian Climate Change Adaption Development Plan until 2030
[5] suggests that, investments in the infrastructure of forests and the outreach activities
should be increased in order to ensure the preservation of use of timber and the quality of
timber and to thereby increase carbon sequestration. Forest growers and owners must be

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given advice for using nature-friendly forestry methods which mitigate climate change. More
attention should be paid on forest plant growing, forest selection, maintenance of stands,
forest protection and forest pathology.
Due to climate change, species that are currently not represented or are scarce in Estonia but
causing more and more damage in the neighboring countries (including invasive alien species)
are an increasing risk in Estonia.

1.2.
 Forest production chains
In Estonia the main purpose of wood industry is the production of conifer logs and logs d<18.
Figure 3 shows the basic scheme of wood use in Estonia. After clear cut the wood will be
transported to sawmills which are taking the best part of the timber that is meant for
construction and furniture details. Residues from the forest and leftovers from sawmills, more
than half of cutting volume, are being used for energy. Residues and leftovers are used for
woodchips and pellets. Woodchips are being produced mainly for domestic use and pellets
for export.

Figure 3: Millions of m3 wood used in 2017 in Estonia (Source: Wood Balance in 2017 by Environment
Agency [7]).

In Estonia Graanul Invest group is one of the biggest pellet producers is Europe. Pellets are
produced from softwood sawdust and wood chips. Another famous forestry company is
Estonian Cell which produces high-quality chemi thermo mechanical aspen biomass, which is
being used in paper industry. It’s important that they are able to use also aspen wood with
lower quality. They export all the product, 170,000 tons of aspen biomass per year.

1.2.1. Reforestation
When reforesting it’s important to consider what tree species to prefer. Mostly it depends on
habitat site type. The fastest growing trees are spruce (9.6 m3/ha/a), grey alder (6.6 m3/ha/a),
aspen (9.4 m3/ha/a), birch (6.5 m3/ha/a) and pine (7.4 m3/ha/a).  But it’s also important to

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consider that birch and pine trees are growing on more poor soils also. When a forest owner
is planning activities and wants to take increments in economical wise into account, the
volume increment should be multiplied by the price. For a forest owner this would be ‘stump
price’ – money which would be kept after wearing felling costs. These kinds of calculations
show that conifers have twice-triple advantage ground comparing to hardwood. Within the
last decades the average stump price has been distributed approximately like this: if spruce’s
stump price is 100%, then pine’s is 90 – 110%, birch’s 70-85%, aspen’s 30-45% and alder’s 20-
50%.
There are very good results of growing birch forests at better site types when managing
forests consistently by thinning, trimming etc. The most profitable would be two-storied
stand, where the first layer of forest as dominant tree species would be birch (or also pine)
and the second layer would be spruce. When looking at the general efficiency of different
tree species (whole increment at a certain period with dead timber) at identical site
conditions, then the most successful is to grow conifers. The increment in the best birch
forests can be quite high, but the productivity (based on volume) is higher in conifer stands.
There are few ways to reforest – to seed, to plant or to leave it for natural regeneration. When
deciding to seed then usually it’s been seeded pine, less birch. What comes to planting then
usually it has been planted spruce, pine, birch, black alder, hardwood and linden. As is the
custom the planting is for fertile and seeding for less fertile or rocky soil. Seeds can be
collected by own from forest or bought (most important such as spruce, pine, birch, black
alder, ash) from Estonian State Forest. When purchasing conifer seed it’s There are
recommendations to seed pine in the early spring after the snow has melt, birches such as
pubescens birch (Betula pubescens) and European white birch (Betula pendula) should be
seeded in early spring or late summer. Oak and ash can be seeded in spring and in autumn,
but the rodents can damage autumn-seeds.
Soil preparation is being done before the seeding, planting and also before natural
regeneration. Soil can be prepared fully or partly. Due to the price it is preferred to be done
partly. The preparation can be mechanized by ploughshare or manually by shovel. There are
being used different types of partial soil preparations:
• Furrows - for too wet soils or to alvar landscape for “fattening” the soil layer. Plants
are being planted on top of the furrow.

• Rows – are being made for temperate or for dry soils digging them over by mixing with
mineral soil of raw humus. The seeding is done in continuous or intermittent rows. It’s
more reasonable to sow in intermittent rows – in every meter 0.5 m of seeding.

• Patches – are being made on recent clear areas where the roots have not been
plucked up. The size of the patch depends on the fertility of the site type. There are
bigger patches on fertile areas. When planting on a patch, then one maintenance time
could be enough during the planting year. On small clearing the soil can be prepared
by shovel. In this case the usual size of patches should be 50x50 cm, but on a less
fertile land the patches can be smaller. When sowing the distance between patches

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should be around 1-1.5 m, when planting then 1.5-2 m. There should be 15-25 conifer
seeds sowed on seeding patch, which makes it 0.3-0.4 kg seeds per hectare.

Spades or planting pipes are being used mainly for planting the forest. Planting bars and soil
axes are being used less often. Plants can be carried in buckets or in special plant carrying
equipment that is convenient to attach to the body.
In Estonia there used to be regulation which regulated reforestation with certain origin
reforestation material. Due to the similar climate conditions in the whole country now it’s
allowed to use reforestation material anywhere in Estonia irrespective of the origin of
material.
The forest material producer has to check the quality of the plants and assure that they are
healthy and viable. The suppliers of the reforestation material are obligated to send twice a
year marketing report about the cultivation material to Estonian Environmental Board. That’s
necessary for the overview of how much has been marked, imported, exported etc. It helps
to give prognosis whether the production needs should be increased or if there is enough
demand.
When reforesting it’s recommended to prefer the seeds (or plants grown out of them) from
the same region. Estonian reforestation material production has increased throughout the
recent years. Ideally the production should increase even more so the local reforestation
material could cover most of the needs in the country.
The easiest is to order the reforestation plants from Forest owners’ association, who generally
has contracts with bigger manufacturers and mediators. Usually the plants should be
preordered for half a year, otherwise there could be no plants left on the market.

1.2.2. Forest maintenance
Tending of thicket
After the reforestation the weed around the small tree plants starts blocking the sunlight and
nutrients. In Estonia there are no chemicals allowed to use in forests. Methods for killing weed
are treading weed under feet, cut weed with scythe or with trimmer. Weed should be repelled
up to 5th year after cultivation. On the first year of cultivation the weed is being repelled 1-3
times per year, later on 1-2 times per year.

Maintaining forest
According to forest age and health conditions maintenance fellings are divided into:
• Cleaning is done in the forest aged 5-20 or in the stands with diameter up to 8 cm.
Main purpose of this felling is to design tree species mixture and to improve light
and victual conditions.
• First thinning is usually done in 20-40 year-old stand. Main purpose of thinning is to
complete designing tree species mixture, by raising the value of a stand. After the
cleaning there are growing 2,000-6,000 trees per hectare, but in the mature age

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(before clear cut) there could fit only 400-600 trees per hectare. There wouldn’t be
enough light, nutrients and water for all the trees. Thinnings are considered to be
almost the most important maintenance job in forests. When thinning forest, it’s
useful attributes should be preserved and increased.
• Sanitation cutting is usually done for sick and damaged and also for dying trees.

1.2.3. Clear cutting
In Estonia the average clear-cut area is 1.5 hectares. In the case of clear cutting 20-70 seed
trees (pines, white birches, ashes, oaks, black alders, European white elms or Scots elms)
dispersed or situated in small groups will be left as seed trees per 1 hectare. Although it’s not
necessary to leave seed trees if there are no suitable trees for seed or if there is viable
undergrowth of the tree species suitable for the forest site type. Also, it is not mandatory to
leave seed trees on a part of the cutting area which is located at a distance of less than 30
meters from the edge of a conifer stand of the seed-bearing age or less than 50 meters from
the edge of a white birch stand of the seed-bearing age.
Old crop trees (trees that are necessary to ensure the biological diversity, or the preserved
standing parts of such trees) will be left permanently in the clear cutting area with the total
volume of stem wood of at least five solid cubic meters (2-3 trees) per hectare or, in the case
of a cutting area sized over five hectares, at least ten solid cubic meters per hectare. There
are doubts if that amount of old crop trees is enough for the biodiversity and
environmentalists have made the proposal to demand the double of the amount of old crop
trees to be left irrespective of the size of the clear-cut area.

1.2.4. Service providers
In the private forests there are working private forest owners and forestry companies who
provide the service. In Estonia there are about 4700 legal persons who own forest. Some of
them are forest companies and they manage their forests intensively to gain as much profit
as possible. The biggest forestry company is Estonia is Tornator Estonia who owns over 60
000 hectares forest land in Estonia. Average individual forest owners who have only little
knowledge about forestry tend not to manage their forests or if they do then on much smaller
scale. They might do the forestry work by themselves or order it from the service provider –
directly from forestry companies or from forest owners’ associations who have contracts with
forestry companies.
The biggest forest owners’ association in Estonia is Ühinenud Metsaomanikud (United Forest
Owners’ Association) with 1144 members who own 172 000 hectares forestland. They
provide typical forest management services, possibility for forest owners to use drone and
certification (FSC and PEFC) service. Forest certification is a mechanism that helps to control
the quality of forest operations. There are PEFC and FSC certifications in Estonia. FSC forest
certification is distributed into: FSC forest management certification, FSC supply chain
certification, FSC controlled wood. PEFC forest certification is distributed into: PEFC forest
management certification service.

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1.3.
 Wood market
The options of selling wood are selling standing trees and selling wood at forest roadside.
Selling wood at forest roadside requires quite good knowledge about forestry and there is a
lot of risk for the owner to succeed in the best way with the forestry work and wood sales.
Selling standing trees requires less work for the forest owner, but there will be uncertainty
about the real value of the forest and the profit might be smaller comparing to the first
method.
Estonian Private Forest Centre has a contract with a forestry expert in order to have the
quarterly overview of the wood prices. Table 2 shows the overview of wood prices of different
assortments from 2011-2018.

Table 2: Wood prices without sales tax (Source: Wood price information by Estonian Private Forest
Centre [6]).
Sortiment eur/tm
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2011-
2018
pine log
65
66
70
74
69
66
70
81
70.2
pine poletimber
61
61
64
68
64
62
65
77
65.4
spruce log
62
63
71
73
68
66
72
80
69.4
spruce poletimber
60
61
65
68
64
63
68
77
65.7
birch bundle
80
95
100
96
91
90
93
117
95.2
birch log
58
59
59
59
60
59
61
74
61.1
aspen log
38
37
41
41
40
37
37
43
39.3
alder log
39
39
39
39
37
33
33
40
37.4
pine pulpwood
43
33
37
36
30
32
36
60
38.4
spruce pulpwood
42
31
36
35
29
30
36
60
37.5
birch pulpwood
43
38
35
35
33
30
32
55
37.6
aspen pulpwood
30
32
34
32
30
27
27
39
31.3
firewood
27
25
24
24
23
21
23
31
24.8

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Figure 4: Average wood prices per year without sales tax.

Europe is expecting a huge supply of damaged wood in summer 2019, which in turn will
depress the price of cheaper assortments, pulpwood and firewood. Also, in Estonia there are
signs of a rapidly growing bark beetle’s damage. While there is similar demand for conifer logs
as previously or slightly downward, then among birch log buyers there are different directions
and it’s expected that the businesses are rising and falling prices in the second quarter in
2019. The spring caused decrease in the felling activity and the offer of round logs which will
not bring to the market any increase of prices in the second quarter of 2019.
During the last three years the import of wood chips has increased. The other way around is
with wood pellets - their import has decreased. What comes to export of wood chips and
pellets then this has increased during last three years. The import of fuel wood in logs, in
billets, in twigs, in faggots or in similar forms has increased remarkably during last three years,
but the export shows no trend in decrease or increase. Export of wood pellets and wood chips
is increasing until wood usage will be limited by regulation or market demand. The import of
biofuels depends on domestic wood demand, wood prices, weather for forest works and
renewal of forestry development plan, but since demand for wood fuel is increasing, export
situation is rather promising. Table 3 shows the import and export of wood fuels on year 2017.

0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Price (euro)
pine log
pine
poletimber
spruce log
spruce
poletimber
birch bundle
birch log
aspen log
alder log
pine
pulpwood
spruce
pulpwood
birch
pulpwood
aspen
pulpwood
firewood

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Table 3: Import and export of wood fuels in 2017.

Import
Export

euro
ton
euro
ton
Fuel wood, in logs, in billets, in twigs, in
faggots or in similar forms; wood in
chips or particles; sawdust and wood
waste and scrap, whether or not
agglomerated in logs, briquettes, pellets
or similar forms
5 226 919
103 729
209 442 461
1 979 447

Fuel wood, in logs, in billets, in twigs, in
faggots or in similar forms
1 479 061
15 601
17 614 055
226 613
of which coniferous
785 278
9 966
4 513 212
90 166
of which non-coniferous
693 783
5 635
13 100 843
136 447

Wood in chips or particles
1 494 918
48 644
31 262 897
477 196
of which coniferous
557 696
13 211
27 148 404
424 613
of which non-coniferous
937 222
35 433
4 114 493
52 583

Sawdust and wood waste and scrap,
agglomerated in logs, briquettes, pellets
or similar forms
1 846 859
23 715
159 882 757
1 263 081
of which wood pellets
1 289 498
8 198
159 317 745
1 250 596
of which other
557 361
15 517
565 012
12 485

Sawdust and wood waste and scrap, not
agglomerated
406 081
15 769
682 752
12 557
of which sawdust
253 264
10 334
108 257
460
of which other
152 817
5 435
574 495
12 097

In 2017 total volume of wood balance was 16.9 ml m3 (Figure 4) which is ca 5% bigger than
the wood balance on year 2016. Most important wood sources were forest felling (73% of
total balance) and import (20%). The biggest areas of use were exporting (62%) wood and its
products and using wood for energy (34%).

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Figure 5: Generalized chart for the wood balance in 2017 (Source: Wood Balance 2017 by Estonian
Environment Agency [7]).

In the process of compiling wood balance there were also observations made for prognosis
about the need for wood in the coming years. The forestry companies estimated that the
need for wood on year 2021 would be covered by an increase in imports of 1.5-2m3 or cutting
volume at level 13.5 ml m3.
In 2017 80% of the exported round wood, 2.5 million cubic meters or a quarter of the felling
volume, was paper wood, which is currently practically unused in Estonia. Saw logs are also
sold in frontier areas and near ports, but in smaller quantities and in situations where lower
transport costs make it more profitable to sell material for export than to industry. Within 7
years, imports of saw logs have increased 81%, most of it comes from Russia, but Estonia is
increasingly importing material for post-processing from Latvia, Finland and Sweden. To some
extent Estonia exports logs to China. 70-80% of wood products (related to construction –
sawn and planed timber, prefabricated houses, window frames, doors, glue-laminated
timber, wooden furniture and their parts) are exported. In 2017 most of wood products were
exported to Sweden, Finland, Norway and Germany. Continuously Estonia is exporting only a
little to Eastern Europe.

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1.4.
 Forest ownership
Here in this paragraph is overview about forest ownership based on Yearbook Forest 2017 [2]
by Estonian Environment Agency. Estonia there are about 113 000 forest owners with 1066
mil ha of forestland. Approximately another half of the forests belong to State Forest. Based
on the data that was collected in 2015 the average size of private forest ownership was 9.3
ha. Individual persons had that 6.4 and legal persons 65.7 ha. 44.4% of individual forest
owners own less than 2 ha of forestland. So, the forestry land is quite fragmented. Average
size of legal person’s forest land is 65.7 ha. Ordinary forest owner lives far from property and
has no forestry education.

Figure 6: Distribution of forest land area by ownership categories (NFI 2017).

54.6% of private forest owners are females and owning 36.7% of private forest land. The
average size of forest land owned by male is 7.5 ha and owned by female is 5.2 ha. Thus,
males own more forest land and the average size of the forest that belongs to them is
noticeably bigger than females’.
Based on age the biggest size of forest land is owned by individual forest owners in age group
41-50 years (22.4% of forest land among the individual owners), 51-60 years (24.9%) and 61-
70 years (19.6%). In those age groups the size of forest land is bigger than in other age groups.
The younger the owner, the smaller is his/her forest land. Also, the elderly people hold smaller
forest lands comparing to middle age people.
The tree composition of private forests is more inclined towards deciduous trees (58% of the
area and 52% of the growing stock) while in state forests deciduous trees cover roughly 34%
of the forest area and 32% of the growing stock. One of the primary reasons for the greater
representation of deciduous species in private forests is that afforestation tended to occur on
former (private) agricultural land. The intensity of total fellings in private forests has been
increasing (~2-3  m3/ha/a in the mid-1990s to ~6 m3/ha/a in the first half of the 2010s),
whereas in state forests it has been more stable (around 2-3 m3/ha/a) during the last two
decades. Nevertheless, there is still criticism towards private forest owners for not doing
enough investment-based activities such as reforestation or pre-commercial thinning.

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Within last ten years there have not been submitted any forest notifications (they are
compulsory when planning cuttings) about the third of the private forest land.

1.4.1. Private forest owners
By the law In Estonia there are about 80,000 private forest owners. Another 33,000 private
forest owners have their forest (at least 0,1 hectares) growing on a different land type. There
are 30 active forest owners’ associations which members are 13,240 forest owners. On the
contrary, private forest land owned by owners who belong to forest owners’ associations, is
over 500,000 ha – almost half of the total private forest land.  There is support system for
private forest owners, presented on figure 7.

