Fallplace (blank)
Lands temporarily devoid of trees for longer than 5 years; also forest plantations and sapling stands (up to 20 years) with lower than 0.5 tree cover and scheduled for renewal in the coming years.
Felling (cutting) age (felling maturity age)
Age at which the stand (or a tree) best meets the specific purpose of production. The felling (cutting) age should be determined on the basis of: economic assumptions, social functions of forests, quality and health of stands.
Felling (cutting) method
Set of works related to the use of the forest in order to create optimal conditions for the young generation of forest.
Clear-cutting method: Ia Ib Ic
Shelterwood cutting: IIa IIb IIc IId
Group shelterwood method: IIIa IIIb
Shelterwood method: IVa IVb IVc IVd
Goup selection method: V unit V group
Final felling
Wood harvesting related to the stand renewal or deforestation due to changes in the land use. Wood harvested within the framework of final felling.
Pre-final felling/Intermediate cutting
Wood harvesting relating to forest tending (late cleaninga and thinnings).
Salvage felling
Individual or group wood harvesting due to cleaning the forest of the coarse woody debris, and individually evolving deadwood (between thinnings). This category of forest cuts occurs in stands of all age classes (with the exception of sapling stands and plantations).
Fill-in planting
Forest amendments made on plantations older than one year and in natural forest renewals. Fill-in planting (due to strong competition) is made with older and stronger seedlings.
Forest
The most complex land ecosystem in which various organisms of flora and fauna co-exist and form biocenosis.
Definition as of Forest Act, of 1991, Art. 3:
For the purposes of the Act, a forest is a land:
1) of contiguous area greater than or equal to 0.10 ha, covered with forest vegetation (or plantation forest) – trees and shrubs and ground cover, or else in part deprived thereof, that is:
a) designated for forest production, or
b) constituting a Nature Reserve or integral part of a National Park, or
c) entered on the Register of Monuments;
2) associated with forest management, but occupied in the name thereof by buildings or building sites, water drainage installations and systems, forest division lines, forest roads, land beneath power lines, forest nurseries and timber stores; or else put to use as forest car parks or tourist infrastructure.
Definition as of the European Parliament and Board Regulation No. 2152/2003, of 17 November 2003:
"Forest" means land with tree crown cover (or equivalent stocking level) of more than 10 % and area of more than 0.5 ha. The trees should be able to reach a minimum height of 5 m at maturity in situ. It may consist either of closed forest formations where trees of various storeys and undergrowth cover a high proportion of the ground, or of open forest formations with a continuous vegetation cover in which tree crown cover exceeds 10 %. Young natural stands and all plantations established for forestry purposes which have yet to reach a crown density of 10 % or tree height of 5 m are included under forest, as are areas normally forming part of the forest area which are temporarily unstocked as a result of human intervention or natural causes but which are expected to revert to forest. The definition of ‘forest’ includes: forest nurseries and seed orchards that constitute an integral part of the forest; forest roads, cleared tracts, firebreaks and other small open areas within the forest; forest in national parks, nature reserves and other protected areas such as those of special environmental,scientific, historical, cultural or spiritual interest; windbreaks and shelterbelts of trees with an area of more than 0.5 ha and a width of more than 20 m. Rubberwood plantations and cork oak stands are included. However, the definition of ‘forest’ excludes: land predominantly used for agricultural practices.
Forest address
Alphanumeric code by which a particular unit of forest is uniquely identified.
There are three types of addressing in the Forest Data Bank, depending on forest ownership form.
Addressing in the State Forests
This is the obligatory addressing system in the State Forests Information System.
Scheme:
RR-NN-O-LL-AAAAAA-PPPP-WW
Description:
RR – 2-digit numeric code of the regional directorate of the State Forests
NN – 2-digit numeric code of a forest district
O – 1-digit numeric code of a forest precinct (inspectorate)
LL – 2-digit numeric code of a forest unit
AAAAAA – 6-digit number of a division (alphanumeric designation, completed with spaces on the righthand side)
PPPP – 4-letter code of a forest sub-division (completed with spaces on the righthand side)
WW – 2-digit numeric code of a subarea
Addressing in National Parks and Forest Research Stations
Scheme:
RR-NN-O-LL-KKAAAA-PPPP-WW
Description:
RR – 2-digit numeric code of object type; in all national parks and forest research station code 98 has been adopted
NN – 2-digit numeric code of the national park or forest research station
O – 1-digit numeric code of the protective perimeter or forest precinct (inspectorate)
LL – 2-digit numeric code of the protective perimeter or forest unit
KK – 2-digit numeric code of forest ownership by the types adopted for the national forest inventory; the code of the ownership type must always have 2 digits, in case of a singular type it should be completed with 0 (zero) at the front
AAAA – 4-digit number of a division (alphanumeric designation should be completed with spaces on the righthand side)
PPPP – 4-letter code of a forest sub-division (completed with spaces on the righthand side)
WW –2-digit numeric code the subarea
Adressing in other forests
Scheme:
WPPGGGOOOO-KKXXXX-PPPP-YY
Description:
W – a letter code of a province created by assigning capital letters to each province
PP – numerical code of a county as of TERYT – GUS database, completed with 0 (zero) on the lefthand side, if necessary
GGG – numerical code of a commune as of TERYT – GUS database, completed with 0 (zero) on the lefthand side, if necessary
OOOO – numerical code of a survey precinct as of TERYT – GUS database, completed with 0 (zero) on the lefthand side, if necessary
KK – numerical code of the ownership category as of adopted division by the national forest inventory categories, completed with 0 (zero) on the lefthand side, if necessary
XXXX – 4-digit alphanumerical denotation of a forest division (completed with spaces on the righthand side)
PPPP – 4-letter code of a forest sub-division (completed with spaces on the righthand side)
YY – 2-digit numerical code of forest survey separation within a forest sub-division
Forest cover (forest cover index)
Percentage of the area covered by forests in the total geographical area of Poland (or any territorial unit: province, county, commune).
