In this paper, we briefly summarize the problems that have been affecting Slovakian forestry in the past, in the present and are expected in the future. In the past, the forests in Central Europe were significantly harmed by the development of mining, metallurgy, wood processing industry, agriculture and grazing of sheep and cattle. Many areas have been completely deforested. Fundamental change occurred in the 18th Century, when the regulations about forest management, declared by Empress of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy Maria Therese, came into force. With the changing level of forest cover, there have been changing as well the problems in the forestry. Forests in Slovakia are nowadays dealing with the climate change, which is causing extreme weather fluctuations. It is connected with the emergence of abiotic disturbances after which usually occurs activation of biotic harmful agents. We expect that the most serious problem of forests in the future will be their state of health. We expect an increase representation of thermophilic tree species (beech and oak) at the expense of upland trees such as spruce. An important role will be played by the invasive species of plants, fungi and animals that can compete with native species and their habitats or in the situation of the absence of their reducents these can cause serious economic and environmental damage.
Slovakia is a small country in the centre of Europe with forest cover of more than 40%. It is 11th from 50 European countries regarding the area of forest cover [
The aim of this paper is to give a brief overview of past, present and expected problems of forestry in Slovakia.
At the beginning of 11th century, the territory of presentday Slovakia was made part of Kingdom of Hungary, later Austro-Hungarian monarchy. The action of rulers of these countries significantly affected forests and forestry in Slovakia. The forest began to be emphasized in the 13th century, with the intensification of colonization of Slovakia. The process was advanced by the raids of the Tatar hordes in 1241-1242, which drove the inhabitants of the lowlands to seek the safety in the mountains [
Even more forest damage was caused by immigrants, Roman-speaking Valachs, coming from the Eastern Carpathians. The Migration period may be divided into two periods, the first, occurring between 13th - 14th century, and the second phase, which took place between 16th until the beginning of 17th century. Since 1465 these migrants were exempt from taxes and later on they profited of various privileges such as herding their livestock on the mountain meadows or slash-and-burn agriculture. For the purposes of grazing sheep and goats the large tracts of forests have been destroyed even on mountain ridges. In some places the upper forest border is missing until now [
The impact of these activities is well documented by the data from Slovakian northern region Orava. It is reported that the forest that had originally covered 90% of the total area of the Orava, covered at the end of the 18th century just over one-third. With the increase of human population, the area of the forest started to diminish as a result of demand of the land. In the 13th century in the Orava region there were 10 villages with the population of 2000 to 3000. In the 18th century (1777) the number of villages increased to 96 with the population of 63,628 people [
In the 15th and 16th century inhabitants and rulers began to feel the lack of wood and forests. This led to a rift between the forest owners and situation resulted to a decline in metallurgy and mining of noble metals. In these conditions were implemented the local control rules and regulations. In particular, in 1426 the King Sigismund established new order in the Zvolen county. He forbade shifting cultivation and ordered annual clearing and reforestation. This is the first regulation in the territory of present-day Slovakia with an effort to prevent deforestation [
The forest code issued by Emperor Maximilian II as a “forest policy” (Constitutio Maximilian) in 1565 was a landmark in the history of regulating woodcutting and other forest activities. Its adoption marked the beginning of forestry as a controlled activity and helped to stabilize forests and forestry practices. The Code comprised 30 articles regulating various forestry activities, including cutting under supervision of experienced masters, felling practices, the storage of wood during the winter season, leaving seed trees, etc. [
A fundamental breakthrough occurred in 1754-1769, when an extensive forest inventory was made. In 1769 during the reign of Empress Maria Theresa a new Forest Code known as Sylvarum conservadarum et lignicidii ordo [
• to define what rules to observe during tree felling;
• to set a method of cultivating new forests;
• to identify the means of achieving permanent benefits from the forests [
These orders provided the framework for sustainable forest management and were applied to any land within the boundary of the forest.
From the initiative of Maria Theresa, in 1762, the world’s first mining academy was founded in the town of Banská Štiavnica. It was the first technical college in the world and it brought Banská Štiavnica the status of the centre of mining science and technology development in Europe. In 1770 she approved the proposal putting appropriate attention to the forestry subject. Apart from the Forestry discipline, the study of Wood Processing was also provided. Further improvement of the forestry education in Banská Štiavnica is connected with the establishment of the Forestry Institute in 1807 by Francis I. [6,7].