Figure 7: Support system for private forest owners in Estonia.

Forest owners associations
Local forestry associations that communicate with forest owners first hand. They provide
information, know-how and practical solutions such as evaluating forest value, marking
borders, organizing forest harvests, organizing sale of timber. Associations organize group
counseling, many associations also contribute in educating school children, our future forest
owners, in forestry related issues and activities. In forestry association a forestry consultant
will make most of the contacts with the forest owners. Forest Owner`s Associations are
partially government funded. Financing is available through Private Forest Centre and is
granted for specific activities. The trend is to increase the percentage of self-financing.

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Estonian Private Forest Union
Consists of forest owners associations and represents their members (forest owners) political,
economic and other interests on policy level. With state support and in cooperation with local
associations they also educate private forest owners. Private Forest Union is self-supporting
through membership fees and different projects.
Estonian Private Forest Centre
Government-established foundation to support the development of Estonian private forestry.
Organizes informing and training of key persons of forest owners associations, forestry
advisors and forest owners, manages the funding of forest owners associations and
administrates the subsidies for private forest owners for sustainable forestry. Estonian Private
Forest Centre is government funded and intended to stay that way, since carries out
nationwide goals.
Timber sale organizations
Central Cooperative of Private Forests and Estonian Timbertrade Centre are founded by forest
owner associations. Their goal is to organize timber sale for smaller sellers and to gain a better
price when selling jointly. Joint procurement of seedlings and their division to forest owners
has also become their activity during recent years. Timber sale organizations are self-
supporting due to service charges.

Role of forest owners in development of bio-economy
Forest owners have relevantly important role in developments of bio-economy. Forest
owners’ attitude and actions in their forests could be reflected in the society and also the
opposite. Bio-economy includes many factors – wood products and bioenergy are just few of
many. There are several ways how private forest owners can contribute into developments
of bio-economy such as:
• doing reforestation (planting, sowing or leaving it to natural regeneration);
• after forest thinning producing or selling woodchips from residues or bush;
• doing nature friendly forest land improvement and forest road infrastructure;
• maintaining forest objects of cultural heritage;
• preserving or increasing species richness – forest cuttings should be preferred in
winter time, not in spring and summer when the wildlife is breeding and nesting;
thinning and clear cuttings should be preferred during the winter mostly because it
also minimizes the damage for the soil and roots;
• forest works don’t always have to be done by heavy machines that are running on
fossil fuels. If a forest owner has skills and lives nearby his/her forest site, then the
management can be done manually and therefor more slowly. Why not to take
manual work as physical exercise;
• using forest mainly for its byproducts – picking berries, mushrooms and herbs; also,
beekeeping and nature tourism play important role at forest use.

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Forest owners’ problems that they are facing at their day-to-day work in forests
As mentioned earlier in this report ordinary forest owners don’t have forestry education.
Owners who don’t have large areas to regenerate might be willing to do the planting
themselves. Mistakes can be made in plant transportation, planting, but more importantly, in
the choice of tree species. Owners should have a forest management plan and can ask an
advice from advisor about the reforestation.
Forestry machines are usually quite expensive for forest owners to buy. It’s more reasonable
to purchase forestry machines in collaboration (for example by forest owners’ association),
then there are less services to buy in and the cost of forest works are smaller for forest
owners.
Most of the roads in private forests are former farm roads. They have been extended, but
their surface is not capable of bearing heavy forestry machines. The problem becomes acute
in the spring when storm damage occurs and the roads are impossible to use and the material
deteriorates in the forest. Sometimes it’s necessary to use neighbors’ roads. According to the
law, private roads may not be used without the permission of the owner, it’s possible only in
exceptional cases. After all, the road owner could allow his/her neighbors to use their own
road, but at the same time it would damage the condition of the road. It is possible to sign a
contract with the owner of the road, which allows users to use the road and pay him/her a
certain amount. If there is no road at all and there is a plan to construct it, then it’s worth
consulting with neighboring property owners. It’s much more affordable to construct it
together.
Some forest owners are very confident and are not using any safety equipment when doing
forestry work. There is this misunderstanding that common sense is enough that prevents
accidents, but it’s not sufficient to ensure maximum safety. On forest felling, forest owners
should be using special clothing, gloves and boots plus a helmet with visor and safety
earmuffs.
Under current law forest sales (selling standing trees or wood at forest roadside) is taxable.
Only when being a forest owner of so-called first round (to whom the forestland was returned
after regaining Estonia’s independence) and selling forest with the land is tax-free transaction.
Therefore, many older forest owners prefer to sell the land too when deciding to sell forest,
so they would not have to pay tax. Certain changes in the tax system would solve the problem.

1.4.2. Identification of forest owners needs
Recently there was a survey conducted among private forest owners with a purpose to create
the profile of average forest owner in Estonia and to identify the owner’s needs. Based on the
answers we can give short overview that the average forest owner is:
• Estonian, working employee, lives in rural area, gained the forest via inheritance and
is sole owner, has owned forest for more than 6 years;
• wants to keep the current forest land, not planning to increase or decrease it;
• within 10 years has had thinning done in his/her forest or in the next ten years is
planning to do it;

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• has not joined a forest owner’s association and is not planning to do so, because of
not seeing the practical use of it;
• doesn’t want the state to interfere with his activities;
• doesn’t rely on forestry subsidies;
• is concerned about his/her offspring and about the nature, thus prefers
environmentally friendly forest management.

Modern forestry technology would help forest owners to increase income from their forests.
Technology that we are focusing on in this handbook are mini-harvesters and drones. Mini-
harvesters cause less negative impact on forest land soil and roots and due to its small size,
there is no need for skidding roads in the young forests. Other advantages of mini-harvesters
in pre-commercial thinning compared with big harvesters are lower operating costs and also
the price of the machine is much lower than the big harvesters. Estonian Private Forest Centre
is planning to start to subsidy forestry equipment and accessories in the next period (2021 –
2027) of Common Agricultural Policy programme.
Drones can be used for monitoring cuttings (clear cut, thinning and pre-commercial thinning).
Forest owners can also use drones for checking windstorm damages and beavers’ dams.
Another fields in forestry where drones are beneficial is checking certificate conformity.
Monitoring FSC or PEFC certified forests is part of owning a certificate. Using drones in
forestry has very low costs, it helps to save time and to provide clear overview of the forest
situation.

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1.5.
 References and links to available literature

1. Statistical Database of the Statistics Estonia.
http://pub.stat.ee/px-web.2001/Database/Majandus/databasetree.asp
2. Yearbook Forest 2017
https://www.keskkonnaagentuur.ee/et/eesmargid-tegevused/mets/valjaanded-
ulevaated/aastaraamat-mets-2017
3. Analysis of cultivation material production 2014-2016
https://www.envir.ee/sites/default/files/kultiveerimismaterjali_analuus_2014-
2016_ning_metsataimede_kasutusvajaduse_prognoos.pdf
4. Estonian Forestry Development Plan 2021-2030
https://www.envir.ee/et/eesmargid-tegevused/metsandus/metsanduse-
arengukava-aastateks-2021-2030
5. Estonian Climate Change Adaption Development Plan until 2030
https://www.envir.ee/sites/default/files/national_adaptation_strategy.pdf
6. Price info on Estonian Private Forest Centre webpage
https://www.eramets.ee/uuringud-ja-statistika/hinnainfo/
7. Wood Balance 2017 by Estonian Environment Agency
https://www.keskkonnaagentuur.ee/sites/default/files/elfinder/article_files/puidubi
lanss_2017_0.pdf

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LATVIA
Authors: Grigorijs Rozentāls, Māra Rozentāle, Mārcis Saklaurs,
A               Andis Malējs, Artis Vaivods and Gatis Megnis

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2.1.
 Forests and forestry in Latvia

Figure 8: Forests in Latvia (Source: Latvian Forest Owners’ Association).

Forests in Latvia cover 3.4 million hectares of land, or 52% of the country’s territory. The
amount of forestland is expanding, both naturally and thanks to afforestation (planting) of
unused agricultural land. Afforestation today is mostly done because of unfavorable location,
small plot size, poor accessibility and soil quality. Due to high demand for agricultural land by
productive farms, over last few years, afforestation has noticeably slowed down.

Figure 9: Forest area in Latvia 2000-2018 (thousand ha) according to international forest definition
(=Include forest stands, damaged stands, burnt areas, windfalls, cutting areas, gaps and the land under
forest infrastructure facilities) (Source: LATVIAN FOREST SECTOR IN FACTS & FIGURES).

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Volume of standing timber (stock) in the forest is increasing. Cutting reaches only around 50
percent of the annual increment. This is due to many forest management restrictions, often
not compensated to the owners, that require significant share of forest land to be set aside
for nature protection. State is still very much involved in also restricting forest management
in commercial forests, by establishing cutting ages, cutting diameters, protective belts along
water bodies and wetlands, sizes for cutting areas, number of trees to be left after harvesting,
etc. Not much is done to motivate and educate forest owners (135 thousand in total) to
practice productive commercial forestry on their properties.
But still forestry work in Latvia has been very successful. During last ten years, on an average,
approximately 10 - 12 million m³ of roundwood is being harvested every year. Such harvested
volume has enabled establishment of a modern and competitive wood processing industry,
which includes sawmilling as well as plywood and board production.

Figure 10: Total growing stock volume in million m3 (Source: LATVIAN FOREST SECTOR IN FACTS &
FIGURES).

The forest sector is one of the cornerstones of the national economy. Forestry, wood
processing and furniture manufacturing represented 4.8 percent of GDP in 2017, while
exports amounted to EUR 2.2 billion – 20 percent of all exports. There are very few
municipalities in Latvia, which do not have larger or smaller wood processing companies.
Often these are the most important employers in the surrounding area, thus supporting local
(rural) economies and residents.
In historical terms, the intensive use of Latvia’s forests for economic purposes began in the
second part of 19th century. After the WWII, due to establishment of the socialist economic
system, significant share of forestland was left to natural processes. This has allowed us to
preserve considerable biological diversity. Various forest management restrictions today
apply to 28.2 percent of Latvia’s forests. This is much too much. Most of this territory is owned
by the state, but also private forests are affected. Uncontrolled expansion of these areas and
lack of compensations are a significant problem.

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Figure 11: Forestry machinery (© Foundation Centre for Support of Forest Owner Cooperation).

In all forests nearly everywhere, people are free to hike and to pick mushrooms or berries.
The number of places for recreation is increasing every year, and the territories, in which
recreation is one of the main goals of forest management, today represent 8 percent of all
forestland. Almost all these recreational areas are in state forest.
The forest sector in Latvia is under the supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture. It works with
stakeholders to draft forest policies, development strategies for the sector, as well as
regulations on forest management, the use of forest resources, environment protection and
hunting. The State Forest Service, under the Ministry of Agriculture, is the responsible agency
for supervising how the provisions of the laws and regulations are observed in forest
management irrespective of the ownership type. Since 1999, state-owned forests (half of all
forests) are managed by company “Latvijas valsts meži”. It implements interests of the state
in preserving and increasing the value of the forest and enhancing the contributions of the
forest to the national economy.

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Figure 12: Artificial forest restoration - young spruce (© Foundation Centre for Support of Forest Owner
Cooperation).

Main issues today are:
• Ongoing expansion of areas covered by practically uncompensated forest management
restrictions, which leads to conflicts and discourages green practices of forest owners.
• Providing forest owners with more freedom to decide forest management issues
themselves, rather than by the state officials and organizations.
• Assistance to forest owners through education, unbiased advice and forest owner co-
operation.
• Proper control of game animals through hunting is not happening. Freely roaming herds
of deer and elk do significant damage to commercial forestry.

2.2.
 Forest production chains
In all forests, due to high costs of manual harvesting and general lack of skilled workers,
mechanized harvesting today is the dominant method. Because of comparatively rich soils,
almost any harvesting activity starts with manual cutting the undergrowth. Mechanization at
this stage is still very rare. Then roundwood assortments are harvested by machines,
forwarded to roadside by forwarders and delivered by trucks to the buyer. As forests in the
cutting sites often have not received proper silviculture treatments, chainsaw operators are
usually needed at the end to remove large leftover trees with big canopies, which are difficult
(or impossible) to handle and delimb by a harvester.
Logging residues for chipping can be taken out from the forest at the cutting time or later,
when they have dried out. If it is done at cutting time, roundwood forwarders will generally
perform the task. This is more expensive and, as forwarding work needs to be payed, tends

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to tie up working capital. If forwarding is done later, due to drying, energy wood is higher
value and less working capital is needed. Adapted agricultural tractors are then usually
employed. Ideally, residues should stay in forest over the summer until autumn, when, due
to lower air temperatures, energy chip market becomes more active. At the current energy
chip price level, residues are seldom forwarded to the roadside more than 500-700 meters.
Unless owner, in order to clear the site for soil preparation and planting, is ready to give
residues away for free. Then distances can be larger.

Figure 13: Harvesters (© Foundation Centre for Support of Forest Owner Cooperation).

Ten years ago, harvesting was still often done by the owner himself and his family members.
These were chainsaw-based operations. In such cases forwarding to the roadside was often
done by neighbor’s adapted agricultural tractor. Today this is very seldom the case. With the
large number of assortments (more than ten in almost every cutting project is very normal)
to maximize harvest value, skills in assortment preparation and wood quality grading are
needed.  And these skills are often not possessed by the owners themselves. Generational
change is also taking place. The young owners today are less and less keen to perform
physically demanding manual tasks required in chain saw harvesting.

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Figure 14: Stacked birch logs (© Foundation Centre for Support of Forest Owner Cooperation).

Utilization of small-scale machinery in forest harvesting has not yet happened. Even though
various projects have been ongoing to popularize such equipment. Medium (mostly) and large
commercial harvesters do most of the cutting. And the same applies to forwarding.
Significant problem for timber transportation is generally poor condition of forest roads in
private forests. This increases transport related risks (and often costs) due to weather
conditions, particularly warm winters and heavy rain. Problematic weather conditions have
not been uncommon lately. Repairs on roads are often needed after trucking and forwarding
is finished. Spoiling of valuable (perishable) assortments, when transportation cannot be
done, can happen. This leads to losses for the owner. It is not common for forest owners to
work together to maintain forest roads connecting their properties to the general road
network.
Quality of forest operations is best controlled by the owner himself. But, in most cases, it
depends on the companies, organizing these operations. Certification schemes have led to
occasional site audits from the roundwood buyers. But these are random and far apart, to
make any impact. More attention to work quality issues is paid in companies which have
engaged themselves in chain of custody schemes.

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2.3.
 Wood market
Both wood selling methods: on the roadside and selling standing trees are commonly used.
Deals are generally done based on measurements of standing trees or measurements of
delivered assortments done at the buyer.
Historically selling of standing trees was dominant. It was done based on measurements of
standing trees. Measurement data then could be used to obtain several offers (or used in
auction) and to arrive at the highest possible bid. Benefits of such a system: highest bidder
can be identified and sales price fixed (and often also paid) before cutting the stand. Seller
can use this method even if he or she does not have deeper knowledge and understanding
on wood harvesting.  All the quality, price, weather etc. risks are carried by the buyer and,
after money is paid, are not any more a concern for the seller. It is important to agree in
advance on how to deal with possible soil, drainage and road damages, damages to trees in
neighboring properties, damaged border markings, etc. Drawbacks: measurement of standing
trees is not precise and does not take wood quality aspects into account. Attention has to be
paid to the quality and honesty of measurement, as it sometimes can be biased towards a
certain buyer. This system, if applied properly, can work in clear cuts. But it is difficult in
commercial thinning, where trees to be cut would have to be marked (additional cost). It has
to be noted, that such marking would not guarantee leaving of unmarked trees standing by
the buyer. This becomes even more difficult with mechanized cutting, which today is a norm
also in commercial thinning. Generally, popularity of this method is decreasing.

Figure 15: Roundwood warehouse of birch logs (© Foundation Centre for Support of Forest Owner
Cooperation).

Selling wood on the roadside is mostly used by larger forest owners and farmers, which may
have some agricultural tractors adapted to perform forwarding work. Such a method requires

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skills to organize harvesting work and evaluate qualification of the workers. Some
understanding of the timber market and quality aspects of roundwood assortments comes
useful. Control measurements can be done on ready (stacked) assortment piles therefore
quality risks can be better managed and precision of such measurements (cubic meters
measured) is considerably higher. Key to the success in this method is in qualifications of the
owner or his employees. A lot of timber value can be lost in harvesting, if it is not organized
properly.
In the last few years the third selling method is fast gaining popularity. Sales of standing
timber are done based on their real (arithmetic) value, which is determined in the end, when
trees are cut, forwarded and delivered to the buyer, measured and harvesting costs
subtracted from the revenues.  Such a method is used by co-operatives and some commercial
companies. It requires an honest, efficient and reliable partner with good reputation to
organize all the work. Owner in such way can get the maximum value for his or her timber.
Such a method works very well not just in clearcuttings, but also in commercial thinning as
owner gets paid for the trees that are really cut. But for such a method to work, trust is the
key.

Figure 16: Roundwood warehouse (© Foundation Centre for Support of Forest Owner Cooperation).

