Comparison of established and normal growing stock of Category of forests 1200 in the Republic of Srpska

Abstract

By analyzing of the data for Category of forests 1200 from 14 newer forest management plans, objective was to give an overview of the state forest reserves in this category regarding to a comparation of its current established state with calculated normal state obtained by Matić’s simple method, which is one of the indicators of continuity of forests production in the future. The basic methods of processing data used in this work are methods of comparison and methods of analysis and synthesis of data which helped to come up with a graphical representation of processed data. The results showed that in certain cases there is a great discrepancy of identified in relation to the normal volume of growing stock which is possible a result of nonfulfillment of annual cut in the past or excessive logging if there is a deficit of volume of growing stock. The structure is in most forest areas disturbed so that due to a possible non-fulfillment of annual cut in the past it has been a build-up of stocks in the larger diameter classes, while in cases of excessive logging the deficit is in all diameter classes. In all cases, volume stock of smaller diameter classes is under optimum, which may lead to a disruption of the stability of forests and compromising of uneven aged forest structure. In addition to this, there is the question of whether current calculated normal state corresponds to today’s situation and the objectives of forest management that are no longer based only on the production of timber, as well as whether the cutting diameter is appropriate considering that today the trees on average have smaller diameter. It is likely that deviations from the calculated normal growing stock would be lower if a certain modification would be conducted. It should also be noted that accuracy of the calculated normal state in the forest management plans is questionable and that the accuracy of the data obtained from the field is uncertain. As one of the potential solutions to improve the situation in the future there is an opening of unopened and slightly opened forested areas, which would reduce the pressure on the better opened forest ecosystems.