Forest District
Basic administrative unit of the State Forests National Forest Holding. Forest District is a part of the Regional Directorate of the State Forests and comprises such area which ensures strict supervision and control of the subjected foresters.
Forest functional area
Land area of relatively homogeneous landscape, with natural boundaries, in which forests due to their predominant share in the structure of land use, significant production potential, more than local (regional or national) role in shaping the environment, and multiple protective functions are the dominant component of space; moreover, for these features or due to the threat to forest environment or the occurrence of common problems of natural and economic matter, it requires complex planning and fulfilling tasks, especially within the scope of forests protection and development of their functions.
Forest functions
Functions of forest which may be either natural or resulting from human activity.
Ecological functions (protective)
Forest functions shaping global and local climate, affecting composition of the atmosphere, regulating natural water cycle, counteracting floods, avalanches and landslides, protecting soil from erosion and the landscape against steppe-formation.
Social functions
Forest functions developing favorable conditions for health and recreation for the society, enlarging the labour market, strengthening national defense, ensuring the development of environmental education.
Productive functions (economic)
Forest functions allowing the supply of wood and other forest products, ensuring repeatability of production, therefore enabling sustainable use of wood and non-wood raw materials, including products of hunting.
Forest management
Forestry activities with the scope of management, protection and forest land use, maintenance and augmentation of resources and forest crops, management of wildlife, harvesting (excluding purchase) of wood, resin, Christmas trees, stumps, bark, needles, animals and undergrowth crops, as well as the sale of these products and the conducting of non-production forest functions (Forest Act, Art. 6, paragraph 1, item 1).
Forest lands area
Lands with a homogeneous area of at least 0.10 hectares covered by forest vegetation (wooded area), or temporarily deprived of it (non-afforested area). These areas are designated for silviculture production or they constitute nature reserves included in the national parks, or are registered as historical monuments.
Forest management plan
Basic document of forest management developed for a specific object (e.g. forest district), containing a description and assessment of the state of forest, and the objectives, tasks and methods of forest management.
Forest Monitoring
System for environmental assessment and health condition of stands on the basis of continuous or periodic observations and measurements by selected indicators (indices) on the permanent observation plots. The purpose of monitoring is to determine the spatial variety of the forest health of forests and to track its ongoing changes, quic k analysis of cause-effect relationships between the forest health and of biotic and abiotic factors of the environment and the development of short-term forecasts of changes in forest health.
Forest owner
Natural or legal person who is either the owner or the perpetual usufructuary of a forest; a forest owner is also a natural person, legal person or organizational unit without legal personality and being the forest autonomous owner, user, administrator or tenant.
Forest renewal
Introducing or establishing new stands in the area of former stands which were removed during utilization or were destroyed by natural disasters. There are natural renewals coming from self-seeding (out of seeds), vegetative renewals when forest grows from trees’ vegetative parts (offshoots or stump sprouts), and artificial when forest is the effect of human activity.
Forest Research Institute (FRI)
Founded in 1930 as the Experimental Institute of the State Forests. In 1934, it was transformed into the Research Institute of the State Forests. Since 1945 it has been operating as the Forest Research Institute, currently supervised by the Ministry of Environment. The authorities of the Institute are the Director and the Scientific Council. The Scientific Council is a decisive, initializing and consultative body. It is authorised to conduct postgraduate doctoral and habilitation studies and to make proposals for assigning professor title.
More about FRI - >HERE
Forest roads
Roads located in forests and not being public roads according to the regulations on public roads (Forest Act Art. 6 point 1, paragraph 8).
Forest site type (forest habitat type)
Basic unit in the forest habitat classification system, including forest areas with similar site conditions resulting from soil fertility and moisture, the similarities of climatic features, land fromation and its geological sructure. The areas which belong to the same forest habitat show similar productive capacity and silviculture suitability. Forest habitat types are determined separately for lowland, upland and foothill and also mountains.
Forestry
National economy sector dealing with forest management, tending, use and renewal in order to permanently utlise timber and other forest products and use other forest values and functions, such as protective, health, recreational, educational.
Collective forest studies comprising natural, technical and economic sciences as the basis for forest management and economy.
Part of a forest district , of an average area of 1.2 thousand hectares, supervised by a forester.