Understanding of wood market and effective timber trading requires skills. Different
measuring and quality grading methods co-exist. All solid cubic meters are not equal. Which
means that it is possible to choose buyer, who measures less and pays higher price or vice
versa. Depending on priorities of the seller. Higher price may come hand in hand with
different grading approaches. It is very common to have general (announced) price and

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separate additional price based on larger volume deliveries and bi-agreements. This makes it
almost impossible for unexperienced owners to get the best value for their trees. There are
few wood price trend sources, that are publicly available. Co-operative Mežsaimnieks also has
such information in Latvian language on their web page.
Latvian timber market can be characterized by quite significant volatility and price
fluctuations. Particularly for pulpwood, where domestic market is used as marginal supplier
by pulp producers in Sweden, Germany and Finland to regulate pulpwood prices in their
respective home markets.

Figure 17: Export markets for the main products of the forest sector in 2017 (Million EUR) PULPWOOD
(Source: LATVIAN FOREST SECTOR IN FACTS & FIGURES).

Pulpwood prices can double in one year and fall back next year. It is not uncommon. Other
assortments are less volatile, bet still can go up and down by some 20-30 percent. Birch
sawlogs experience seasonal fluctuations, when prices are falling every summer. All of this
makes it difficult in private forests to maintain constant, uninterrupted flow of forestry work
for contractors and flow of wood for the buyers. State forests are less affected as they try to
maintain constant flow of wood irrespective on market prices. That is not possible with price
sensitive private owners.
For the Latvian timber market year 2019 is a crisis year. Practically all prices were extremely
high last year. From the beginning of this year they have come down, with some stability
reached only at the end of this summer. Outlook for the future is not very positive. Prices for
a while could stay, where they are today. Nevertheless, relative stability, after the recent
freefall, is good news.

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2.4.
 Forest ownership
Forest cover has increased from less than 30 percent in 1930s to a bit more than 52 percent
today. Practically all this increase has happened on private land through natural afforestation
of, for different reasons (war, collective farming, neglect, etc.) abandoned agricultural land.
Therefore, today there are large areas in private forest dominated by not so valuable pioneer
species, such as birch, aspen and alder. Size of the state forest, in the meantime, has remained
less or more the same and species composition there is considerably better, dominated by
commercially more valuable pine and spruce.

Figure 18: Birch forest stand (© Foundation Centre for Support of Forest Owner Cooperation).

From the total forest land of 3.4 million hectares, the Latvian state owns one half, while most
of the rest is private forest. About one third of private forests is owned by forestry companies,
mostly funded with some foreign equity capital. Several of them own more than 100 thousand
hectares and are significant players in the domestic roundwood market. The remaining two
thirds, around 1 million hectares, are owned by 135 thousand private owners.  This makes up
the share of Latvian family forestry with average property size there being around 5 hectares.

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Figure 19: Forest ownership by status, 2018 (Source: LATVIAN FOREST SECTOR IN FACTS & FIGURES).

2.4.1. Private forest owners

Figure 20: Structure of Private Forest Owners, 2018 (Source: LATVIAN FOREST SECTOR IN FACTS &
FIGURES).

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Private forest owners involved in family forestry are not well organized. Majority of the forest
owners regained their properties from 1993 to 1995. it means that majority of the forest
owners today have 13-15 years of forest management experience. During these years the
level of knowledge on forestry as well as the attitude towards forest property has improved
considerably.  The data provided by the State Forest Service states that illegal felling has
decreased during the past 7 years 10 times, and today constitutes a non-significant part of
the total felling volumes in Latvia - less than 1%. A big part of the private forests has emerged
from overgrowing of the abandoned agriculture lands. This fact explains the tree species
condition in private forests. 14% of all private forests fall into some category of protected
areas and 138 thousand ha are within NATURA 2000 areas.

Figure 21: Protected nature areas (Source: Latvian Forest Owners’ Association).

The forest owner cooperative has proven to be successful as a structure to organize forest
owners and to optimize the benefit of their forests.
Forest owner cooperation exists now for 8 years in Latvia, but it still has covered (involved)
only less than 1 percent of the forest owners and 1.5 percent of family forest land. However,
the number of private forest owners in cooperatives is growing.

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Figure 22: Members of Latvian Forest owner cooperatives (Source: MPKS Mežsaimnieks).

2.4.2. Identification of forest owners needs
Large number of forest owners, small size of holdings and generally low availability of advisory
and support services has been for decades source of problems for private forestry in Latvia.
Arrival of forest owner co-operation has already made some improvements. Forest owner co-
operation opens up broad and diverse opportunities for Latvian forest land management,
allowing the private forest owners to generate maximum income from the estate, while
maintaining the recreational and environmental values.  But it still has engaged only a small
portion of all forest owners in the country.

Figure 23: Education of forest owners in the field (© Foundation Centre for Support of Forest Owner
Cooperation).

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Despite different formal and non-formal education possibilities for Latvian forest owners,
most of them still lack forest management knowledge which impacts the quality of forest
management decisions.
EU funded education programs have improved availability of educational seminars on forest
related topics. But they are time consuming and not too many owners attend them. This
shows as a definite need for easily digestible educational materials that can be delivered to
everyone’s desktop over the social networks.
What are the most visible negative outcomes facilitated by these problems? Most of
regeneration cuttings are still today restocked naturally by less valuable tree species, such as
aspen, grey alder and birch. Planting takes place in less than 20 percent of the cut area, which
results in future forest of low economic value. Even though availability of EU funding has
increased pre-commercial cuttings, most of the owners still do not perform them properly.
Much still needs to be done to improve knowledge of the owners in the matters of general
forest management and in connecting forest owners with long term partners that can assist
in forest management, consulting and timber trade matters. Many businesses still operate
intentionally benefiting from this lack of knowledge, buying wood cheaply and providing
services at irrationally high costs.  Awareness of risks related to environmental restrictions is
still generally low.

Figure 24: Artificial forest restoration - pine plantation (© Foundation Centre for Support of Forest
Owner Cooperation).

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2.5.
 References and links to available literature

1. LATVIAN FOREST SECTOR IN FACTS & FIGURES (2019), publisher: NGO "Zaļās mājas".
2. Meža gadagrāmata (2018), publisher: SLO “Latvija aug”.
3. Bioeconomy in Latvia; MoA position, needs & opportunities. Dr.sc.agr. Ainars Nābels-
Šneiders (2019)
4. https://www.zm.gov.lv/mezi/statiskas-lapas/nozares-informacija/publikacijas?nid=1087#jump
5. http://www.mezaipasnieki.lv/en/
6. http://www.mezsaimnieks.lv/

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SLOVENIA
Authors: Darja Stare, Nina Škrk, Mirko Baša, Špela Ščap,
Matevž Triplat,  Nike Krajnc

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3.1.
 Forests and forestry in Slovenia
Slovenia is the third most forested country in Europe, after Finland and Sweden. 1,180,281 ha
of forests cover more than a half of the country, forestation amounts to 58.2%. Most of the
forests are located within the area of beech (44%), fir-beech (15%) and beech-oak (11%) sites,
all of which have a relatively strong productive capacity. Growing stock and increment have
been increasing for more than 50 years. Today the average growing stock amounts to 299
m3/ha, annual increment is 8.695.069 cubic meters of wood or 7.4 cubic meters per hectare.
The share of growing stock of coniferous trees is 47% and 53% of deciduous trees. In 2017,
the cut in Slovenian forests was almost 5 million m3 of trees, 66 % of which have been conifers
and 34% deciduous trees. The cut falls behind the possible one according to forest
management plans and it amounts to 75% of it (Poročilo Zavoda..., 2018).

Table 4: Slovenia’s forests in numbers (Poročilo Zavoda..., 2018).
Surface area
1.180.281 ha
Number of naturally growing tree species
71
Growing stock
352.878.333 m3
Annual growth of growing stock:
8.695.069 m3
Annual harvest (2017)
4,984,635 m3
Potential annual harvest (2017 forest management plans)
6.607.265 m3

Figure 25: Composition of Slovenian forests (Source: Slovenia Forest Service, 2005).

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76% of forests in Slovenia are in private property, 24% of forests are public (owned by the
state or communes). Private forest estates are small, with an average area of only 2,9 ha.
There is a large number of forest owners and co-owners, which present a serious obstacle to
carrying out professional work in private forests, optimal timber production and utilization of
forest potential. However, larger and undivided forest estates that are state-owned forests
enable good professional management.

3.1.1. Managing
Main national documents that serve as the basis for forest treatment and management in
Slovenia are (Caring ..., 2005):
- The Forests Act of the Republic of Slovenia (1993) which regulates protection, silviculture,
exploitation and use of forests based on forest management plans;
- The Forest Development Programme of the Republic of Slovenia (1996) which defines the
national policy on close-to-nature forest management, guidelines for the preservation and
development of forests and conditions for their exploitation or multipurpose use.
Managing in Slovenian forests is based on the principles of:
• sustainability - sustained preservation of forests, sustained use of their goods and
non-material functions,
• close-to-nature conception - exploitation of forests to such a degree and in a way as
to ensure the preservation of all their natural constituents and
• multipurposeness of forests - a balanced significance of ecological, productional, and
social roles of forests.
Forest tending is based on the principle of selecting trees according to the criteria of vitality,
adaptability to the site, role in the ecosystem, health condition and quality. Based on the same
principle trees are selected for possible cut in adult forests, the selection is done by district
foresters in all forests regardless of their ownership, in co-operation with forest owners and
on the basis of forest management and silvicultural plans. Clear-cut system as a way of forest
management is prohibited. Realization of silvicultural work is the responsibility of the owner.

3.1.2. Key actors in Slovenian forestry
The Slovenia Forest Service (SFS) is a public institution, established by the Republic of Slovenia
(The Act on Forests, 1993), which performs public forestry service in all Slovenian forests,
irrespective of ownership. It is nearly entirely funded from the budget of the Republic of
Slovenia whereas hunting reserves with a special purpose are mostly self-financed. It does
not itself perform any felling, extraction, transport and selling of wood, nor forest trade. The
principal tasks of the Slovenia Forest Service are forest management planning, silviculture and
protection of forests, forest technology use, construction and maintenance of forest roads,
public service at the field of wildlife management, education of forest owners, advisory
service for forest owner, popularization of forests and forestry, management of hunting areas
with special purpose. Among the most important fields of activities of a district forester is co-
operation with forest owners in the form of advising, educating and training for carrying out

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professional work of silviculture and forest protection. Realisation of silvicultural work is the
responsibility of the owner (Caring ..., 2005).
The Slovenian Forestry Institute (SFI) is a public research institute. It conducts basic and
applied research on forests and forest landscapes, forest ecosystems, wildlife ecology,
hunting, forest management, and other uses of the resources and services forests provide;
provides scientific knowledge on all aspects of sustainable development
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food - The field of forests and forestry at the Ministry of
Agriculture, Forestry and Food is managed by the Forestry Division within the Directorate for
Forestry, Hunting and Fisheries. It monitors the forest condition and develops system
solutions for a sustainable development of forests ecosystems and biodiversity and all the
environmental, production and social functions of forests (MKGP, 2019).
SIDG - In 2016 a new Slovenian state-owned company for managing forests in public
ownership, Slovenski državni gozdovi d.o.o. (SiDG), has been established. SIDG is responsible
for:
• timber harvesting,
• timber sales,
• transporting wood assortments,
• maintaining forest infrastructure (except forest roads),
• forest protection and silvicultural work,
• any other work which is necessary for the provision of social and ecological functions,
• other activities that are directly or indirectly related to state forest lands.
Company operates based on the system of public tenders, which are the basis for the
selection of contractors to perform sylvicultural operations in state forests. Wood is sold
directly to the consumers by SiDG (Slovenski ..., 2019).
Other: Faculty for Forestry and Renewable resources, Forest inspectorate, Forest enterprises,
Agriculture and Forestry chamber, Private forest owners associations, Forestry societies and
their associations.

3.1.3. Main issues
Forest resources are under-utilized because of property fragmentation, lack of knowledge
and motivation in private part of forestry sector. Forest property is becoming even more
fragmented as the number of forest owners is increasing. Most of the private forest owners
are not interested in income from the forests due to small properties, which results in low
cutting rates. Slovenian wood market is relatively small and fragmented. Another issue in
Slovenia are constrains due to Nature Conservation as 50% of forests are situated inside the
EU Natura 2000 ecological network.
Slovenian forests have been largely damaged in recent years due to wind, sleet, snow,
followed by insects (mainly bark beetles) which are the most common reason for sanitary cut
(72% of sanitary cut in 2017). Therefore, the necessary tending cut has been reduced, thus
making planned forest management difficult and at the same time it weakens the
bioecological stability of forests. Slovenia's forests are also threatened by fires, especially in
the Karst region (Summary ..., 2016).

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Table 5: Three biggest natural disasters in recent years.
Natural disasters
Year
Extent
(% of forests)
Damaged wood
(m3)
Icebreak
February 2014
51
9.3 mio
Bark beetle attack
2015 – 2017
60
7 mio
Windbreak
11. – 13. 12. 2017
20
2.2 mio

Figure 26: Icebreak in Slovenia in 2014 (© Slovenia Forest Service).

3.2.
 Forest production chains
In private forests, the production of wood takes place through various harvesting systems.
Below are presented the three most common methods of wood extraction. Several different
factors influence the representation of presented harvesting systems, which is why some of
them are more frequently used than others.
The most common and traditional system of wood production is a technology implemented
in a combination of felling with a chainsaw and skidding with tractor. The process begins in a
forest stand, where the following stages are carried out in a specific order: felling of standing
tree, delimbing and cross-cutting. Felling is followed by skidding with an agricultural tractor,
equipped with tree point attachment winch, or agricultural tractor that is specially adapted
for working in a forest. Usually, this is a four-wheeled tractor that is additionally equipped
with a strong safety frame with nets, front and rear blade, a remote-controlled double drum

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built-in winch, chokers and wheel chains. Skidding takes place in a skid trail and continues to
a truck road, followed by the last step – transport of wood.
In steep terrain, cable yarding is most commonly used. The harvesting system starts in a forest
stand, where the forest worker fells the tree in the direction of cable line. This is then followed
by yarding from a forest stand to a forest road, where the tower cable yarding crane is placed.
A whole-tree method is used in which the worker fells the tree, but the processing and sorting
of wood assortments takes place on a forest road with the use of a multifunctional processor
head.
Fully mechanized harvesting system is primarily meant in coniferous forests to produce cut-
to-length assortments. The harvester carries out the felling, delimbing, bucking and sorting of
wood assortments. The harvester typically works in conjunction with a forwarder, which hauls
the produced wood assortments to a truck road. Transport with different versions of forestry
transport compositions is followed.
The combination of cutting with a chainsaw and skidding with a tractor is the most common
form of wood production in private forests. In addition to the structure of forest stand, the
slope of the terrain is one of the most important limiting factors in selecting the appropriate
harvesting system. According to the terrain characteristics in Slovenia, the tractor skidding is
the most common one, as it is suitable for 72% of the forest area in the country (Jakše, 2013).

Figure 27: A graphic presentation of the most common harvesting system model in Slovenia (WCM,
2019).
Forest harvesting and collection are labour-intensive and cost-burdensome activities.
Monitoring of forest operation costs is very important for economic analysis, on the basis of

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which timber harvesting and operations can be rationalized along the entire production chain.
This is very important, especially now at a time when a wide range of different technologies
are available. The WoodChainManager is a Web-based tool composed of three user modules
intended for the assessment of material costs of individual machines or the total costs of all
selected machines in a forest harvesting system. Users can test the impact of individual
technologies on the total material costs of the harvesting system and thus optimize operation
processes. The basic tool for describing harvesting systems is the matrix, which visualizes
cutting and hauling from the standing tree in the stand to the forest products at the end user
Figure 27). The tool has built-in algorithms that prevent the selection of an illogical harvesting
system. The selected method for calculating costs for individual machines is simple, but still
reflects the state of the actually incurred costs. WoodChainManager offers cost calculations
for a wide range of technologies, machines and appurtenant attachments. For all techniques,
default values are provided for the calculation of costs. Users can adapt these default values
relative to the characteristics of their own mechanization. Calculation of costs is crucial when
deciding which technique to apply and enables optimization of forest operations (Triplat and
Krajnc, 2019).
According to the current legislation (Forest Act, 1993), the owner of the forest and his family
members may work in the forest and may be assisted in the form of neighborly help. Work in
the forest can also be carried out by registered companies which meet the regulation
concerning professional competences. The Ministry of Forestry prescribes the minimum
conditions that must be fulfilled by work contractors in the form of a rule book (Pravilnik o
minimalnih…, 1994). The regulation states the conditions of professional competence
according to the type of service offered. By increasing the range of services offered, the
strictness of the criteria of appropriate professional competences is also increasing. The
Forestry Inspection issues and regularly updates the list of relevant work contractors in
forests based on the submitted documents. Currently there are 1103 registered contractors
in Slovenia, which perform several consecutive or only individual stages of wood production
(Ministrstvo za…, 2019).
Kumer (2017) states that forest owners can be divided into two categories, namely the
involved and absent. The involved forest owners are actively involved in wood production,
while the absent owners do not show such interests. Research has shown in the past
(Verderber 2010, Ahačič 2012, Žlogar 2016) that involved owners carry out most of the felling
and skidding alone with the help of family members and in the form of neighborly assistance.
The latter is mainly carried out by small landowners, who often do not have the necessary
equipment and are not trained to work in the forest, so they ask for help from neighbors,
acquaintances, and friends. For the same reason, they often decide to hire a forestry
contractor. In addition to falling and skidding, they are mostly involved in the production
chain with the transport of wood from the forest to the buyer (Žepič, 2010).
Based on the legislation in force (Pravilnik o izvajanju…, 1994), the Slovenian Forest Service is
authorized to check the implementation of felling, skidding, handling of waste wood residues,
transport and stacking of wood assortments. The Regulation lists the relevant guidelines
regarding the timing of the work, the method of tree felling, the guide for the selection of
appropriate wood harvesting technologies, and the restrictions on the method of stacking
and storage of wood assortments and residues. The main task of the Slovenian Forest Service
is to check the execution of works and the tidiness of workplace after the works. If the owner

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fails to perform the foreseen work, the Service determines the works necessary to ensure the
tidiness of work area.
The workplace must be tidied immediately after the harvesting is completed:
• all trees that have been severely damaged after felling and harvesting must be cut
down,
• the branches and tops of conifers must be sawn and stacked on piles,
• in thinning or coppice harvesting, the branches of deciduous trees must be sawn,
• in the case of regeneration felling, wood residues must be stacked so as not to hinder
the development of seedlings,
• in the case of a final felling, the residues must be stacked in a pile so that the surface
is ready for planting,
• wood residues must be removed from skid trails, forest roads, from boundary stones,
water sources, and from agricultural land and outer forest edges,
• all non-wood waste generated by the work must be removed.

