Forest management plan in Poland – problems and development directions

Abstract Nowadays, improving forest management is done by way of amendments to the forest management instructions, silvicultural rules and forest protection instructions. From the point of view of forest management, the most important is the forest management plan, the basic document prepared for a specific object, containing a description and assessment of the state of the forest, as well as the objectives, tasks and ways of forest management. Before each subsequent revision of the forest management guidelines, new instructions are developed in consultation with the public, based on discussions on the proposed changes that are in each case to serve as the best plan for forest management. The forest management plan is vital as it ties together silviculture, conservation, production and non-production purposes as well as social forestry tasks, but only if the primary and operational nature of the objectives considered at the stage of creating the plan are recognized. Therefore, the role of forest management in shaping and protecting the environment cannot be overestimated. In this work, we outline the basic principles and rights related to both, forest management under various forms of ownership, as well as detailed guidelines for the content of the forest management plan. We found that the specificity of mountain forests requires the use of different rules and methods. Taking into account the existing rich scientific achievements, it is tempting to attempt to develop forest management instructions specifically for mountain forests, whether in the form of a separate chapter or a separate publication. The basic problem with forest management under other forms of ownership (urban, experimental, private forests) is the lack of a detailed legal basis accounting for their specific nature. Therefore, appropriate steps should be taken towards introducing appropriate new or supplementary provisions into the forest legislation, which would allow for the development of modern standards. For the State Forests, forest management instructions should be prepared by a team of experts appointed by the Minister of the Environment who will approve the finished document for official use. The forest management plan should include an economic annex focused on the forecast of the expected financial result, including costs associated with a deviation from the optimal due to social or protective reasons.