Planning and regulation of pre-final cuttings in Poland – a proposal for change

Scheduling and regulation of the forest use are of much importance in forest management. Decisions regarding the manner, timing, and intensity of tree felling result in long-term effects, as these affect the species and age structure of forests, along with the direction and dynamics of changes in forest resources. Above all, serious doubts concern the way of determining and accounting for the prescribed forest utilization, and in particular, the possibilities of the pre-final cuttings. In recent times, the precise determination of the pre-final cuttings by volume has been given up. According to the law, the area of pre-final cuttings is now obligatory taken into account. Consequently, it is not possible to determine the total volume limiting the amount of timber to be harvested, thus, there is decreased the value of the forest management plan as the document approved by the minister responsible for forestry as well as the basis for forest management. For practical reasons, the specified pre-final cuttings by volume are considered as indicative. Connecting the planned pre-final cutting volume with the expected volume increment of the stand has not been relinquished. In the present paper, the authors called attention to a necessity for further improvement of the mediumterm planning of pre-final cutting volume. A need to change the definition of the incidental cutting was emphasized. As said by the authors, the term “incidental cutting” should denote harvesting wood from diseased and dying or dead trees, along with eliminating the effects of tree damage caused by fortuitous events. Accordingly, the incidental cuttings that are inherently unpredictable, should not be directly attributed to pre-final cutting products. Keeping in mind the incidental cuttings, the authors proposed the method of reckoning the forest use, which would allow for correct accounting with regard to the prescribed pre-final cuttings.