The Forestry Inspection oversees the implementation of legal regulations relating to the
forest or forest area. It performs control over all parts of the forests, checks compliance with
the minimum conditions of contractors, and controls the traceability of wood assortments.
The Financial Administration of the Republic of Slovenia is also authorized to verify the
traceability of wood assortments. In the case of illegal acts, the forestry inspector can file a
criminal complaint against the offender or carry out measures to eliminate irregularities.
All the works taking place in private forests are therefore regulated and supervised based on
legislation and through the aforementioned institutions. The purpose of the control is to
ensure compliance of the works carried out with the prescribed legislation relating to the
forest area.

3.3.
 Wood market
The forest owner can sell the wood in form of standing trees or as processed timber
assortments. The selling of standing timber is when pre-labeled non-harvested standing trees
are sold in contrast to processed timber assortments, which are sold on a truck road. By selling
of standing timber, the felling and skidding is done by the buyer. When selling timber on a
truck road, the harvesting of wood is carried out by the owner himself or with the help of
qualified contractors (Winkler, 2003). Each of the presented selling methods has both positive
and negative aspects.
In Slovenia, the main part of purchase of timber from private forests takes place on a truck
road, where the owner sells processed timber assortments. In this kind of sale, quality and
quantity of timber are determined on a truck road. Active forest owners, who have suitable
working and protective equipment, carry out harvesting by themselves and consequently
they avoid paying the contractors for harvesting. Selling of wood on a truck road has certain
advantages, e.g. the selling price is determined individually for each type and quality of
assortments, therefore no pre-estimation of quantity and sorting is needed; the forest owner
has greater influence on wood production. On the other hand, the forest owner is good to

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have a basic knowledge of the methods of measuring timber assortments, even during the
harvesting. Incorrect log scaling and crosscutting can quickly lead to the devaluation of wood
assortments. The need for this kind of knowledge is even more expressed in the purchase of
wood assortments on the truck road. When negotiating the prices for individual wood
assortment, the owner needs to be familiar with the methods of measurements and
classifications of dimensions, quality and purpose of use of timber assortments. The need for
prior knowledge of log scaling and cross-cutting of logs is the most prominent for assortments
with the highest quality.
The use of standards is an important and necessary tool for timber trading, but when
purchasing timber from private forests in Slovenia, their use it is not determined by law. In
Slovenia, for timber trade extracted from private forests, the Slovenian national standards
(SIST EN) are used. The timber is very often bought/sold on the basis of a classic manual
measurement of assortments. The Slovenian national standards have been adjusted
according to European standards. The SIST EN 1309-2: 2006 and 1309-3: 2018 standards
determine measurement methods for round and sawn timber. The first standard specifies the
requirements for measurement and volume calculation rules, while the second one defines
the features and biological degradation. The classification of roundwood in terms of quality
is defined in individual parts of the SIST EN 1927: 2008 standard.
In addition to the mentioned Slovenian national standards, for timber trade extracted from
state owned forests, the legal act titled “Rules on the measurement and classification of
timber assortments from forests owned by the Republic of Slovenia (Uradni list RS, št. 30/17)”
is used. This act defines the methods of measurements and classifications of dimensions,
quality and purpose of use of forest wood assortments extracted from state owned forests
and also from private forests. Considering the fact that Slovenia is a prominent exporter of
unprocessed roundwood, where the main importer of that wood (especially for coniferous
sawlogs) is the neighboring country Austria, the ÖNORM 1021 (2015) standard and Austrian
wood trade usages - ӦHO are in Slovenia currently very relevant for forest owners.
In Slovenia, the purchase prices of the forest wood assortments are regularly monitored
through two different institutions. First, Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (SORS)
monitors the purchase prices of forest wood assortments on a monthly and annual basis and
publishes them publicly through the SI-STAT database. The observation units shall be the
forestry companies, agro-forestry cooperatives and other organizations that purchase wood
from privately-owned forests. The analysis covers the purchase, which takes place directly
from private owners through authorized organizations. The value of purchased wood equals
the value of wood which was purchased on an agreed-upon price on the truck road. The price
does not include the costs of organization of acceptance, transport, and VAT. The purchase
prices, which are monitored by SORS, are collected by groups of forest wood assortments:
sawlogs, pulpwood, other industrial roundwood and wood fuel (all divided to coniferous and
non-coniferous). That database is a useful tool for monitoring current trends in purchase
prices for a particular group of forest wood assortments.

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Figure 28: Purchase prices of roundwood from private sector on truck road (source: Statistical office of
Republic of Slovenia, 2019).
The second source of data on purchase prices of forest wood assortments from private forests
in Slovenia is Slovenian forestry Institute (SFI). In the beginning of the year 2017, SFI started
to collect purchase prices of forest wood assortments on the truck road. The survey is carried
out twice per year (or exceptionally more) in cooperation with forestry companies, agro-
forestry cooperatives and other organizations that purchase wood from privately-owned
forests. The forest wood assortments for which we monitored the purchase prices, are
divided to different tree species (spruce, fir, red pine, beech, oak, poplar, other hard
deciduous trees) and classified into the selected quality classes: sawlogs - classes from highest
quality to lower quality, pulpwood, other industrial roundwood and wood fuel. The price does
not include the costs of organization of acceptance, transport, and VAT. The analysis of the
periodically acquired data shows clearly visible differences between individual forest wood
assortment`s quality classes and price trends within the years.

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Figure 29: The average purchase prices of spruce logs in EUR/m3 without VAT from 2017 – 2019 (black
line shows the average purchase prices and grey area shows the range between min and max purchase
prices in the period of data collection) (source: SFI).

Import and export have an important role in development and status of roundwood use in
Slovenia. In last 15 years (after 2004 when Slovenia entered the EU) we can see increase in
roundwood export. Restoration of damaged forests had pushed the export to the record level
(reaching more than 3 million m3 in 2016). The quantities of forest wood assortments and
wood products which are exported and imported from/in Slovenia are monthly collected by
the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia. The characteristics of the external trade of
roundwood are best illustrated by the net external trade of roundwood, which is calculated
in balance (export-import). Due to the imbalance between production and consumption, in
the last decade, the external trade surplus in all categories of roundwood increased markedly,
the largest was in the category of coniferous sawlogs, which amounted to 1.4 million m3 in
2018 (Ščap, 2019). In 2018, the volume of exported roundwood from Slovenia amounted to
over 2,6 million m3. The main importing countries of unprocessed roundwood from Slovenia
in 2018 were Austria (51%) and Italy (41%). The import of unprocessed roundwood to Slovenia
has been increasing since 2016 and exceeded 0,5 million m3 in 2018. The main exporting
countries of unprocessed roundwood to Slovenia in 2018 were Austria (32%), Croatia (28%)
and Bosnia and Herzegovina (26%) (Ščap, 2019).

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Figure 30: Export and import of roundwood in Slovenia (source: Statistical office of Republic of Slovenia,
calculated by SFI).

3.3.1. The volume and the structure of timber removal in Slovenian forests
The structure of timber removal in Slovenian forests shows that in period 1999 – 2013
rejuvenation felling prevail (in average 38% of total felling). The volume of salvage logging
was on average 27% and the selective thinning represents an average of 26% of the total
felling in that period. A record level of felling (6.36 million m3), which for the first time
exceeded the allowable cut, was achieved in 2014 due to restoration of damage caused to
forests by icebreak, which affected 9.32 million m3 of trees. The volume of felling in all other
years of the period 1999 - 2014 has otherwise lagged behind the allowable cut determined in
the forest management plans reaching only 65% of its value. The allowable cut in 2014
amounted to 87% of the annual growth assessed for the whole country. The large volume of
felling in Slovenian forests was continuing also in 2015 because there was a noticeable
increase in sanitary felling of Norway spruce caused by bark beetles outbreaks, which was a
consequence of ice damage in 2014. A very high volume of felling (6.1 million m3) was
achieved in 2016 due to restoration of damage caused by bark beetles. According to the
Slovenia Forest Service, a total of 2.2 million m3 of conifer trees were felled during the year
2016 due to damage caused by bark beetles. Another natural disturbance affected Slovenian
forests in the middle of December 2017, where one fifth of forests were damaged by strong
winds. Estimated damaged exceed 2.2 million m3 of timber and this was the most extensive
windthrow damage recorded in Slovenian forests in the last 20 years. Due to the frequent
occurrences of natural disasters in Slovenian forests in the period 2014 – 2017, the felling
increased significantly in that period. Of the total volume of felling in these years, salvage
logging represents the major type of felling with average 63% of the total felling in Slovenian
forests.

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Figure 31: The structure of timber removal for the period 1999 – 2017 in gross m3 (source: SFS,
calculated by SFI).

3.4.
 Forest ownership
Prior to World War II, Slovenian forests were predominantly peasant and landlord owned. In
the 1950s, the structure changed: the large-scale forests were fully nationalized, and farmers
were limited to up to 45 ha, and to private forests up to 5 ha. Nevertheless, in Slovenia, in
socialism, unlike some other Eastern European countries, agricultural land and forests were
mostly privately owned. In 1991, upon Slovenia's independence, legislation on
denationalization was adopted. The law allowed the restitution of property that was
confiscated after the war by farmers and other private forest owners, agrarian communities,
landowners and the Church. The consequences of this law are now reflected in an increase in
the diversity of private forms of forest ownership, an increase in the area of private forests
and a large increase in the number of co-ownership relationships due to the transfer of
property rights to all heirs.
Due to process of denationalization a share of public forests has decreased from 34% in 1996
to 21% in 2018, which put Slovenia among European countries with the lowest share of
national forests. Today, 76% of forests in Slovenia are private property, 21% of forests are
public (owned by the state) and 3% of forests are owned by local communes. The largest
private forest owner is the church.

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Table 6: Forest areas in 2018 and their ownership structure.
Forest area
Private forests
Public forests
Local communes
forest
Total
ha
901,038
244,473
31,733
1177,244
%
77
21
3
100

To be a forest owner means, in addition to the enjoyment of property rights, also the
fulfillment of certain obligations. The basic legal frameworks for forest management are set
out in the Forest Act (Uradni list RS, No. 30/93), which commands multifunctional and
sustainable forest management and gives equal importance to production, social and
ecological (environmental) functions.

3.4.1. Private forest owners
The average private forest estate is small, and even this is further fragmented into several
separate parcels. From the beginning to the end of the 20th century, the average size of
private forest property in Slovenia decreased by 50%. In 1990, the average size of 2.7 hectares
was approximately the same until today, despite the return of large state estates to private
owners. Only 11% of private owners in Slovenia own a forest larger than five hectares.
Although they manage more than half of privately-owned forest land, these owners are
important primarily from an economic point of view, but not from a social point of view. The
remaining 89% of private owners own forest holdings smaller than 5 ha, where, due to the
small size (estates of less than five hectares), economic interest is poorly expressed. On
average, private forest ownership consists of three spatially separated estates, and one third
of private forest estates are owned by two or more owners. The size of forest estates is
decreasing in the process of inheritance. For the great majority of these estates, forests are
not of economic interest. According to the latest data there are already 314,000 (with co-
owners even more) forest owners in Slovenia. The age structure of forest owners is
unfavorable. The largest share (>40%) of forest owners belongs to the age group of 60-79
years. Together, these owners own the largest percentage of forests (>40%).
Table 7: Characteristics of non-industrial private forest owners
Forest area
Age
Gender
Average
(years)
Range
(years)
Male (%)
Female (%)
< 1 ha
59
19 – 82
48.9
51.1
1 to less than 5 ha
50
18 – 99
59.6
40.4
5 to less than 15 ha
52
19 – 84
69.8
30.2
15 to less than 30 ha
49
18 – 81
75.0
25.0
> 30 ha
47
17 – 75
67.4
32.6
Do not know
50
18 – 78
34.0
66.0
Total
51
17 – 99
59.0
41.0

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The major fragmentation of forest property, the number of forest owners and co-owners and
their increased heterogeneity, present a serious obstacle to professional work in private
forests and mobilisation of forest potential. As a result, there is a lack in cost-effectiveness of
wood harvesting and yields barely cover costs, so private forest owners do not invest in
forestry equipment (especially in self-protective equipment). They are in general poorly
trained in forestry and use forestry machinery irrationally. Private forest owners are often
disorganized on the market and, due to the small quantities of forest timber assortments, are
also very ineffective in the sale of timber (especially difficult to sell less quality timber).
Furthermore, this reduces interests from owners for forest management. In small forest
estates, younger development phases are frequently neglected, which leads to poor growth
of stable and quality forests.
One of the important influencing factors affecting the activity of private forest management
is the timber market, as forest owners can make very selective decisions about tree felling,
and so they are waiting for a possibly good price for the wood. A good example is the auction
of more valuable timber (in Slovenia since 2007). It is possible to sell high quality timber at
auction and thus increase the economics of timber production and sale. High prices of quality
wood can be an incentive for forest owners to increase logging and forest care. In the case of
low timber prices in the market, forest owners generally choose not to logging.
In the last decade, forest owners are confronted with climate changes and adaptation to these
changes will be needed. In particular, small forest owners are more affected by changes in
the market and they are not so flexible in adaptation to fluctuations in prices. Lower activity
of some forest owners is also strongly linked to the understanding of forest management and
wood selling. Efficient use of wood and adding value to lower quality wood is another
challenge for forest owners in an increasingly important field of the forest bio-economy.
Wood mobilization from private forests in Slovenia is addressed by several political programs,
e.g. the National Forest Programme, the Rural Development Program and the Wood Supply
Chain Action Plan. But policy instruments are inadequate, or their implementation is
insufficient. This was demonstrated, for example, after the last severe ice break in 2014 and
subsequent bark-beetle calamities, which made the topic of wood mobilization even more
prominent in political discourse.

Forest owners’ cooperation
Since fragmented private forests dominate in Slovenia, it has long been pointed out that small
private forest holdings need to be brought together and forest owners connected. 4 forms of
forest owners’ cooperation are currently recognized:
1. Informal cooperation: It can be a temporary form of cooperation where owners
connect to achieve a unique goal, such as building a forest road or felling trees on a
rounded surface.
2. Equipment cooperation: Owners share logging equipment and machinery as well as
perform wood harvesting together. They manage the forest independently of one
another. In Slovenia, such is the case of Machinery Rings.

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3. Financial cooperation: Owners come together to act together on the market and thus
achieve a better position (better price). In Slovenia, we know different forms of
cooperation: forest owner associations, agrarian communities, cooperatives…
4. Participation in representation in the political process. The private forest owners
connect so that they can defend their interests more effectively in the political
process.
Many efforts in the past were mainly for the third form of cooperation. Namely the Forest Act
in 1993 has set conditions for new organizational possibilities and forest owner associations
(FOAs) have been recognized as an important mechanism to improve forest management in
areas with fragmented ownership and to foster cooperation among small-scale forest owners.
Since 2001, 29 FOAs have been established with more than 4000 members. However, this
only represents around 1% of private forest owners in Slovenia. Research in 2015
(Aurenhammer et al., 2018) has shown that FOAs are currently unlikely to support an
increased wood mobilization themselves. First, this is not their priority and second, they lack
the within-network support that is needed to contribute to such an increase in wood
mobilization. Better exchange of resources (in the networks) and development of capacities
within FOAs and their cooperatives (organizational) would be needed for FOAs and their
cooperatives to increase wood mobilization. In this respect they are, currently, not yet
embedded sufficiently in networks that facilitate the wood mobilization from small private
forest owners. Moreover, despite all the policy measures that support more active integration
of forest owners for management and business integration, there is practically no business
cooperation.

