The Czartoryski Archive

Notes on Guidelines for Small Peasant Forest Management

FORESTRY REVIEW

for Forest Day

Pages 11-12

Poznań, April 1947

Engineer Adam Czartoryski

Thoughts on Guidelines for Forest Management in Peasant Woods

On the occasion of "Forest Day" I wish to offer some remarks on the management and best utilization of peasant forests, so that their owners might cover their own current timber needs and secure themselves a reasonably high income, by raising to maximum the steady growth of wood mass, while maintaining continuity of use---that is, taking only the growing percentage, without damaging or reducing the basic capital---the timber reserve that guarantees sustainable long-term use.

Realization of this program seems very difficult, when we consider that the owners and users of small forests are almost entirely non-professionals in forestry, who despite the best intentions toward rational management of their property, do not know how to approach it, lacking both suitable accessible literature and knowing whom to consult or where to obtain appropriate seedlings for replanting. And we must frankly admit that many do not think about it at all, about assuring their forests permanence and raising production yield. The matter is not, however, hopeless. When the forest owner understands the benefits he will derive in the long term from rational management, embraces the principle that the forest is capital which he is not permitted to damage but may only draw interest from; if with dedication and care he tends his forest, and if the next generation from childhood is raised in these principles, then this problem may be considered nearly solved. It remains to give the peasant the opportunity to acquire an appropriate handbook on management in small forest operations, and to organize throughout the country a network of inspectors whose task would be to provide advice, guidance and assistance in establishing rational forest operations, and to supervise their further development.

State Forest personnel can be of great help here, devoting even a few days a year to visiting the territory and providing appropriate instructions, for example by also establishing exemplary operations in individual regions.

To manage a small forest operation by a farmer with only occasional counsel from professionals, two conditions are essential above all. The first is understanding of the forest, its needs and requirements---in a word, a natural sense, which we often find among Polish peasants, as evidenced by the numerous foresters and forest workers who without any theoretical education truly understand the forest, often marking thinning operations and conducting many other silvicultural procedures very well. And the second necessary condition is equipping oneself with patience and understanding that many years may pass before a given forest reaches its normal sustainable yield.

Unable to engage here in detailed discussion of the method of cultivation and use of peasant forests, I shall provide only certain general guidelines for such management. So the principle is---as indeed in any forest operation regardless of size: in the shortest possible time, using the least possible capital, to produce permanently timber in maximum quantity, quality and value, without depleting the reserve or the soil. And at the same time to cultivate primarily such tree species of such dimensions as to assure the owner timber of possibly all categories for his own needs. Such an operation must be characterized by the greatest possible diversity of species, ages and assortments possible on given soil and useful for the farmer. So this must be a forest of the character of "permanent forest" or combined operation (coppice with standards). Intensive such management excludes grazing of livestock and litter collection, to avoid any damage, and to fully utilize all soil forces for timber production, through tending not only the stand but also the soil.

Few small forests today meet the above conditions---introducing them in practice requires a transition period and here selecting species and system of management depending on soil absolutely requires expertise. On richer soils and in foothill regions the terrain may be very rewarding, nature itself will substantially help man, while the poorer and drier the soil and less favorable the climate, the more necessary greater labor input and greater patience. In more fertile areas the species selection will be more varied.

The basic goal of small forest operations below 25 hectares should be timber production for the owner's own needs. Thus it will not be advisable to establish across the entire area a uniform stand, such as pine, from which the owner would extract a relatively large mass of timber but at long intervals, while in the meantime he would have to buy timber for his current varied needs. The forest should provide the owner with as continuous as possible steady benefits of various timber assortments, so that he always has seasoned reserves both of fuel and all useful timber with "construction wood" at the forefront. Thus arranged forest management will eventually assure the village, in addition to normal needs, development of domestic industry such as turning, cooperage, toy-making, basket-weaving, and will be a new source of social income. I must emphasize that this is a picture of the more distant future and cannot everywhere be fully realized in practice, since not everywhere will soil conditions throughout the full extent be able to meet these conditions, but even on poor soil the farmer will also be able to maintain hard timber from birch or acacia for "construction" timber, or there, where deeper soil layers have sufficient moisture will one introduce fast-growing species like poplar, yielding valuable timber in relatively considerable dimensions, already in some fifteen years after planting. Through skillful forest renewal, appropriate species selection and careful tending of trees and stands, we shall create rational foundations for management in the future, and by removing specimens of poorest quality and those least growing, to the advantage of the most future-promising through skillful silvicultural procedures such as thinning and underplanting, we shall raise the value of the forest both by increasing timber mass and improving its quality.

What significance do small peasant forests have for the national economy and what do we understand by this term? The "Decree of the Polish Committee of National Liberation of 12 XII 1944 on taking over certain forests as state property" excludes from this taking-over, among others in article 1 paragraph 1, forests and forest land with an area below 25 hectares. These forest objects we call here peasant forests. Prof. Krzysik, citing statistics from the Ministry of Forests and other sources, provides that their total area currently amounts to 725,000 hectares, or 10.82% of the total forest area in Poland amounting to approximately 6,700,000 hectares. This is thus a large piece of the country and a considerable percentage of its production requiring urgent rational and practically conceived assistance.

Summing up the above I put forward the following general theses:

Private forests of small ownership must be managed on different principles than state forests, since they serve a different purpose, namely not mass timber production calculated on national and international scale, but first of all for the owner and local needs. They should be characterized by low rotation age and as great diversity as possible.

Necessary is organized care over small forest objects through:

a) rational and practical network of forest care and counsel within the framework of the Forest Protection law (possibly extended with appropriate amendment);

b) establishment of exemplary small forest operations;

c) publication of a popular handbook on management in peasant forests;

d) introduction of forestry as a mandatory subject in all agricultural schools;

e) promotion of the idea of rational management in peasant forests and benefits resulting therefrom not only for the owner but for the entire country, through sensible and economical timber management and through raising production both in quantity and quality of timber.