Production Potential of the Forests in the Czech Republic

Abstract

This article discusses the production potential (and limits) of the forests in the Czech Republic (CR). The calculation respects ecological limits set by typological system and the Czech forestry legislation. The key criterion of the production evaluation is the total mean increment. Usually, a forest owner can choose amongst several variants of management. The analysis in this work examines the two limit variants -the minimum and maximum production potential. The results show that, e.g., the Norway spruce share might be 19 to 48% of the total area of Czech forests (51.4% at present). The target management the owners opt for (Norway spruce, pine, oak, and beech) can, in the future, influence the timber processing industry, the main purchaser of timber raw material from Czech forests. The maximum variant shows 9,134 thousand m 3 of available coniferous round timber, while the minimum one only 3,802 thousand m 3 per year. Therefore, the timber processing industry should keep a close watch on the situation and either try to persuade forest owners to choose the alternative of the target management that would provide sufficient assortment for timber processing, or adjust the manufacture to the possible changes in the species composition of the forests.

Comparison of Wood Quality of Douglas Fir and Spruce from Afforested Agricultural Land and Permanent Forest Land in the Czech Republic

“…In the Czech Republic, the area is only represented by some 5800 ha, increasing by approximately 100 ha per year [5,6]. Its role is particularly assumed as a substitute for the declining Norway spruce, which is endangered by climatic changes at lower altitudes [7], and this species, native on some 11-15% of the Czech territory, shows many health problems, yet is at the same time the key species of Mid-European forestry [8,9]. The supply of Norway spruce timber will likely decrease in the near future [10].…”

Effects of Northern red oak (Quercus rubra L.) and sessile oak (Quercus petraea (Mattusch.) Liebl.) on the forest soil chemical properties

“…The red oak area is like that of Douglas-fir even the latter species has higher growing stock (about 1,250,000 m 3 ) having lower mean age (Kouba & Zahradník 2011). It should be stressed that Douglas fir is the most productive species of all introduced species with site improving effects in the stands of domestic coniferous species (Podrázský et al 2013(Podrázský et al , 2014Kubeček et al 2014;Pulkrab et al 2014Pulkrab et al , 2015. On the other hand, northern red oak is a species quite common in parks and it is used for restoration of spoil banks.…”