What
are forest management plans?
A Forest
Management Plan (FMP) is a basic forest management document developed for a
specific site, containing a description and assessment of the condition of the
forest, as well as the objectives, tasks and methods of forest management
(Article 6.1(6) of the Forest Act). Such a plan is drawn up for each forest
district once every 10 years. Section 4 of the Forest Act stipulates that
"a forest management plan shall be drawn up taking into account the
natural and economic conditions of forest management, the objectives and principles
of forest management and the methods of their implementation, specified for
each stand and managed site, taking into account protective forests."
The
preparation of the FMP is commissioned, organised and coordinated by the
director of the regional directorate of the State Forests, to which the
individual forest districts report.
The process
of creating a FMP begins with preparatory work, which includes the actions and
arrangements made during the preliminary consultation, covering the development
of assumptions for the forest management plan. Within three months prior to the
preliminary consultation, the director of the regional directorate of State
Forests submits a request to the regional director of environmental protection
to agree on the scope and level of detail of the information required in the
forecast of the impact of the forest management plan on the environment and
Natura 2000 areas. The preliminary consultation is convened in the first or
second quarter of the eighth year of the current forest management plan and is
chaired by the director of the Regional Directorate of State Forests. The
forest manager and relevant employees of the forest district, as well as
representatives of the Regional Directorate of State Forests, are required to
participate in the preliminary consultation: heads of relevant departments,
teams and positions dealing with forest management (in particular in the areas
of forest management, ownership, forest protection, nature conservation, forest
use and forest cultivation), tourism and forest access, and the manager of the
relevant forest protection team.
The head of
forest management draws up minutes from the preliminary consultation meeting,
which form the basis for the development of the terms of reference. The minutes
of the preliminary consultation are an internal document and are not subject to
public consultation. The minutes are submitted to the director of the Regional
Directorate of State Forests for approval within 30 days of the preliminary
consultation.
Next, the development
of the terms of reference is drawn up and a tender is announced for the
preparation of the FMP by external entities. This should take place no later
than by the end of the fourth quarter of the eighth year of the current forest
management plan.
At least 30
days before the date of the management consultation, the director of the
Regional Directorate of State Forests publishes information in the Public
Information Bulletin (BIP) about the start of consultations on the draft plan,
together with a forecast of the plan's impact on the environment and Natura
2000 areas. The forecast is prepared together with the FMP but is not part of
it and is not subject to approval by the Minister of Climate and Environment.
In the
first quarter of the ninth year of the current forest management plan, the
director of the Regional Directorate of State Forests convenes a management
meeting. The forest district manager and relevant employees of the forest
district, representatives of the Regional Directorate of State Forests: heads
of relevant departments, teams and positions dealing with forest management (in
particular in the areas of forest management, ownership, forest protection,
nature conservation, forest use and forest cultivation), tourism and forest
access, the Regional Directorate of State Forests spokesperson, the manager of
the relevant forest protection team and the selected contractor for the forest
management plan project. A local cooperation team is presented,
involving, among others, private individuals, institutions, associations and
other entities that have expressed their willingness to participate in the
consultations.
The next
stage is inventory work, which consists of field and office work. An assessment
report is prepared, an inventory of tree resources is carried out, and the
results of the inventory are compiled, including overview maps, summary tables
of inventory data, and a description of the forest district as a whole.
The draft
plan consultation is convened and chaired by the director of the Regional
Directorate of State Forests no later than 15 October of the tenth year of the
current forest management plan. The forest manager and relevant forest district
employees, as well as representatives of the Regional Directorate of State
Forests, are required to participate in the draft plan consultation
deliberations: heads of relevant departments, teams and positions dealing with
forest management (in particular in the areas of forest management, ownership,
forest protection, nature conservation, forest use and forest cultivation),
tourism and forest access, and the Regional Directorate of State Forests
spokesperson. In addition, the meeting is attended by the head of the relevant
forest protection team, a representative of the General Directorate of State
Forests, the contractor for the forest management plan project and the local
cooperation team appointed at the management consultation stage.
Immediately
after the director of the Regional Forest Directorate signs the draft plan
protocol, information is published on the Regional Forest Directorate's Public
Information Bulletin and website about the date and place where the draft
forest management plan for the forest district will be made available and the
deadline for submitting comments and proposals.
The
procedure for developing the FMP draft ends when the draft plan is approved by
the Minister of Climate and Environment at the request of the director of the
Regional Forest Directorate. The director of the Regional Forest Directorate
shall make the information about the approval of the FMP public.
The FMP
document consists of the following parts:
1) a
description of the forests and land designated for afforestation as at 1
January of the first year of validity of the draft management plan, including:
a) the
exact location of the forest stand (forest and administrative addresses) and
the type of land use and its area,
b) a
description of the forest habitat, including information on the terrain, soil,
soil cover and forest undergrowth,
c) the
function of the forest and management objectives: type of forest stand and age
of maturity of the forest stand,
d) a
description of the tree stand with numerical characteristics (average tree
dimensions, site index, coarse wood volume, volume increment),
e) planned
management activities;
2) tables
of forest stand area and volume by age class and:
a) tree
species in the stand;
b) forest
habitat types;
c) farms;
3) a
summary of the area of forests and land designated for afforestation by type of
land use, broken down by province, district and municipality;
4) summary
of forest areas by dominant protection category and municipalities;
5) economic
map of forests and land designated for afforestation – prepared in accordance
with the rules described in Part III of the "Forest Management
Instructions";
6) a
general description of the forests and land of the forest district, including
geographical location, an analysis of forest management to date (together with
an assessment of this management by the director of the regional directorate of
the State Forests), a description of the condition of the forest and an
analysis of the condition of tree resources, as well as a description of the
natural and economic conditions of forest production. In practice, the general
description also includes an entire chapter on future management, including,
among others, the issues referred to in the following points (7, 8 and 9), as
well as the minutes of the management meeting and the plan design meeting the draft
plan consultation;
7) a
breakdown of areas by economic activity, aggregated from assessment
descriptions or task lists;
8) a nature
conservation programme;
9) a list
of tasks related to permanently sustainable, multifunctional forest management,
together with the anticipated methods of their implementation, including:
a) the
amount of timber planned to be harvested, specified separately as the volume of
mature stands and the area of pre-mature stands, referred to as the cutting
quota;
b) the
cultivation of crops, young stands and stands not covered by final felling;
c)
afforestation and reforestation;
d) specific
tasks in the field of forest protection, including fire protection, together
with relevant overview maps;
e) specific
tasks in the field of hunting management, together with an appropriate overview
map;
f) specific
tasks related to secondary forest use;
g)
technical infrastructure requirements
The text
was prepared on the basis of:
- Forest Management Instructions,
Part I, Appendix to Order No. 116 of the Director General of State Forests
of 14 December 2023.
List of
forest districts for which management work is being carried out:
