engleski

Forest nurseries in Croatia - 5 year seedling production in respect to growing restoration needs

In Croatia, the area of forests suitable for restoration activities is significant. The total area of forests and forest-land amounts to 2, 759, 039, 05 hectares, while areas which should be planned for restoration interventions amounts to almost half of this coverage (National Forest management plan 2016 - 2025). Coppice forests occupy 359, 609.84 hectares (14.4 %), degraded forests 665, 794.35 hectares (27 %) and forest cultures 73, 312.28 hectares (3 %). In addition, forest areas lost from abiotic and biotic threats are constantly growing (e.g. windthrow in Gorski Kotar in December 2017). Climate change predictions point to even faster increase of abiotic and biotic threats in the future. Beside already mentioned degraded and devastated forests replacement of tree species with more resistant and resilient tree species and its provenances in “close to nature” forests is also a part of silvicultural solutions in climate change adaptive strategies. Hence, all traditional as well as new adaptive silvicultural approaches would not be applicable without proper support of nursery production. Croatian Forest Research Institute conducts control of total production of forest reproductive material in Croatia on the year basis, from the year 1992. Paper presents data acquired during nursery supervision in the period from 2013-2017. It includes data per nursery (area, location, and ownership), tree species and types of seedlings produced. Clonal seed orchards present good background for continuous and quality production of forest seed. Nevertheless, number of active nurseries is decreasing and production significantly varies from year to year. Main part of nursery production in Croatia is production of autochthonous conifer and broadleaved tree species (Norway spruce, Scotch pine, Austrian black pine, Aleppo pine, Maritima pine, Pedunculate oak, Sessile oak, Narrow-leaved ash, Common beech, poplars and willows). All analysed parameters underline significance of nursery production but also point to the need of harmonisation of existing production with growing needs. Production should be harmonised in respect to amount of produced seedlings and tree species and provenances including introduced tree species, which showed good success to our growing conditions. Conducted analysis also highlights the need for harmonisation of nursery production with adaptive management strategies. Even though the value of restoration interventions is well recognised, their successful implementation is possible only if nursery production is harmonised and adequate amount and appropriate selection of tree species are provided.

expert supervision, forest landscape restoration, silvicultural solutions

nije evidentirano