The first Forest Act in Austro-Hungarian Empire came into existence in 1879 (XXXI/1879), and with partial adjustment was valid in Slovakia until 1960 [
Since 1950, the forest holdings area has been steadily increasing. According to last report the area of forest crop land covers is 1,938,904 hectares which is approximately 40.9% of the total area of Slovakia [
Complex influence of injurious agents affecting in parallel or subsequently is the most important problem in the forest protection [
the period 2005-2010, bark beetles damaged the forest three times more compared to the windstorm 2004. In some areas (High Tatra National Park) bark beetles destroyed more than 25% of the spruce forest [
The spruce stands are being damaged by a variety of harmful agents. Most of the regions with bark beetle outbreaks corresponded with those affected by the storm [13,14]. The dynamics of an outbreak largely depends on weather, drought periods, further storms or other stressors, as well as the availability and susceptibility of host plants [15,16]. Powerful windstorms and severe drought in 2003 and 2007 [
In 2002 a new Act about Protection of Nature and Landscape (No. 543/2002) was launched. The act restricts forest management on the areas with certain degree of nature conservation. Hence, calamity wood clearing at the nature conservation areas can be done only if special permission is issued by the Ministry of Environment of the Slovak Republic. However, process of issuing the permission is rather slow, postponing the forestry activities lowers efficiency of the measures.
The unprocessed windfalls infested by bark beetles represent suitable conditions for their dispersal and following outbreaks (
Much effort is put to slow down and reverse the increasing trend of damages caused by pests, and to bring the legislation towards finding optimal solutions with respect to the principles of nature conservation and forest management. However, despite these efforts, the process of bringing up the issues that forestry faces is slow due to the different interests of various stakeholder groups.
Implementation planning and close to nature forest management has been one of the main reasons for maintaining and increasing forest cover in the Slovak Republic. At a time when the whole world is trying to greening the economy, there is little likelihood that the European legislation will change so dramatically to enable higher logging than the annual increment, thus causing undesired reduction of forest cover.
A serious problem in the future will be global climate change and related disturbance. They directly affect the biota in all the world’s ecosystems [21,22]. The effect of greenhouse gases is well documented also in Slovakia. In the years 1901-2008 was a temperature increase of 1.41 ˚C and annual rainfall decreased by 3.38% [
Forests and silvicultural activities will gradually adapt to changing situation. Norway spruce (Picea abies) slowly recedes from lower altitudes and in mountainous areas are purposefully replaces by beech (Fagus sylvatica) and other deciduous trees suitable for this habitat. We expect a gradual increase in the representation of oak (Quercus spp.) in the forest. These processes will be accelerated by abiotic disturbances with subsequent activation of forest pests.
With a changing climate and a developed timber trade is also related the problem of invasive species. Invasive species of plants, fungi and animals already cause economic and environmental damage to forests. An example would be Ips duplicatus, which spread out to Slovakia at the end of the 20th century and became a competitor of indigenous species (Ips typographus, Ips amitinus, Pityogenes chalcographus) [
The National Strategy on Invasive Species in Slovakia was carried out as a reaction to introduction and establishment of non-native species in our country and is based on the EU Strategy on Invasive Species. The strategy’s goal is to raise public awareness about invasive species, to identify these species, to help in preparing legislation and improve interstate exchange of information on invasive species. As part of the prevention the strategy focuses on the tightening of border controls and quarantine measures, on developing an early warning system for new non-native invasive species, to reduce threats to natural ecosystems and to help preserve and restore native habitats.
Forests in Slovakia, more than in other Central European countries, has been for a long time intensively used primarily for the needs of agriculture, metallurgy and minfessional forestry has stopped quick decline of forests and subsequently reforest most of deforested areas. As a result of forestry activities in Slovakia is annual growing forests area. But it is also necessary to adapt forest management to changing conditions. From preference of timber production, we should switch our effort to non-productive functions of forests such as soil and water protection, recreational function and so on. However, it is essential that the public needs to be aware of forests importance and the need of professional, targeted and long-term management and to support the creation of suitable legal and financial conditions.
This work was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under the contract No. APVV- 0045-10.
This research had been funded by the Operational Program of Research and Development and co-financed with the European Fund for Regional Development (EFRD). Grant: ITMS: 26220220109 Prognostic information systems for improving the efficiency of forest management (50%).