Education options
Regarding the Catalog of Qualifications System in the field of forestry and wood technology,
prepared by Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Vocational Education and Training, forest
owners have the possibility to gain knowledge of forest management at the following
education providers:
▪ Srednja gozdarska in lesarska šola Postojna/Secondary forestry and wood school
Postojna
▪ Srednja lesarska in gozdarska šola Maribor/Secondary school for Wood processing,
Forestry and Design, Maribor
▪ Višja strokovna šola Postojna/Vocational College Postojna
▪ Univerza v Ljubljani, Biotehniška fakulteta, Oddelek za gozdarstvo in obnovljive
gozdne vire/University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Forestry
▪ Grm Novo mesto - center biotehnike in turizma/Grm Novo mesto - Center of
Biotechnology and Tourism
▪ B&B izobraževanje in usposabljanje d.o.o./B&B Education and Training d.o.o.
An important role in the professional advice and training of forest owners is also played by
the Slovenian Forest Service, which performs a public forestry service in all Slovenian forests,
regardless of ownership. Between 2008 and 2015 around 300 training courses per year were
conducted in the context of sustainable forest management (SFM) in Slovenia. The trainings
touch upon numerous SFM related topics.

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Figure 32: Focal points in sustainable forest management training courses in Slovenia (relative share).

Practical work, particularly in workshop settings, dominates the means of knowledge transfer
in Slovenia (52%). In general, it appears that there is a good mixture of indoor and outdoor
teaching approaches applied in SFM training in Slovenia as seminars, study circles (21%) and
lectures/presentations (18%). Field trips (9%) round up the entire portfolio of teaching
methods. Even if national providers of training programs relate to individual needs within
national forestry sectors, SFM-related training programs should be updated according
emerging issues. It is an important task to open the innovative forms of learning,
combinations of topics and learning environments.

3.4.2. Identification of forest owners needs
The most commonly selling wood from private forests takes place on a truck road, where the
owner sells wood assortments to company specialized for selling/buying wood. The sale of
wood between the owner and the buyer frequently takes place according to numerous
internal specifications of wood assortments, which are (in most cases) set in favor of the
buyer. Since the owners are only occasionally involved in sale of timber, they lack knowledge
in this area. There is no tool available for easy and quick assessment of timber quality,
moreover there is no professional training of forest owners in assessment of timber quality
or selling and buying wood.
In Slovenia, timber is very often bought/sold on the basis of a classic manual measurement of
assortments. In private forests, Slovenian national standards (SIST EN) are used in timber
0
10
20
30
40
Biomass
Health and safety
Forest management and silviculture
Sustainable development
Forest pedagogy
Economic/trade
Forest infrastructure and transport
Plantations
Disaster risk management
Education and training
in percent

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trade. The Slovene national standards are based on European standards. The SIST EN 1309-2:
2006 and 1309-3: 2018 standards relate to methods of measurement for round and sawn
timber. In addition to the mentioned standards, the Rules on the measurement and
classification of timber assortments from forests owned by the Republic of Slovenia (Uradni
list RS, št. 30/17) are used. It defines the method of measurements and classifications of
dimensions, quality and purpose of use of timber assortments. The usage of the rules is set
by law in sale of timber from state owned forests, but it is also used in private forests as it is
based on national standards. Considering the fact that a large part of the coniferous timber is
sold abroad (Austria), the ÖNORM 1021 (2015) standard is currently very relevant for forest
owners. But standards are not commonly used among smaller private forest owners.
Therefore, a simple and useful tool is needed to enable private forest owners to learn easily
on effective marketing of wood and forest services.

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3.5.
 References and links to available literature
Ahačič D. 2012. opremljenost lastnikov gozdov za delo v gozdu v okolici Tržiča. Diplomsko
delo. Ljubljana, Biotehniška fakulteta, Oddelek za gozdarstvo in obnovljive gozdne vire: 38 str.
Andoljšek A. 2009. Uresničevanje ciljev Nacionalnega gozdnega programa po meri lastnika?
Gozdarski vestnik 67: 4
Aurenhammer P. K., Ščap Š., Triplat M., Krajnc N., Breznikar A. 2018. Actors’ Potential for
Change in Slovenian Forest Owner Associations. Small-scale Forestry 17: 165-189
Caring for forest to benefit nature and people. 2005. Slovenia Forest Service, Ljubljana.
     http://www.zgs.si/fileadmin/zgs/main/img/PDF/PDF_BROSURE/Brosura_ANGL.pdf
Češarek D., Ficko A., Bončina A. 2018. Vplivni dejavniki poseka v zasebnih gozdovih Slovenije
v obdobju 1995-2014. Acta silvae et ligni 115: 29-42
Forest management by mimicking nature, close-to-nature forest management in Slovenia.
2008. Slovenia Forest Service, Ljubljana. 28 p.
     http://www.zgs.si/fileadmin/zgs/English/Publications/ZGS-SonarG-ANG_small.pdf
Iveta N. 2017. Ocena pripravljenosti zasebnih lastnikov gozdov za poslovno sodelovanje pri
gospodarjenju z gozdom na primeru revirja Vodice. Mag. delo. Ljubljana, Univ. v Ljubljani,
Biotehniška fakulteta, Odd. za gozdarstvo in obnovljive gozdne vire
Jakše A. 2013. Primernost strojne sečnje v slovenskih gozdovih. Revija za univerzitetno
odličnost, 2: 10-18
Kumer P. 2017. Vpliv družbenogeografskih dejavnikov na gospodarjenje z majhnimi zasebnimi
gozdnimi posestmi. Dokt. disertacija. Ljubljana, Univ. v Ljubljani, Filozofska fakulteta, Štud.
program Humanistika in družboslovje: 123 str.
Kutnar, L., Kobler, A. 2011. Prediction of forest vegetation shift due to different climate-
change scenarios in Slovenia. Šumarski list, 135(3-4), 113-125.
Medved M. 2010. Pridobivanje lesa na družinksih kmetijah v Sloveniji. Gozdarski vestnik, 67,
2: 83-94
Ministrstvo za kmetijstvo, gozdarstvo in prehrano. 2019.
     http://spletni2.furs.gov.si/GOZD/GozdZav.asp 10. 6. 2019
MKGP: Forestry. 2019. Ministry of agriculture, forestry and food.
     http://www.mkgp.gov.si/en/areas_of_work/forestry/
Ostoić Krajter S., Huber P., Curman M., Wolfslehner B., Jandl R., Bogataj N., Rogelja T.,
Breznikar A., Krajnc N., Horvatinčić K., Tišma S., Horvatič M., Vuletić D. 2017. Training
Programmes in South-east European forestry 8, 2: 137-146

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Pezdevšek Malovrh Š., Kumer P, Glavonjić P., Nonić D., Nedeljković J., Kisin B., Avdibegović M.
2017. Different Organizational Models of Private Forest Owners as a Possibility to Increase
Wood Mobilization in Slovenia and Serbia. Croatian journal of forest engineering, 38-1: 127-
140
Piškur M. 2009. Slovenski nacionalni standardi za merjenje in razvrščanje okroglega lesa.
Gozdarski vestnik 67:10
Piškur M. 2010. Izvoz okroglega lesa v Avstrijo. Les/Wood, 62: 455-456
Poročilo Zavoda za gozdove Slovenije o gozdovih za leto 2017. 2018. Zavod za gozdove
Slovenije. 141 p.
Pravilnik o izvajanju sečnje, ravnanju s sečnimi ostanki, spravilu in zlaganju gozdnih lesnih
sortimentov. 1994. Uradni list RS, št. 55/94, 95/04, 110/08, 83/13.
Pravilnik o minimalnih pogojih, ki jih morajo izpolnjevati izvajalci del v gozdovih. 1994. Uradni
list RS, št. 35/94, 50/06, 74/11, 80/12.
Slovenski državni gozdovi d.o.o. (SIDG). 2019. Eustafor, managing state forests responsibly.
     https://eustafor.eu/members/slovenski-drzavni-gozdovi-d-o-o-sidg/
Statistični urad Republike Slovenije. 2019. [Web] Available at:
     https://www.stat.si/statweb/en/home (12. 6. 2019)
Summary of the Report on Slovenian Forests and Forestry 2007 – 2014. 2016. Ministry of
Agriculture, Forestry and Food, Ljubljana. 36 p.
 http://www.mkgp.gov.si/fileadmin/mkgp.gov.si/pageuploads/podrocja/Gozdarstvo/Sloveni
an_Forests_ANG_splet.pdf
Ščap Š. 2019. Zunanja trgovina z okroglim lesom v Sloveniji. WoodChainManager (WCM),
Gozdarski inštitut Slovenije.
Triplat M., Krajnc N. 2019. Assessment of Costs in Harvesting Systems Using
WoodChainManager Web-based Tool. Croatian Journal of Forest Engineering. 40/1
Verderber T. 2010. Opremljenost lastnikov za delo v gozdu na območju GGE Adlešiči in Stari
trg. Diplomsko delo. Ljubljana, Biotehniška fakulteta, Oddelek za gozdarstvo in obnovljive
gozdne vire: 70 str.
WCM – WoodChainManager. 2019. Wood supply chains. [Web] Available at:
     http://wcm.gozdis.si/en/wood-supply-chains (10.5.2019)
Winkler I. 2003. Ekonomika gozdarstva. Ljubljana, Biotehniška fakulteta, Oddelek za
gozdarstvo in obnovljive gozdne vire: 276 str.
Zadnik Stirn L., Pezdevšek Malovrh Š., Leban V., Krč J. 2012. COOL WP1: country report
Slovenia. 34 p.

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Zakon o gozdovih. 1993. Uradni list RS, št. 30/93, 56/99.
Žepič V. 2010. presoja možnosti za uvajanje načrtov za zasebno gozdno posest na GGO Kranj.
Diplomsko delo. Ljubljana, Biotehniška fakulteta, Oddelek za gozdarstvo in obnovljive gozdne
vire: 73 str.
Žlogar P. 2016. Opremljenost lastnikov gozdov za delo v novomeškem GGO. Diplomsko delo.
Ljubljana, Biotehniška fakulteta, Oddelek za gozdarstvo in obnovljive gozdne vire: 73 str.

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SPAIN
Authors: Rosa M. Ricart Margineda, Carles Lorca Carrillo, Arnau Picó Cases

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4.1.
 Forests and forestry in Catalonia
The total surface of forestry in Catalonia is 1,348,000 hectares, representing a 42% of the total
surface. It increments approximately a 4% annual. The forestry landscape in Catalonia
corresponds to a mosaic type of distribution between agriculture and forestry. This
contributes to a better wildfire prevention and improves the biodiversity conservation. The
three main type of species are Scot’s pine (40%), Aleppo pine (30%) and holm-oak (20%). Only
the 25% of the forest is public, 70% of which is regulated under forestry plans. Only the 30%
of the private forests are regulated through forestry management plans. The forest
exploitation has increased during the last decade (mainly conifers) and it’s expected to keep
scaling thanks to the biomass mobilisation, forestry uses and new application of wood
products (120 million of m3 per year approximately) but is not enough to cover the natural
increase of the forest surface. The purposes of the exploitations are biomass production
(40%), sawmills (30%), timber (20%) and other products (10%). Very important resources for
the Catalan markets are also the mushrooms market, being the black truffle production the
most relevant, cork production and pine pinions, representing an average of 60 million euros
per year. Regarding leisure uses, 40% of the total Catalan forest is under the Nature 2000
Network, 11% which are Natural parks. People can enjoy from a rich biodiversity and rare
species thanks to the geographic complexity of the territory and the specific Mediterranean
climate conditions.  The tendency is to have more and more a homogeny landscape due to
the rural areas abandonment, thus the government and the responsible organisms are
working hard on the conservation of the agricultural uses and the natural dynamics of the
forests. The forestry primary sector represents the 0.03% of the GDP and the overall economic
activities from the forest are representing the 1.6% of the total Catalan GDP (2% of the Catalan
employment).

4.2.
 Adapted prevention management of wildfires in private forests
Wildfires are a permanent threat in the dry regions of the Mediterranean Sea. Although,
wildfires are increasing due to climate factors and also the abandonment of the uses related
with forestry, rapidly climbing from the southern parts of Europe to the Central and Northern
parts year by year. In Catalonia, in the last 30 years a lot of efforts from the public bodies,
private associations, owners and research centers has been put together to prevent the risk
of the fires and mitigate its effects afterwards. The result is a strong knowledge on prevention
and mitigation in cooperation with different bodies responsible of the management. Also, the
private owner plays an important role in this equation as the responsible of their own forest
and the maintenance of its quality and favorable conditions against fires. From Catalonia we
propose to share this knowledge as a measure to pre mobilise the actors and to provide the
adapted management techniques used here to be applied in other European regions, which
are facing nowadays, or we’ll be facing in the close future the same problematics.

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4.2.1 Situation with private forest owners
The situation in Catalonia with the private owners has positive and negative aspects. As
mentioned above, there’s the need to increase the communication between private owners
and the organisms. The benefits of a managing plan and the new sustainability techniques are
not enough known by the owners. Also, the profitability of the forests and the high costs in
comparison to the possible incomes is not strong enough to make the forest management an
easy ongoing process. This is as well related with the industry sector, which should be
improved on its diversification and be able to manufacture added value products from the
Catalan forests resources. The positive aspect is that in Catalonia there’s a strong number of
organisms providing services to the private forest owners (publics and privates) despite it’s
not representing a relevant economic activity. The 64% of the surface of Catalonia is covered
by forests, 75% is owned by private owners. Only the 30% of this private forest is managed
under a recognised plan by law. All the Catalan forestry sector is regulated by the Catalan
Government, divided in two different directorates: a) Department of Agriculture, Livestock,
Fishing and Food; b) Department of Territory and Sustainability. These Departments are
acting with the support of the science centers (financed in part by them), which are
developing techniques and solutions to be applied in the current situation of the forest. Here
you can find a list of the main:
• Ecological Research and Forest Applications Centre (CREAF)
• Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC)
• Catalan Wood Institute (INCAFUST)
• Catalan Cork Institute (ICS)
• Research Centre of Agri-food Technologies (IRTA)
Despite the research centers are having a strong link with the owners, those who are daily
dealing with the owner are the private forest associations. In Catalonia, at Catalan level, there
are:
• Forestry Consortium of Catalonia (CFC)
• Catalan Federation of Forest Owners Associations (BOSCAT)
• Association of Local Entities of Forest Owners in Catalonia (ELFOCAT)
• Mushrooms and Truffles Producers Association
An also there’s more than 20 local associations aiming to manage special interest spots and
acting to preserve them. All these mechanisms are collaborating together to keep the forestry
sector as much profitable and healthy as possible.

4.3.
 Forest works recommendations
4.3.1 Mosaic landscapes and different uses
The climatic and biophysical characteristics of the Mediterranean context make the variables
affecting the fire very well represented during hot summers and dry. In these conditions, the
vegetation is in a favorable condition for the appearance of wildfires once a forest fire has
begun.

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If the fire in the Mediterranean basin has been part of its natural and cultural landscape since
very ancient times, what has changed over the last decades to turn wildfires into one of the
main risks and priorities for the protection of people, houses and forests? Why, despite all
the effort in an extensive and expensive system of extinction, we continue to suffer from
wildfires?
The answer includes social, economic and ecological factors that affects the rural and urban
landscapes of the Mediterranean.
The Mediterranean landscape has been used and influenced by human society and its
activities for thousands of years. The composition and structure of the landscape has had a
close relationship with the socio-economic needs of each civilization and moment. Over the
years, landscape transformation has been dominated by agriculture (converting forest lands
into fields) and livestock (deforestation of forest lands for pasturing).
In many places, these dynamics resulted in a mosaic landscape formed by crops, pastures and
forests, often fragmented and with low density (with trees separated and without much
presence of scrub) which were used to make timber and wood. These forests suffered from
fires already caused by lightning or by human negligence.
However, fires could rarely spread through wild surfaces, since the lack of continuity of forest
spots or the low density of trees and vegetation under the umbrella did not allow to generate
fires of great size or high intensities with big flames able to burn the crowns of the trees,
which at the same time were easier to control. Sometimes it was usual to let the fire burn,
because it helped to reduce scrub and regenerate the pastures (unless it was near to affecting
villages or crops).
In many Mediterranean regions, the degradation of the soil after years of livestock and
forestry overexploitation and the high risk of erosion have led to the reforestation of the
lands, with great success. Whales, entire river basins, urban settlements, crops and even
tourism have benefited from this enormous effort.
During the last century, several changes in society are affecting directly on forests and on the
risk of wildfire. The rural exodus, abandonment of fields and pastures, the transition to the
fossil-based energy model and the lack of profitability of the Mediterranean timber in a
globalized market, it has allowed the natural reforestation and expansion of forests. This
should not be negative, and it’s allowing to recover the forest area and associated
biodiversity, sometimes, to a level that has not been recorded in hundreds of years.
The difficulty comes out when this process occurs in a disorderly manner on forests that had
been managed before. Without any element that selects or eliminates vegetation, forests are
densified, appearing many small trees with small diameter touching each other and
competing for the resources (light, water and nutrients).
The undergrowth grows without the herbivorous effect of livestock, nor the presence of
natural fires caused by lightning which controlled the growth. At overall, the forest becomes
more vulnerable to pests and dangers, to drought, to the possible effects of climate change
and, of course, to high-intensity forest fires that can burn entire trees in a vicious circle. In
these new forest conditions, the wildfires acquire a new magnitude and degree of intensity
and virulence, as they have sufficient accumulated and available fuel to burn. This generates

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wildfires with a huge power and with a huge capacity for propagation and destruction. Also,
they are very hard to be extinguished, leaving a highly damaged ecosystem.
Therefore, while fire is an inherent part of many of the Mediterranean's cultural ecosystems
and landscapes, the changes in uses that lead to a loss of the agricultural mosaic and the
accumulation of forest fuel in forests are the cause of the great forest fires which burn high
surfaces in high intensity. This could be a reflection and also a consequence of the current
relationship forests and society.
The important social, economic and environmental impacts of great wildfires face risk
managers, including forest managers, firefighters and territory uses managers, to a new
dimension of the phenomenon that must be approached in an integrated way. Apart from
having an effective extinction system, without acting on the propagation capacity and the
vulnerability of people and property, it will not be possible to effectively reduce the risk of
wildfires.
The cause that a fire generates a great wildfire corresponds essentially to the conditions of
the environment and the capacity of response of the extinction devices. In this case, apart
from the topography and meteorology more or less favourable to spread the flames, the
amount and distribution of forest fuel is the most determining factor. This will be mainly
influenced by the continuity of the wooden mass and the distribution of the vegetation within
the forest.
Dense forest formations, with continuous vegetation strata, can generate high-intensity fires
burning through the crowns of the trees and even propagating through fire sparkles over long
distances and generate a secondary focus that becomes part of the fire. Great wildfires in a
mosaic landscape can create fires capable of skipping fields and continuing propagating.
However, if the forest landscape does not have as much fuel load, the spread of the fire is
easier to control.
The development of preventive measures as the reduction of fuel, improvement of the
access, the ability to self-protect housing, the emergency plans of municipalities and
inhabited areas, the best preparation and provision of the means of the system, the extinction
and correct coordination of the actors involved in the emergency management highly
improve the response capacity. Their priority is always to protect people and goods first.
Often the extinction bodies must disregard the fire to protect the people and houses from
the flames, a situation that favours the free spread of the forest fire promoting its growth and
reach. Thus, if the propagation risk is not handled properly, the situation could turn into
incontrollable at any moment, regardless of its origin.
While not acting on the territory's capacity to generate and sustain fires beyond the capacity
of extinction, the only way to avoid the potential of large fires will be acting on fuel loads.
That means generating resistant forest structures to fireworks, distributed throughout the
landscape and in areas close to vulnerable elements.
New knowledge about certain patterns of fire behaviour, which are repeated according to the
meteorology and topography of the site, allow us to identify more strategically where we
must act on the vegetation and to anticipate the movements of the fire when it occurs. In
fact, promoting the consumption of agricultural products (for the maintenance of the mosaic
landscape) and forestry (boilers of biomass, wood, woods, livestock at the undergrowth) is

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the most effective way to have landscapes adapted to fire disturbance and "quench" fires
before they start. On the contrary, without acting on the fuel at a landscape scale and
reducing the vulnerability of settlements, the technological limit of means of extinction is the
risk threshold that as a society we must assume.
Therefore, from an ecological point of view, it’s not always necessary to associate the fire
with a damaging and negative element for the forest. It will depend essentially on its intensity
and frequency, and if it can compromise the ecosystem's recover ability or environmental
services such as control of the erosion that forests offer. Precisely the loss of forest cover
makes soil extremely vulnerable to erosion, especially if there are episodes of torrential rain
after fires (for example, the cold drops in autumn). However, naturally, burnt land is often
occupied by several plants and shrubs adapted to the effect of flames, either by the
germination of the seed bank or the regrowth of vegetation.
In addition, in the Mediterranean cultural landscape, the fact that many of the forests often
grow in old farmland also limits the erosion of the soil. However, if the fire frequency in the
same place is high enough to condition the recovery of vegetation, soil degradation and
desertification processes can begin. In the case of low intensity fires that do not affect the
crowns of the trees, the effects on the soil are minimal. It will be necessary, therefore, to
guarantee the ecosystem's ability to recover vegetation cover on burnt land.
Once again, low-intensity fires, beyond certain black marks at the base of trees, have no more
effect on the landscape level, and even they help to generate types of forests where it’s easier
to travel and make use of them at recreational level. There’s also no negative economic
repercussions and it can increase the land productivity through the elimination of competition
or allowing more presence of ruminant species and other herbivores able to be hunted.
In high intensity fires on productive pines, we will have to wait for the recovery of the adult
forest to be able to go back to the wood exploitation. On the other hand, burnt wood may
also be sold, though, normally, at a lower price. The cork trees, even regrowth, suffer a serious
damage since the blackened bark from which the cork is extracted loses a lot of its value. The
pick-up of mushrooms and hunting, for example, can be seriously affected by a great wildfire.1
4.3.2 Forest Management Recommendations at National Level
Sustainable Forest Management is the administration and use of forests in such a way that it
maintains its biodiversity, productivity, regeneration capacity, vitality and its potential to
fulfil, now and in the future, relevant ecological, economic and social functions at local,
national and global level, without causing damage to other ecosystems. To carry out this
management, the most indicated and effective is to have a forest management instrument
(FMI), which is a document that aims to provide to the landowner all the necessary
information and the planning of the actions for the correct forest management of the land.
There are different types of FMI according to the characteristics of the forest, in order to
adapt them to each one. Apart from providing the owner with this ability to act within the

1 Plana, E.; Font, M.; Serra, M.; Borràs, M.; Vilalta, O. 2016. El foc i els incendis forestals al mediterrani; la història d’una
relació entre boscos i societat. Cinc mites i realitats per saber-ne més. Projecte eFIREcom. Edicions CTFC. 36pp.
TRANSLATION: Fire and forest fires in the Mediterranean region; history about the relationship between forest and society. 5
myths and truths to know.

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parameters of the SFG, these documents also provide a set of very important fiscal and
management advantages.

Figure 33: Forest management instruments and its benefits. From Erasmus+ Eforown project

In Catalonia, the Guidelines for Sustainable Forest Management of Catalonia (ORGEST) have
been developed, which are multifunctional guidelines for the management of forests that aim
to establish management models for the masses according to the selected objectives, and to
achieve the integration of the rest of the objectives of sustainable forest management.
ORGEST is based on the identification and definition of forest typologies and the definition of
silvicultural models. For each one, management models have been established which show
the set of actions to be carried out in the forest mass.
In the Catalan territory there are the following recommendations:
1. Forestry typologies in Catalonia:
a. Wooden typologies in Catalonia.
2. Support Indicators and parameters for the sustainable forest management:
a. Great wildfire risk integration into the forestry management.
3. Forestry management models:
a. Fire wood.
b. Common ash, silver birch, European aspen and hazelnut tree woods.
c. Sessile oak, Pedunculate, Pyrenean oak and African oak woods.
d. Stone pine woods.

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e. Conifers plantations.
f. Scot’s pine woods.
g. Aleppo pine woods.
h. Holm-oak woods.
i. Pyrenean oak woods.
j. Austrian pine woods.
k. Chestnut tree woods
l. Beech tree woods.
m. Cork tree woods.
n. Management models for mushrooms production in Scot’s pine woods.
4. Cartography:
a. Pure and mixed formations in Catalonia based on the Spanish Forestry Map.
b. Map of the lithological types of importance based on the Geologic Catalan map
1:50.000.
c. Map of types of wildfires in Catalonia.
d. Many other related cartography and data.

4.4.
 Methodology to identify strategic management spots (strategic areas)
Fire is an intrinsic element of the Mediterranean climate, and the forest has evolved in this
context. In the Atlantic climate, softer and more humid, fires are less frequent disturbances.
In the current context of climate change, both conditions of vegetation (drought stress) and
meteorology (high temperature, low humidity, strong winds) are generating more episodes
where all factors favour the development of forest fires. High intensity fires (Large Forest Fires
- GIF) are also more numerous and caused by a large amount of combustible material. In fact,
due to the change in uses, plant growth is the result of the undergrowth recolonization.
There are two main resistance strategies from species to fire:
-
Resistance: being able to withstand the fire and stay alive.
-
Resilience: being able to recover the space after the fire, with a rapid regeneration
from resistant seeds, seeds from unburned areas or from regrowth of undead plant
parts.
The cork oak uses a resistance strategy. This species has a very thick and insulating crust that
allows it to withstand high temperatures, thus protecting gems. This allows it to easily bounce
back after a fire.
The white pine uses a resilience strategy. This species has some serotine pineapples that open
and release seeds when they are exposed to a source of heat (for example, a fire). Since fire
eliminates all competition, these seeds can germinate more easily and cover large areas
shortly after a fire.

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4.4.1 Typology of fires

Figure 34: Most common fires typology according to the propagation pattern (Source: Piqué et al,
2011).

There are different types of forest fires according its propagation pattern:
Undergroud fire: under specific conditions like those characterizing peat bog ecosystems, fire
spreads through the underground organic matter and roots. Even though flames are not
visible, the fire can stay active for long periods.
Surface fire: the flames are spread through the fuel located at the surface and through the
taller undergrowth.
The active crown fire is the one that represents the greatest threat. It generates high fire
intensities, launching massive secondary fires and flame lengths at a very high fire
propagation speeds.
Torching fire: fire spreads from the surface strata and into the crown of a single tree or small
parcel of trees.
Crown fire: initiated as a result of the convection heat transmitted by surface fire to the
Crown of the trees (Van Wagner, 1977). It includes two subgroups:
-
Passive: the tree crown burns individually; the heat of convection is not enough to
keep the propagation between crowns.
-
Active: fire spreads through the tree crown and also through the surface continuously.
It needs the convection heat to keep this spread between the cups.
New types of great wildfires due to climate change reasons:
Large high intensity forest fires due to extreme aridity already take place. Many mountains
are suffering from very extreme climatic conditions and begin to be outside of their optimum
climatic range. This means that the vegetation is very dry and, therefore, very available to
burn. This type of forest fire has been seen, for example, in Fort McMurray, Canada (2016)
and in Las Maquinas, Chile (2017).

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Forest-fire structure relationship and incidence of forest management in the fire behaviour:

Figure 35: Fire triangle.

Of all the factors conditioning the behaviour of fire (fire triangle), only fuel can be modified
to reduce the risk of large forest fires. With forest management, a forest can be configured
with discontinuities between layers of vegetation necessary to prevent (or hinder) the
passage of surface fire to the crown of the trees with the most frequent environmental
conditions.
The structures where fire cannot generate the necessary conditions to become a layer fire
are structures of low vulnerability (type C). The objective of forest management is to integrate
forests into this structure C. The way to do it will be different depending on the species and
the location of the forest. High vulnerability structures (type A) are the most unfavourable
case, where propagation to layers is very likely. And the intermediate case (type B) are
structures that generate passive fires of layers under normal environmental conditions.

Figure 36: Different fire structures.

Different types of fuel in the forest:
Air fuel: formed by the crown of the trees of the dominant or codominant stratum of greater
height.

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Fuel of scale: air fuel of a height greater than 1.30 m which is not part of the dominant or
codominant stratum. It includes small trees, shrubs, lianas or fallen trees.
Surface fuel: air fuel, not exceeding 1.30 m. It can be thickets, herbaceous vegetation,
branches, fallen trunks, silvicultural remains.

4.4.2 Main silvicultural treatments for fire prevention:
Thinning: The objective is to reduce competition between tree feet and generate vertical and
horizontal discontinuity between tree crowns. The most common thinning is the low thinning
which extracts the dominant feet and generates a greater vertical discontinuity, maintaining
the tree cover and not favouring the scrub.
Brush out: it allows the reduction of the surface and fuel of scale mass and generates vertical
discontinuity with the crowns (the undergrowth will be less dense). Thinning is usually
selective (biodiversity) and of intensity variable according to initial discontinuities.
Selection of sprouts (sprout species): The objective is the partial reduction (more or less
intense) of the regrowth with the objective of reducing competition between feet and
generating vertical and horizontal discontinuity and promoting a well-developed tree canopy.
Pruning: The lower branches of the feet are removed to raise the crowns and generate a
greater vertical discontinuity. It has to be done only when pruning decreases, the vulnerability
of the structure, it’s not a general recommendation.
Slash managing: The objective is to accelerate the incorporation into the soil of the plant
material resulting from the silvicultural actions, and at the same time avoid increasing the
vulnerability of the stand. The concrete technique is a cost-efficiency choice always following
the specific regulations on fire prevention (for example: leaving 20 m free from slash for each
band of the main roads)

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Figure 37: Image before and after the treatments.

The principal techniques are:
• To cut the logging residues into small pieces. The slashes of branches, trees and
bushes of more than 5 cm of diameter are cut into pieces of less than 1 m and left to
the ground without making accumulations larger than 50 cm.
• To stack and burn the slashes. The residues are put in places without continuity with
the trees or the bushes and burnt in a controlled way, until their elimination.
Specialized personnel and additional fire prevention and extinguishing measures are
required. Alternatively, the residues could be burnt extensively to the stand, with
greater planning and execution efforts by highly specialized personnel.
• Chipping or shredding the slashes, at stacked or at extensively way. The accessibility
and mobility of the machinery, as well as the cost, limits the application of this
technique.

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Figure 38: Wood residues after a clear cutting.

Fire prevention planning and efficient treatment location:
The territory planning is key element to an efficient prevention of large forest fires. One of
the most used tools for territory planning to prevent potential fire damage is fire simulators,
for example, FlamMap, FARSITE or WFA. The simulations help to anticipate the behaviour of
future fires and therefore to locate those areas where it may be more interesting to invest in
management efforts in order to prevent high intensity fires and potential great wildfires.
Strategic
management
points
(SMP):
Locations
where
the
modification of the fuel and / or the
preparation of infrastructures allow
the extinction services to execute
attack manoeuvres to limit the
potential of a great wildfire. For
each type of fire, opportunities are
generated
with
common
characteristics and, consequently,
SMPs
with
similar
locations,
objectives and characteristics.

Figure 39: Location of a Strategic Management Point (Plana, E., Font, M., Serra, M., 2016. FOREST
FIRES, Guideline for communicators and journalists. eFIRECOM Project. CTFC Editions. 32pp).

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Management Promotion Areas (MPA): Locations with large areas where active forest
management is a priority. It can have a specific or multiple objective (production,
recreational, cultural, etc.) but the basic objective will always be the risk reduction of the
great wildfires (potential losses). These areas are not directly related to extinguishing
manoeuvres, but they are useful to reduce the propagation capacity of a fire and indirectly
generate a larger range of fire control opportunities. A MPA can change the overall behaviour
of a fire.
Fire simulators are tools for decision making, but they do not generate ideal solutions.
Experience and knowledge about fire behaviour is essential to understand the simulator
results and, therefore, to decide the efficient location of forestry prevention actions.

4.4.3 Prediction of future forest fires by means of analysing the historical ones:
Analyzing fires occurred in the past in a determined region can be useful for predicting future
fires and their development, even though the prediction task is extremely demanding.
Differently from floods, fires do not affect a defined area such as a basin or a watershed.
Moreover, they do not occur in recurring periods like those determined by storms’ regimes.
Fires spread freely over the land where fuel is available. Moreover, their ignition, spread and
extinction are influenced by anthropogenic factors. This makes difficult the estimation of a
fire’s likelihood in a specific place. The prediction is based on a combined study of local
topography and weather conditions. A given fire in a determined place evolves following
spread patterns similar to historical fire events that occurred in a location with same
topography and weather conditions. Fire’s intensity varies depending on fuel moisture. The
only sure statement that can be made about a fire is that a high fire risk (usually due to human
causes) and a wide fire spread capacity (a function of the fuel load, distribution and moisture)
increase the chance that large fires occur. Identifying the “fire type” to which a specific fire
event belongs to allows to predict the development of the specific fire, with the goal of
designing efficient prevention and extinction strategies tailored on the fire’ characteristics.
Three “fire types” can be defined according to the fire spread drivers, namely the factor with
more influence on the development and spread of the fire:
Topographic fires: the spread drivers are the reliefs and the local winds (mountain or valley
breeze).
Wind driven fires: wind direction dominates the spread direction.
Convection fires: heavy fuel load is responsible of the fire spread. When we know the specific
location and the “fire type”, we can identify the “Strategic Management Points”, areas where
fuel treatments are needed in order to ensure safety and efficiency of extinction efforts. In
these areas fuel treatments are envisaged as an opportunity to promote a lower fire
behaviour (get fire into the suppression capacity) and ensure safer fighting operations.2

2 Plana, E., Font, M., Serra, M., 2016. FOREST FIRES, Guideline for communicators and journalists. eFIRECOM Project. CTFC
Editions. 32pp.

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The controlled burns as a tool for fuel reduction and consequently the risk of great wildfires:
The controlled burns are a forest management technique to aid in the suppression and
mitigation of forest fires by burning the accumulated fuel material of different origin (either
naturally or the residues of a treatment). These burns are made under specific weather
conditions. Those responsible for executing them know at any moment how the fire is
behaving and how it will behaviour in its course. This technique, directed by trained and
competent personnel, is safe and efficient.
Two remarkable key points:
-
They can be an alternative to conventional treatments (hand tools or machinery).
-
They can be done directly with a forestry objective or in combination with
conventional silvicultural treatments, such as thinning or pruning.
Advantages:
-
High yield (ha/wage) and high value (€/ha).
-
The controlled burns are comparable to a natural disturbance, intrinsic in the
Mediterranean ecology, but happened under controlled conditions.
Disadvantages:
-
They can generate dense smoke that can cause problems near urban areas.
-
An inherent risk of forest fire must be assumed. The preparation of the action area
and the means of extinction support are essential.

4.5.
 Global organisation of the wildfire prevention in the Catalan society and
at EU level
Sustainable forestry documents in Catalonia:
A sustainable forest management plan is a forest management instrument that aims to
provide key information of the suitable actions for the correct forest management of a
property within a period from 15 to 20 years, but with the option to extend it later. This
document should guarantee the following:
-
Improvement, sustainability and multifunctionality of the forest systems.
-
Creation of an adequate forest division of the land.
-
Consideration and integration of land management plans, mainly in the field of control
and prevention of forest fires.
-
Introduction of silvicultural techniques to guarantee the regeneration of the tree mass
and minimize the risks of erosion and fire.
-
Definition of the infrastructures to improve the realization of the exploitation, and the
management to be carried out in the following years depending on the forest typology
of each plot.
This is regulated by the Forest Ownership Centre, depending directly from the Catalan
Government.

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Different Forestry Management Instruments in Catalonia:
Forest Management Instruments are documents suitable for all types of forest. For this
reason, there are different types of documents according to each specific condition. There
are currently five types of forest management instruments in Catalonia:
• Forest Management Project for public lands higher or equal to a 250 hectares.
• Forest Improvement and Management Technical Plan for public or private lands higher than
25 hectares.
• Forest Management Simple Plan for public or private lands equal or lower than 25 hectares.
• Joint Technical Plan for a Forest Improvement and Management for public or private lands
sharing a forestry coherent territorial frame.
• Forest Management Plan at Municipal or Extra Municipal level for all the lands under the same
municipal territory or even at wider scale, but always on its totality.

Main actions undertaken in relation to forest fires prevention, monitoring and restoration at
EU level:
• Directorate General of Environment
Many specific forest fire prevention regulations were emanated as of 1992 by DG
Environment. In 1998 the Commission’s Expert Group on Forest Fires was created with the
aim of exchanging information concerning lessons learned and forest fire prevention practices
and developing as well as maintaining the European Forest Fires Information System (EFFIS).
EFFIS is jointly managed by the EU Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the DG ENV and aims to
provide EU level assessments for situations before and after fires, to support fire prevention
through risk mapping and to promote preparedness, firefighting and post-fire evaluations.
• Directorate General of Agriculture and Rural Development
This DG has been supporting the financing of fire prevention and restoration actions through
rural development programs until 2006. In 2007 a new regulation on rural development came
into force, which among other aims had the goal of providing the legal basis for supporting
the restoration of forests and fire prevention activities. The new regulation also requests
Member States to classify areas according to fire risk in their forest protection plans as well
as setting the measures for preventing fires and for restoring damage from fires in the areas
characterized by high or medium risk.
• Directorate General of Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection
Every year before the beginning of the forest fire season, the European Commission’s
Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) organises meetings joined by
representatives of all European Member States that are joining the EU Civil Protection
Mechanism to exchange information on the state of preparedness related to the occurrence
of forest fires. EU Civil Protection Mechanism was set up on 2001 to enable coordinated
assistance from the participating states to victims of natural and man-made disasters in
Europe and elsewhere. Over the summer period, the ERCC is in contact on a weekly basis with
the representatives of the countries that are at high risk of forest fires. When forest fires occur
and when national capacities to respond are exceeded, European countries can show
solidarity by providing assistance in the form of water-bombing aircrafts, helicopters, fire-

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fighting equipment and personnel. To provide a joint and coordinated response, countries
frequently channel assistance and exchange of real-time information through the EU Civil
Protection Mechanism. The EU Civil Protection Mechanism was activated more than 55 times
(including prealerts and monitoring requests) since 2007 to respond to forest fires within and
outside European borders.
• Directorate General of Research
DG Research has supported forest fire research since the late 1980s with the aim of
strengthening research activities and initiatives in various fields related to forest fires. An
example of the action of this DG is the FIREPARADOX Project which had the overall goal of
developing a scientific and technical basis for integrated land and fire management practices
and policies.3

Main legal frame for forest fires prevention, extinction and restoration in EU context:
-
Council Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 of 20 September 2005 on support for rural
development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD).
-
Council Decision of 20 December 2004 amending Decision 1999/847/EC as regards the
extension of the Community Action Programme in the field of civil protection.
-
Commission Regulation (EC) No 2121/2004 of 13 December 2004 providing some
detailed rules for the implementation of the Forest Focus Regulation.
-
Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning
the Financial Instrument for the Environment (LIFE+). 29.9.2004, COM (2004) 621.
-
Communication from the Commission “Financial perspectives 2007 - 2013”
14.07.2004, COM (2004) 487.
-
Communication from the Commission “Reinforcing the Civil Protection Capacity of the
European Union”. 25.03.2004, COM (2004) 200.
-
Regulation (EC) No 2152/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17
November 2003 concerning monitoring of forests and environmental interactions in
the Community (Forest Focus).
-
Council Regulation (EC) No 2012/2002 of 11 November 2002 establishing the
European Union Solidarity Fund.
-
Regulation (EC) No 805/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 April
2002 amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92 of 23 July 1992 on protection of
the Community’s forests against fire.
-
Council Decision of 23 October 2001 establishing a Community Mechanism to
facilitate reinforced cooperation in civil protection assistance interventions.
-
Regulation (EC) No 1485/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27
June 2001 amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92 of 23 July 1992 on
protection of the Community’s forests against fire.

3 Plana, E., Font, M., Serra, M., 2016. FOREST FIRES, Guideline for communicators and journalists. eFIRECOM Project. CTFC
Editions. 32pp.

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-
Council Decision of 9 December 1999 establishing a Community action programme in
the field of Civil Protection.
-
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1727/1999 of 28 July 1999 laying down certain
detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92 of 23 July
1992 on protection of the Community’s forests against fire.
-
Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/99 of 17 May 1999 on support for rural development
from the European Agricultural -Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) and
amending and repealing certain Regulations.
-
Commission Regulation (EC) No 804/94 of 11 April 1994 laying down certain detailed
rules for the application of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92 as regards forest-fire
information systems.
-
Commission Regulation (EEC) No 1170/93 of 13 May 1993 laying down certain detailed
rules for the application of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92 of 23 July 1992 on
protection of the Community’s forests against fire.
-
Council Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92 of 23 July 1992 on protection of the Community’s
forests against fire.4

4.6.
 Summary of the key concepts:

• The Mediterranean basin is an area ecologically adapted to forest fires. The vegetation
of the Atlantic zone does not have the same adaptations or the same fire resistance
and resilience capabilities.

• Climate change has generated a greater frequency of climatic events favourable to the
development of great wildfires, a trend that is rising all around Europe. The
combination of drought, wind and low humidity, together with more abundance of
vegetation due to changes in uses (rural abandonment) causes high intensity fires and
a bigger propagation capacity, generating fires that often exceed the extinction
capacity.

• Only one factor (the fuel) can be intervened to influence the behaviour of the forest
fire. For this reason, it’s key to know those forest structures which can lead to a wildfire
(tree crown active fire), and those which can resist its effects. Thus, forest management
must be aimed to generate and maintain forestry structures of low vulnerability to tree
crown active fires.

• Preventive silviculture is the most widely used tool to prevent extreme fire behaviour.
To increase the efficiency of these treatments (thinning, pruning, residues
management, etc.), it’s required to previously know the types of fires affecting one

4 Plana, E., Font, M., Serra, M., 2016. FOREST FIRES, Guideline for communicators and journalists. eFIRECOM Project. CTFC
Editions. 32pp.

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specific area. The treatments must be designed and located according to the extinction
strategy pre-established by those responsible for firefighting.

• Controlled burns are a fuel management alternative to reduce the risk of great
wildfires.

4.7.
 References and links to available literature
To know and learn more:
-
https://forest.jrc.ec.europa.eu/en/
-
http://www.lessonsonfire.eu/
-
http://efirecom.ctfc.cat
-
http://www.unisdr.org/files/11705_91358948mediatraininghandbookEnglis.pdf
-
http://www.unisdr.org/files/20108_mediabook.pdf -
-
http://emergency.cdc.gov/cerc/resources/pdf/cerc_2012edition.pdf

Plana, E., Font, M., Serra, M., 2016. FOREST FIRES, Guideline for communicators and
journalists. eFIRECOM Project. CTFC Editions. 32pp.
Plana, E.; Font, M.; Serra, M.; Borràs, M.; Vilalta, O. 2016. El foc i els incendis forestals al
mediterrani; la història d’una relació entre boscos i societat. Cinc mites i realitats per saber-
ne més. Projecte eFIREcom. Edicions CTFC. 36pp.
Piqué, M.; Castellnou, M.; Valor, T.; Pagés, J.; Larrañaga, A.; Miralles, M.; Cervera, T. 2011.
Integració del risc de grans incendis forestalls (GIF) en la gestió forestall: incendis tipus I
vulnerabilitat de les estructures forestalls al foc de capçades. Sèrie: Orientacions de gestió
forestall sostenible per a Catalunya (ORGEST). Centre de la Propietat Forestal. Departament
d’Agricultura, Ramaderia, Pesca, Alimentació I Medi Natural. Generalitat de Catalunya.
Plana, E., Font, M., Serra, M., Hörl, J., Hengst-Ehrhart, Y., Hartebrodt, C., Held, A., Clemenceau,
A., Giroud, F., Tola, F., Capula, T., Cinus, S., Visani, C., Soi, F., Manca, G., Prat, N., Borràs, M.,
Vendrell, J., Ballart, H. and Vilalta, O. 2018. Forest risks in a climate change context: trends
and risk management challenges of wildfires, floods, storms, avalanches and their
interactions in EU landscapes. Networking for the European Forest Risk Facility Initiative (NET
RISK WORK ECHO/SUB/2016/740171/PREV10 Project). CTFC Editions. 76pp.
Domènech, R., Piqué, M., Larrañaga, A., Beltrán, M., Castellnou, M. 2018. El paper del foc en
la conservació de l’hàbitat dels boscos de pinassa (Pinus nigra Arn.). Projecte LIFE+ PINASSA.
Centre de Ciència i Tecnologia Forestal de Catalunya (CTFC). 64 p.

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SWEDEN
Authors: Tomas Nordfjell, Back Tomas Ersson and Marine Elbakidze

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5.1.
 Forests and forestry in Sweden
The total land area in Sweden is 40.8 million ha, and of this 28.3 million ha (69%) is defined
as forest land. This forest land is divided into productive forest land (23.6 million ha; with a
yield of minimum 1 m3 solid wood volume per ha including bark per year) and non-productive
forest land. During the period of 1955 to 1975, the total forest growth in Sweden was about
80 million m3 (solid stem volume including bark and tops of trees) per year. Between 1985
and 1995, the corresponding yield was close to 100 million m3, and since year 2010 the annual
growth is about 120 million m3. The annual harvest, including non-utilized windthrown trees,
has in general been 10-30 million m3 lower than the growth. This has resulted in a total
growing stock that increased from about 2 billion m3 in year 1955 to more than 3.1 billion m3
today (Figure 40).

Figure 40: Sweden’s total standing forest stock is steadily growing (© Back Tomas Ersson, SLU).

Of Sweden’s productive forest land, 22% is younger than 20 years, and 40% is 20-60 years old
(Figure 41). The corresponding proportion for forests 60-100 years old is 19%, and 12% of the
Swedish forests is 100-140 years old. About 7% of the productive forest land is over 140 years
old. The proportion of old forest is higher in the northern than the southern parts of the

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country. In total, the dominating maturity class is “thinning forests” (40%) in Sweden, and
about 33% of the forests have reached the lowest legal age for final felling.

Figure 41: As much as 40% of the Swedish forest is 20-60 years old (middle aged stands), and mixtures
of Scot’s pine (Pinus sylvestris) and birch (Betula spp.), or Norway spruce (Picea abies) and birch, is
common (© Tomas Nordfjell, SLU).

The Swedish forest are dominated by a few conifer species (Figure 41). The growing stock
consists of 41% Norwegian spruce, 39% Scot’s pine, and 12% birch. Aspen (Populus tremula),
alder (Alnus spp.) and Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta, an exotic species), constitute together
about 5%, and oak (Quercus robur), and beech (Fagus sylvatica) less than 2%. Other species
constitutes together the remaining 1% of the total growing stock. The proportion of forest
stands dominated by broadleaves have however increased slowly since about 1995.
The current forest policy gives equal priority to production and environmental objectives. The
regulatory parts in the Swedish Forestry Act concern regeneration after final felling, rotation
periods as well as considerations related to ecological, social, and cultural values. Maximum
sustained yield of wood by using even-aged forest management systems is in focus in the
current Swedish forest management (Elbakidze et al. 2013). Additionally, tree retention is
practiced and set-aside areas are managed to maintain ecological, social, and cultural values
of forests as providers of post-modern products in terms of tourism and amenity migration.
However, the main end-user is the export-oriented forest industry focusing on value-added
production for environmentally concerned markets.
In Sweden, the terms ‘‘sustainable harvest level’’, ‘‘allow-able cut’’, or ‘‘harvest level’’ are
used interchangeably to characterize the long-term harvest level estimated in the framework
of strategic planning (Eriksson 2008). The harvest level includes wood volumes originated
from both final felling and commercial thinning. For determination of the sustainable harvest

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level, the Forest Management Planning Package (FMPP) is used (Jonsson et al.1993). The
FMPP, being a Decision Support System, is a set of tools for analyzing the wood resource
(Jonsson et al.1993). The goal of forest management is to find a reasonable compromise
between an even flow of wood from the entire forest management unit and maximum net
present value (NPV) based on stand-and-by-stand optimal harvest programs. The FMPP
focuses on forestry for timber production (Jonsson et al. 1993). A Geographic Information
System (GIS) including a stand register is used to perform hierarchical forest management
planning with strategic, tactical, and operational steps. The input data for the FMPP is
gathered in a special forest inventory designed for acquiring data as a base for FMPP analysis
(Jonsson et al. 1993).

Figure 42: A typical mature Swedish conifer forest. The overstory is dominated by Scot’s pine (Pinus
sylvestris), a pioneer species, while the understory is dominated by Norway spruce (Picea abies), a
climax species (© Back Tomas Ersson, SLU).
The ongoing climate change has increased the problem of soil damages at harvesting
operations. In the past, most of the harvesting operations in the central and northern parts
of Sweden were performed on frozen ground that also was covered with snow. Today, this
can still be done in the northern part of the country, but not so often in the central parts and
seldom in southern Sweden.

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5.2.
 Forest production chains
Most harvesting operations in Sweden are done with a harvester and a forwarder (Figure 43).
The machines are most often owned by contractors that have 1-3 harvesting teams (each
team comprising a harvester, a forwarder and 2-4 operators). Many forest companies do
however also have their own harvesting machines operated by their own personnel. About
20% of the harvesting managed by forest companies is done using their own machines. Also,
the harvesting on private forest holdings is most often done with harvesters and forwarders
owned by contractors or forest companies.

Figure 43: A harvester (left) and a forwarder (right) on final felling sites (© Tomas Nordfjell, SLU).

However, family owners in Sweden currently face several challenges:
(1) Continued intensification of conventional forest management hinders the adoption of
innovative forest management alternatives more resilient to multiple risks (Andersson
& Keskitalo 2018). For example, the demand for Continuous Cover Forest
management is rising among family owners (Sonesson et al. 2017), but most Swedish
foresters have no knowledge how to meet this demand (Figure 43);
(2) Forest management in family holdings is commonly undertaken by professional
foresters, who focus on developing conventional wood production systems wherein
family owners are chiefly considered as suppliers for the timber and pulp industry;
(3) Family forest owners often lack time, financial means and/or knowledge to apply new
approaches to forest management (Bjärstig & Kvastegård 2016). Shared ownership,
small forest holdings and long distances to forest holdings are also considered to limit
uptake of innovations;
(4) The vague conceptualisation of new values is a challenge for their operationalisation
by professional forest planners (Widman & Bjärstig 2017).

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Figure 44: Because of several challenges, the path towards sustainable forest management on Swedish
family holdings is unfortunately not as straight forward as this forest road in central Sweden is (© Back
Tomas Ersson, SLU).

5.3.
 Wood market
The wood market in Sweden is rather similar over the country, even if small variation exists.
The market is better, with higher prices, close to forest industries than far away. There is a
market for the main wood assortments (saw logs and pulpwood) in the whole country, but
the market for energy assortments exists at present only in the more dense populated south
part of the country or very close to combined heat and power plants in the rest of the country.
The market for processed firewood is very local with the highest interest close to small towns
and villages.

5.4.
 Forest ownership
In total, 50% of the productive forest land is family forests (Non-Industrial Private Forest
owners), 22% is owned by private forest companies, and 28% is owned by others including a
state-owned forest company, the state, and the church (Skogsdata 2019).

