Slovenian Forests Well-Preserved and Diverse, Institute Says
Slovenia's landscape is marked with well-preserved and biotically diverse forests, which cover 1.16 million hectares or 57.7% of the country, placing Slovenia among one of the most heavily wooded countries in Europe, according to the Slovenian Institute for Forests (ZGS).
The institute however believes that around 314,000 owners of private forests (they own almost 75% of all Slovenian forests) should be called on to manage their forests in a professional manner.
Slovenian woods have a total of 300.7 million cubic metres of growing stock, increased annually by around 7.5 million cubic metres. Forest owners could thus cut down 4.3 million cubic metres of timber a year, yet only felled 75% of the amount in 2005.
"It is thus important for the future of forestry to cooperate with the forests owners, to educate them, encourage them to fell more trees and call for better management," Tone Lesnik of the ZGS stressed.
Meanwhile, the Association of Forest Owners expects more investments in forestry. According to the ZGS, the government earmarked SIT 472m (EUR 1,96m) of subsidies for forest owners, while SIT 862m (EUR 3.58m) of investments came from the 2004-2006 Single Programming Document.
The state or the municipalities own 26% of all Slovenian woods, mainly managed by the Slovenian Farmland and Forest Fund, while before 1990, 40% of all woods were in state ownership.
The statistics point to the economic importance of forests, as 73 forestry, 991 timber and 100 paper and pulp production companies are registered at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS).
Future guidelines will be defined by a national forestry programme, which is currently being drafted in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food.
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