Belarusian Polish Forest Mapping Belarusian Polish Forest Mapping

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Belarusian-Polish Forest Mapping project Forest), there are fragments of older riparian or swamp forests. Although their relative contribution to the BIF area is very small, their allocation in KO or KDO class results in irreparable loss of biological values. The majority of BIFs assigned for logging are lowland oak forests and mixed broadleaved forests or either lowland, upland or montane beech forests. The estimated annual felling rate is relatively high in the case of beech, upland oak, and mixed broadleaved forests, which are important forest types commercially. Their contribution to BIFs is lower than that of lowland oak forests and mixed broadleaved forests. Within some other types of BIFs (coniferous forests, flood-plain forests, as well as alder forests and similar swamp forests), very low proportions were assigned for regeneration cutting, but, as it was stressed above, this probably does not preclude intensive logging considered as commercial thinning (Table 3.9). Table 3.9. Shares of forests assigned for logging in BIFs of individual site types, and the estimated annual felling rate (%) Forest type name Relatively dry lowland coniferous and mixed forests Moist or wet lowland coniferous and mixed forests area (ha) Forest assumed for logging (ha) Share (%) of forest assumed for logging per Estimated annual criterion felling rate* 120,012 1,707 1.42 0.11 42,301 563 1.33 0.10 Lowland beech forests 33,390 12,652 37.89 2.87 Lowland oak forests and mixed broadleaved forests 230,386 26,610 11.55 0.88 Alder forests and similar swamp forests 52,894 865 1.64 0.12 Flood-plain forests 34,855 665 1.91 0.14 Upland oak forests and mixed broadleaved forests 13,913 5,596 40.22 3.05 Upland and montane beech forests 77,157 22,374 29.00 2.20 Upland and lower montane coniferous forests 7,282 1,529 20.99 1.59 Upland and montane riverine forests 1,322 61 4.61 0.35 Upper montane spruce forests 636 117 18.35 1.39 Total 614,148 72,739 11.84 0.90 * assuming that the mean interval between the end of the previous forest management period and the date of our calculations lasted about 6.6 years and 50% of forest stands are subject to logging during the forest management period. 3.6. BIFs versus existent protected areas Various forms of forest protection exist in Poland and Belarus. They are specified by the Nature Conservation Acts, whereas categories of so-called protective forests are listed in the Forest Acts. Individual forms of protection differ in the scope of permitted forestry activities. For the purposes of this project, the different regimes were grouped into three major categories: strict protection, partial protection, and no protection. “Strict protection” means that the area is not subject to direct human interference. The protected areas, where some kinds of active protection 38
Belarusian-Polish Forest Mapping project are allowed, are classified as “partial protection”. The areas that belong to the national system of protected areas (e.g. landscape parks), but are subject to economic forest management, are included in the category “no protection”, even if in those areas the allowed interference is somewhat “greened” (see Annex 4). BELARUS For this analysis, not only strictly protected nature territories were considered, but also specially protected sites where forest utilization is limited or sometimes completely forbidden (except for sanitary logging). In Belarus, strict preservation makes up only 2% of the BIF total territory. Other 4.9% of BIFs there are subject to restricted commercial activities. In Belarus about 2.5% of forests have strictly protected status, but not all of them are BIFs, because some of them have a short protected history. Strictly protected 2,0% Partly protected 4,9% Non-protected 6,4% Not HCVFs 86,7% Fig.3.14. Contributions of individual protection categories to BIFs in Belarus. Little or no signs of human influence Average age of stand more than X years Considerable amount / long continuum of dead w ood of different types, rich flora of w ood rotting fungi. Forests on steep (more than 30°) slopes. Five or more species in main layer and at least 55 years old (excluding understory); Age of trees varies more than 30 years and average age is more than 80 years; Presence of trees 20 years older than in the table (cr. 2) Forests after large-scale natural disturbance Endangered vegetation types Populations of several endangered forest dependent species of plants and animals. Rare broad-leaved species present in canopy layer Small w ater courses; surface springs, flooded areas; partly already included above. 0 50000 100000 150000 200000 250000 300000 350000 Strict protection Partial protection No protection Fig.3.15. Protection categories in individual forest types of BIFs in Belarus 39
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Belarusian Polish Forest Mapping Belarusian Polish Forest Mapping

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