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5.4.1. Private forest owners
There are some 200 000 families in Sweden owning more than 5 ha of forestland (KSLA 2015).
The average holding is 50 ha, but the variation is large. About 68% of the holdings are between
5 and 50 ha, 31% between 50 and 400 ha, and 1% are larger than 400 ha (Lidestav & Nordfjell
2002). The total number of owners (about 320 000 owners) is larger than the number of family
forest holdings. This means that many forest holdings are owned by more than one person,
often married couples in a family, or siblings that together have inherited the holding. Roughly
one third of the forest holdings are owned by one person, one third by married couples
together and one third with other relatives. Less than 30% of the forest owners have some
kind of commercial agricultural business in connection with the forest holding.
Only 14% of the forest owners have purchased the forest holding on the open market. The
majority have bought or inherited the holding from their parents or other relatives. Sixty
percent of the forest owners do wish that their children should take over the forest holding
in the future. About 50% of the forest owners are members in a forest owner association. This
proportion is higher (57%) for owners of holdings in the size between 50 and 400 ha compared
with owners of smaller (41%) or larger (45%) holdings.
Family forest ownership has a long tradition in Sweden. Present-day family forest owners are
heterogeneous. Traditional forest owners working their own property are becoming a
minority, the number of non-residential owners is growing, and co-ownership of forest land
has increased (Lidestav & Nordfjell 2005). These and other changes have led to shifts in the
values that family owners have traditionally associated with their forests –many studies show
that the motivations and objectives of family owners in Sweden cover a broad range of issues
from tourism development, amenities, biodiversity conservation, to economic efficiency
(Huggosson & Ingemarson 2004).

5.4.2. Identification of forest owners needs in Sweden
This identification is focused on the typical Swedish family forest owner.

5.4.2.1.
A State of-the-art description of common goods that forest owners sell and
common services that they buy, and problems related to this
Most forest owners buy services from wood trading organizations and forestry contractors.
Most private forest owners, including those who earn the majority of their income from
forestry, buy services for many forestry works tasks.
To secure reasonable agreements, it is important to be a competent service buyer. If not,
ecological-, societal-, cultural-, and historical values might be damaged. The forest owner’s
goals might not be reached, or values that really matter for the forest owners might be
downplayed. The cost for the service might be too high, or the income and quality of
performed work might be too low. The situation is also similar when the forest owner wants
to sell wood or other goods and/or services. Thus, when buying services and selling
goods/services, there is a need for competence as well to get the best possible price and
agreement.

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Timber and other wood products
Final felling is an important source of income for many non-industrial private forest owners.
For most forest owners, the majority of the forest income comes from the selling of timber
and other wood products. One of the most important economic decisions that forest owners
do is choosing which forest company to buy harvesting services from and to sell the timber
to. Most of this income is related to final felling (Figure 45), but also thinning operations
generate income (Figure 46). Most often, the forest owners buy the service of harvest
planning from the wood-purchasing company. This fact can, however, sometimes lead to sub-
optimal planning that does not take into account the owner’s actual goals and values. Sawlogs
is the most important wood assortment that generates the highest income per m3 and in
total. Pulpwood is the second most important assortment. A third assortment is low quality
timber and logging residues for industrial heat and electricity production. Logging residues
(Figure 47) are only collected from final fellings, but the residues’ value is sometimes so low
that they are not collected but left on the logging site.

Figure 45: Final felling is an important source of income for many non-industrial private forest owners.
Most often, the forest owners buy the service of harvest planning from the wood-purchasing company.
This fact can, however, sometimes lead to sub-optimal planning that does not take the owner’s actual
goals and values into account (© Back Tomas Ersson, SLU).

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Figure 46: A high proportion of wood from thinning operations is pulpwood. However, second thinning
often result in a higher share of sawlogs (© Tomas Nordfjell, SLU).

Figure 47: Logging residues from final felling is also a forest product that can generate income.
However, the economic value of it is rather low (© Tomas Nordfjell, SLU).

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The above-mentioned assortments are most often harvested (Figure 48) and extracted to
roadside by contractors with harvesters and forwarders (Figure 49) working for the company
or organization that bought the timber. Nevertheless, some contractors have also broadened
their business model by becoming wood-trading middlemen (i.e. locally marketing their
services directly to forest owners, and then selling the harvested wood to industrial
customers).

Figure 48: Commercial (first) thinning of a mixed conifer-deciduous stand using a small 4 wheeled
harvester in northern Sweden in November 2017. Commercial thinning is performed yearly on over
300,000 ha in Sweden, Pulpwood is typically the main product produced during commercial thinning
(© Back Tomas Ersson, SLU).

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Figure 49: A large forwarder extracting sawlogs and two logs destined to become utility poles on a
clearcut in northern Sweden (© Back Tomas Ersson, SLU).

There is also a local market for processed firewood. This assortment is most often harvested
and processed by the forest owners themselves, and then sold to the final consumer.
It is becoming increasingly important that also private forest owners communicate with local
inhabitants when harvesting is planned close to houses and towns (Figure 50).

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Figure 50: Harvesting close to houses and villages requires specific attention and the forest owner
might feel restricted from managing the forest according to his/her actual goals (© Tomas Nordfjell,
SLU).

In situations with large storm-felled areas (Figure 51), there is a specific need for cooperation
with neighbouring forest owners, and with the companies buying the wood.

Figure 51: Large storms creates a need of well-planned harvesting operations that includes several
forest holdings in the same operation (© Tomas Nordfjell, SLU).

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Silvicultural treatments
• Mechanical soil preparation
Most stands after final felling are treated with mechanical soil preparation (Figure 52). Almost
all mechanical soil preparation is done by contractors. If the stand is reforested using direct
seeding sowing can also be done simultaneously as the soil preparation.

Figure 52: Mechanized site preparation using a Bracke T26 two-row disc trencher in northern Sweden
in late November 2018. The trenching unit is mounted on a large forwarder, and the trenching can be
performed as long as the soil is not significantly frozen (slight frost and snow is not a problem) (© Back
Tomas Ersson, SLU).

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• Tree planting and direct seeding (sowing)
Tree planting or manual sowing are tasks often performed by the forest owners themselves.
Nevertheless, it is also commonly performed by specialised contractors (Figure 53).

Figure 53: Manual planting of Picea abies seedlings in southern Sweden by a silvicultural contractor
using a large diameter planting tube. The lower parts of the seedlings are treated with a non-toxic wax
which prevents predation by Hylobius abietis (pine weevil) (© Södra Skogsägarna).

• Pre-commercial thinning
Pre-commercial thinning is a task often performed by the forest owners themselves. But it is
also commonly performed by specialised contractors (Figure 54).

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Figure 54: Motor-manual pre-commercial thinning (PCT) in a young pine (Pinus sylvestris) stand. PCT
is a service commonly performed by contractors and bought by Swedish private forest owners from
forest companies (© Stora Enso Skog).

Other goods and services
• Hunting rights
The selling of hunting rights is a significant income source in especially southern Sweden and
close to cities. In total, about 80,000 – 90,000 moose are shot annually in Sweden (Figure 55).
Moose hunting is heavily regulated, and the hunting is normally organized in hunting teams.
Hunting team hunt moose together over a larger area which might consist of both family
forests and forest company forests. Commonly, such hunting areas size 1,000 to 8,000 ha,
most often with the larger areas in the northern part of the country. Forest owners with
hunting rights can hunt by themselves, but also sell on the open market the hunting right to
hunting teams. This is normally done on a yearly basis, and it is general easy to find buyers for
moose hunting. Hunting rights can also be sold for other species like roe dear, wild boar,
different kinds of birds and other small game. However, the market for selling such hunting
rights varies immensely within the country.
Land owners often merge their hunting territory with that of their neighbours to form larger
management units or lease out the hunting rights to other hunters. In areas with a large
proportion of private forest owners, hunting has the highest economic turn-over (Boman &
Mattsson, 2012). Hunters without their own forest can lease hunting rights from private or
corporate forest owners either by themselves or by joining a hunting club. There are also
hunting management associations which manage the species populations, infrastructure for
hunting and the development and performance of the hunting teams (Boman & Mattsson,
2012). The most popular species to hunt are moose, roe deer, wild boar, hare, and ducks.

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Figure 55: Moose hunting rights can be sold on the open market and generate an income for the forest
owner (© Tomas Nordfjell, SLU).

• The right for companies to establish windmills on the forest property
There are presently many new windmills being established on Swedish forest land, and it is
forecasted that this expansion will continue the coming decade (Figure 56). If large windmills
are placed on the land of a forest owner, they can give a substantial and long-lasting income
for the forest owner. However, if a forest owner only get a power line corridor on the
property, this gives only a small compensation, This situation has in many areas created local
conflicts between forest owners getting an important income and those who mostly only
loosing forest areas due to power-line corridors and other infrastructure needed.

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Figure 56: Many windmills in Sweden are erected on forest land. If done correctly using appropriate
judicial agreements, leasing forest land to wind power companies can be a lucrative source of income
for private forest owners (© Stora Enso Skog).

• Berries and mushrooms
Because of Sweden’s custom of right to roam (“Everyman’s right”), Swedish forest owners
cannot receive income from selling access to berries and mushrooms. Historically, berry
harvesting played an important role in Swedish rural areas. As a sign of the past use of
lingonberry, the “red gold of the forest,” and some regional trains have been called
“lingonberry trains” (Swe: krösatåg) since 1985. The term stem from the time of a
“lingonberry boom” (Swe: lingonruschen) in Småland, when berries were exported to
Germany at the end of the 19th until 1914 when the WW1 began. There were debates in the
Swedish Parliament on how to regulate the harvest of non-wood forest products (NWFP) in
private forests, and, at present, the governance of the wild berries harvesting from private
forests is under discussion again (Sténs & Sandström, 2013). Nowadays, the growing berry
industry brings foreign berry pickers to private forests for collecting wild berries. The Right of
Public Access is important for Swedish people that enjoy different traditional outdoors
activities and have strong support from the general public (Sandell & Fredman, 2010).
However, there are suggestions that the “Right of Public Access” in Sweden should be
reviewed in order to differentiate between the collection of NWFPs for personal and
commercial purposes (Sandell & Fredman, 2010).

• Administrative services
Long term forest planning: it is common that forest owners have forest management plans
that are revised at 10-year intervals. This service is often bought from a forest owner
associations or a forest company, but private consultants and other organizations also offer
this service.

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Financial and legal advisory services when filing taxes, bookkeeping, or selling or bequeathing
forest properties: these services are often offered by forest companies or forest owner
associations through affiliated/cooperating consultants and/or financial/judicial firms. These
firms may also provide legal services when selling rights to companies for establishing
windmills or similar on the forest property.

5.4.2.2.
A State-of-the-art description of where to find information needed for buying
of services and selling of goods
The chief organizations in Sweden who provide information to forest owners who buy and
sell services and goods are as follows:
• Skogsägarföreningar (Forest owners’ associations): mainly Norra & Norrskog,
Mellanskog and Södra (Figure 57 top; there are also numerous smaller associations
like Nätraälven, Västra Värmlands och Dals, etc.). These cooperatives are essentially
wood purchasing middlemen, although Norra & Norrskog own their own sawmills, and
Södra owns its own sawmills and pulpmills. Forest owners become members through
shares that are paid for by a small proportion of the money earned when wood is sold
to the association. The associations pay dividends to members after profitable years
and provide extensive consolatory services for private forest owners.
• LRF (the Federation of Swedish Farmers): essentially a lobby organization for private
landowners in Sweden, but it also owns many companies that provide services for
private landowners. The forest owners’ associations are members of LRF.
• Skogsstyrelsen (Swedish Forest Agency): this government agency provides services
both free-of-charge (eg. nature conservation) and pay-for-use (eg. forest management
plans) to private forest owners.
• Forest companies (like SCA, Stora Enso, Holmen, BillerudKorsnäs, etc., Figure 56
bottom): these companies generally own wood processing industries, and provide
extensive consolatory services for private forest owners, often from an FSC (Forest
Stewardship Council)-based point-of-view.
• Private consultants/NGOs (including local consultants and NGOs like SNF, the Swedish
Society for Nature Conservation): these companies and organizations provide
consolatory services for private forest owners, often from a profit- or agenda-based
point-of-view.
• Hunting organizations (e.g Svenska Jägarförbundet): These organizations provide
forest owners with hunting- and game-related information.

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Figure 57: The four largest Swedish forest owners’ associations (top) and the four largest Swedish
pulpwood-purchasing forest companies (bottom).

5.4.2.3. Innovation needs related to buying services and selling of goods
The problem a forest owner has with selling wood is that it is very difficult to compare the
alternatives from different buyers. One reason for this is that the profit is a combination of
the price of wood and the cost for the harvesting operation. It is feasible to compare the price
of wood between buyers, but it is very challenging to compare the different buyers’
harvesting costs. Also, it is difficult for forest owners to acquire and compare the costs of
silvicultural services like tree planting, sowing and pre-commercial thinning.
The forest management plans (long-term forest planning) is often supplied by the same
organizations that buy the harvesting right for roundwood. This creates a competitive
advantage in relation to other buyers of roundwood, a situation which in the end might be
disadvantageous for non-industrial private forest owner.
Today, there is increasing demand among Swedish private forest owners for silvicultural
systems that avoid clearcutting, i.e. various forms of Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF, eg.
Plenterwald, Dauerwald, etc., c.f. Pukkala 2016). However, both theoretical and practical
knowledge of such silvicultural systems is poor among forest owners, foresters, and
contractors in Sweden.
In stands with high environmental values (Figure 58), Swedish forest owners have the
opportunity to sell their harvesting rights to the State (for e.g 25, 50 or 100 years via
Skogsstyrelsen’s “Komet-project”). However, there is a significant need for more competence
among Swedish private forest owners in regard to what economic benefits biodiverse
forests/stands with high environmental values might provide.
In general, there is a need of increased competence related to selling of hunting rights. This
includes also in many cases the need for increased cooperation between forest owners to
create attractive hunting areas of suitable size. The need for legal services in relation to selling
rights to companies for establishing windmills or similar on the forest property is something
rather new, which opens up for new business possibilities regarding this service.

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Most of the organizations listed in 5.4.2.2 also have their own agendas, and the suggestions
they give might not always be in line with the goals that the forest owner might have.
Storms often create a need for unplanned harvesting operations. There is a competence need
regarding cooperation between forest owners and wood buyers and contractors in such
cases. Such competence should already be available before such situations occur, when rapid
decisions and actions are needed.
Silvicultural treatments like tree planting and pre-commercial thinning are work tasks often
performed by the forest owners themselves, or by family members. It is however increasingly
common that this service is bought, and there is a competence need when buying this service.
Private forest owners need to improve their competence in communicating with the local
inhabitants when a harvesting is planned close to houses and towns. If not, conflicts often
occur with the general public.

Figure 58: A mature pine stand with high environmental values (old trees and significant amounts of
dead wood in various stages of decay) in central Sweden (© Swedish Society for Nature Conservation).

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5.5.
 References and links to available literature
Andersson, E. & Keskitalo, C. 2018. Adaptation to climate change? Why business-as-usual
remains the logical choice in Swedish forestry. Global Environmental Change 48: 76-85
Boman, M. & Mattsson, L. 2012. The hunting value of game in Sweden: have changes occurred
over recent decades? Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research, 27(7): 669-674.
Bjärstig, T. & Kvastegård, E. 2016. Forest social values in a Swedish rural context: the private
forest owners’ perspective. Forest Policy and Economics 65.
Eriksson, L.O. 2008. The forest planning system of Swedish forest enterprises: A note on the
basic elements. Umeå: Department of Forest Resource Management, Swedish University of
Agricultural Sciences. Arbetsrapport 232, 60 pp.
Elbakidze, M., Andersson, K., Angelstam, P., Armstrong, G., Axelsson, R., Doyon, F.,
Hermansson, M., Jacobsson, J., Pautov, Y. 2013. Sustained Yield Forestry in Sweden and
Russia: How Does it Correspond to Sustainable Forest Management Policy? Ambio 42(2): 160-
173.
Huggosson, M., Ingemarson, F. 2004. Objectives and motivations of small-scale forest owners;
theoretical modelling and qualitative assessment. Silva Fenica 38(2): 217-231.
Jonsson, B., J. Jacobsson, H. Kallur. 1993. The forest management planning package: Theory
and application. Studia Forestalia Suecica 189.
KSLA. 2015. Forests and Forestry in Sweden. Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and
Forestry.
Lidestav, G. & Nordfjell, T. 2002. Med skogsägaren i fokus [With the forest owner in focus].
LRF Skogsägarna. [In Swedish].
Pukkala, T. 2016. Plenterwald, Dauerwald, or clearcut?. Forest Policy and Economics 62: 125-
134.
Skogsdata 2019. Skogsdata 2019: Aktuella uppgifter om de svenska skogarna från SLU
Riksskogstaxeringen [Forest statistics 2019: Official Statistics of Sweden]. Umeå: Department
of Forest Resource Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.
Sandell, K. & Fredman, P. 2010. The Right of Public Access – Opportunity or Obstacle for
Nature Tourism in Sweden? Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism 10(3): 291-309
Sonesson, J., Eliasson, L., Jacobsson, S., Wallgren, M., Weslien, J. & Wilhelmsson, L. 2017
Continuous-cover silviculture at landscape level. Skogforsk, Uppsala. Arbetsrapport 926.
Sténs, A. & Sandström, C. 2013. Divergent interests and ideas around property rights: The
case of berry harvesting in Sweden. Forest Policy and Economics 33: 56-62.
Widman, U. & Bjärstig, T.  2017. Protecting forests’ values through partnership. Scandinavian
Journal of Forest Research 32(7): 633-644.

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“The European Commission’ssupport for the production of this publication does not constitute
an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the
Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information
contained therein.”