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" COUNTRY REPORTS 31
Conservation aims and current state of conservation activities
On the territory of Slovakia the first regulation aimed at seed procurement from approved
stands was adopted in 1938. In keeping with this legal regulation, the seeds of conifers
(Norway spruce, silver fir, Scots pine and European larch) could be collected only in
approved stands (A and B category) and seed transfer was allowed only within 'silvicultural'
seed zones. The silvicultural zones were defined according to their geographical distribution
and the length of vegetation period.
Subsequently these regulations were updated in 1965 and again in 1985 and 1988. The
last one also includes seed procurement from the approved seed stands and the seed transfer
within seed zones for pedunculate and sessile oak and beech.
Oaks and beech were absent from the first regulations because these tree species were
mainly regenerated naturally. In oaks the artificial regeneration by seeding and planting
was more common than in beech. At present the proportion of beech reforestation in
Slovakia is rather high. Beech is frequently a component of combined regenerations to
establish mixed forest stands.
For beech there are four seed zones within the natural range (Sub-Tatra, Eastern Slovakia,
Central Slovakia and Little Carpathians) and two zones outside the natural range (Tatra and
Southern Slovakia), for sessile oak there are three zones within the natural range (Eastern
Slovakia, Central Slovakia and Southern Slovakia) and three seed zones outside the natural
range (Northern Slovakia, Western Slovakia and Southeastern Slovakia). For pedunculate
oak there are three zones within its natural range (Western Slovakia, Southeasern Slovakia
and Southern Slovakia) and three zones outside the natural range (Northern Slovakia,
Eastern Slovakia and Central Slovakia). Vertical transfer of seeds is allowed within ±200 m
for beech and ±150 m for oaks from the altitude of approved stands where the seed was
collected.
At present, 111 gene reserves are defined for all tree species in Slovakia, five (1200 ha)
and six of them (1119 ha) are established only for beech and oaks, respectively, seven of
them (3637 ha) for mixed stands composed of oaks and beech, and seven gene reserves
(3663 ha) for mixed stands composed of tree species other than beech and oaks. They occur
mainly in central Slovakia and some in western and eastern Slovakia.
Facilities for long-term conservation of acorns and beech nuts have been built up in
Liptovsky Hradok. In these facilities the storage of acorns and beech nuts can be maintained
up to 5 years to cover the time gaps between the seed years.
Four provenance trials have been established with beech. Those established in 1968-1972
and 1982 comprise the Slovak and Czech provenances (20 and 27, respectively) (Cervenka
and Paule 1982; Paule 1982). The latter two are a part of international provenance
experiments coordinated by the Federal Forestry Research Center in Grosshansdorf,
Germany, containing 100 and 31 provenances, respectively. Trials were established in 1996
and 1998.
At present there are 74 forest reserves, of which 5% are in the oak forest vegetation zone,
2.42 and 3.78% are in the beech-oak and oak-beech forest vegetation zones, respectively, and
9.19% in the beech forest vegetation zone. For comparison, the proportion of nature reserves
in the first four forest vegetation zones (20.39%) is about one-third of the total proportion
(69.41%) in the forests in Slovakia. It means that there is a lower proportion of virgin and
natural forests with oaks and beech than would be expected according to the general
occurrence (V oloscuk 1993).
Nevertheless, there are also some natural oak forests with Q. robur (Palarikovo) or
Q. petraea (Kasivarova, Bujanov, Sitno) as well as numerous beech virgin forests in eastern
Slovakia (e.g. Vihorlat, Stuzica, Rozok,) whose size ranges from 16 ha (Kasivarova) to 600 ha
(Stuzica) (Korpel' 1993). The forest reserves are in most cases a part of gene reserves,
although the legal status of both categories is defined by two different Acts (Nature
Protection Act and Forestry Act and accompanying regulations). The most common
occurrence of beech forests in Slovakia (and also the forest reserves) is in eastern Slovakia