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Forests provide many different ecosystem services (ESs) to society. We divide these services into three main groups: provisioning, regulating and cultural. The services themselves are usually interrelated, so changes in the level of one of these services can affect the others. Depending on the nature of the mutual relationship, a distinction is made between trade-off and synergy. Understanding the relationships between services in a given area, time period and scale can support conscious management of forest resources, taking into account the concept of ES. This article aims to systematically review the literature with the aim of identifying the relationships between the services and the factors that influence these relationships. Particular attention was paid to the provisioning service, i.e., timber harvesting, and its relationships with other services, taking into account different variants of forest management. The literature search was conducted using the SCOPUS database, which was searched for scientific articles published between 2005 and December 2023 containing the following terms: "ecosystem services" AND "forest" AND "bundle" or "ecosystem services" AND "forest" AND "synergy" or "ecosystem services" AND "forest" AND "trade-off". The query resulted in 825 records, of which 55 articles were subjected to a detailed content analysis using a standardised procedure. The results show that most studies analysed the relationships between timber harvesting and biodiversity, carbon storage/sequestration and water erosion. Cultural Ecosystem Services were only examined in a few studies. In most cases, timber harvesting is at trade-off with cultural and regulating services. Many factors influence the supply of services and the relationship between them: climate change, forest management scenarios, temporal and spatial scale of the simulation, species composition and age class or more generally the structure of the forest stand, the history of the study area, its location, habitat productivity and geomorphology. The results show that further work is needed in the area of ES in order to apply this concept in forest management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic viability of forestry is one of the key pillars of sustainable forest management and a basis for maintaining forests and their multiple benefits for the society. It may be achieved by, inter alia, diversification of sources of income in forest management. The aim of the article is to analyse sources of revenues of state-owned forest enterprises (holdings) in selected European countries and ongoing changes in this respect in recent years. In the paper, we analyse the structure of revenues of state forest enterprises in Poland, Germany (with the examples of Bavaria and Lower Saxony) and Austria; however, particular attention is paid to the State Forests National Forest Holding in Poland, which is the largest state-owned forest holding in the European Union (EU) in terms of area of forests. The study is based on document content analysis methodology (desk research), including annual reports published by forest enterprises, statistical data and also legal regulations. The analysis shows that while revenues from the sale of wood are the main source of income of forest enterprises, some of them are seeking to diversify their sources of revenues. The Austrian Federal Forests can serve as an example of a good development strategy based on diversified sources of income. Also, the Lower Saxony State Forest company, which is approximately 60% dependent on the sale of wood, undertakes other activities, including real estate management, hunting and recreational services. Our study shows that both the State Forests National Forest Holding and the Bavarian State Forests Enterprise are based on timber harvest and sale to a large extent. We conclude that as regards the State Forests Holding in Poland, the possibility of expanding and diversifying commercial activities should become a subject of discussion among foresters, decision makers and politicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Turkey oak (Quercus cerris L.), the natural range of which embraces southern Europe and Asia Minor, belongs to trees rarely introduced into Polish forests. Tree stands where it appears, established before the Second World War, can be found in some 20 localities, mostly in the western part of the country. Because this species is capable of a natural renewal in a woodland environment, a research was made to find in what conditions and how far it undergoes spontaneous naturalisation. Three study sites were chosen in the forests of central Wielkopolska. An inventory was made of mature stands of the Turkey oak and its generative renewal. Plant communities in which the young generation of Q. cerris usually appears were characterised. It was found that self-sown seedlings of this species grew at a distance of up to 2,500 m from parent trees. The highest number and the greatest density of specimens of the secondary generation of the Turkey oak were found at 'Racot', which is a 100-hectare, mid-field woodland island where mesotrophic habitats predominate and where about 50% of the area is occupied by communities with manmade pine tree stands. At all sites, Q. cerris penetrates primarily this type of deformed phytocoenoses, developing mostly on former farmland. It has become a permanent component of the underbrush and undergrowth in them, and in some places, it also makes up the tree layer. It was observed that in the study area, it penetrated the woodland environment much more effectively than Quercus rubra, considered an invasive species. The expansion of the Turkey oak in several of the examined localities can be regarded as a basic manifestation of its naturalisation in places where there are phytocoenoses with pine stands in broad-leaf forest habitats in the neighbourhood of parent trees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to present the potential for afforestation of agricultural lands under the 'National Programme for Expanding of Forest Cover' (KPZL) in Poland until 2020. The analysis is based on the ongoing social and economic changes in rural areas in the past decade as well as factors limiting implementation of the Programme. The data used have been derived from annual reports of the Agricultural Property Agency (ANR), the Central Statistical Office and also other official documents and legal acts related to the issue. Assuming that the area of agricultural lands transferred by the ANR to the State Forests Holding - an institution responsible for implementing the KPZL on state-owned lands - remains approximately 350 ha per year, the overall extent of afforestation on state-owned lands will not exceed 4,500-4,600 ha until 2020. In case of private lands, a further decline in annual afforestation area will be observed. The lack of a stable financing system is a major reason for the decrease in the area of agricultural lands transferred for afforestation. The projections show that the average annual afforestation area on private lands will not exceed 2,500 ha until 2020. Altogether, it can be expected that during the period 2015-2020, approximately 20,000 ha of agricultural lands will be afforested. The study shows that the current rate of afforestation is insufficient for reaching the target defined in the KPZL (afforestation of 680,000 ha of lands during the period 2001-2020). Low supply of private lands for afforestation and insufficient financial support for farmers are the most important factors limiting the implementation of the KPZL. The situation could be improved by free transfer of public lands for afforestation from the ANR to the State Forests Holding and by implementing financial instruments for afforestation of private lands from the Forest Fund resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper provides general information about forests and forestry in Poland against a background of other EU Member States. Based on the data published in various international sources of statistical data it presents the information of forest resources, forest health condition, protection of forests, occurrence of forest fires, employment in forestry and related sectors, as well as selected aspects of production and trade of wood and wood products and also generation and use of renewable energy. The paper concludes that Poland is characterized by vast forest and timber resources, however in view of a large area of the country and large population share of forest lands in the total area of the country and the average forest area per inhabitant are low. The high share of protected areas makes Poland one of the leaders in forest protection, however Polish forests are very vulnerable to fires. Poland is a significant producer of wood-based panels, sawnwood and pulpwood, as well as paper and cardboard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the results of studies concerning the availability and possibilities of the use of wood for energy purposes in Europe and in Poland. It describes in detail the current use of wood for energy production purposes, as well as predictions on volume, composition, and sources of energy wood. It also presents the results concerning potential impact of energy wood harvesting on wood industries. The paper concludes that the question of utilization of forest biomass for large-scale energy generation is very complex and has far-reaching consequences for environment, society and economy. So as to be effective, wood resources management should give a priority to wood-based production of the greatest added value, and energy generation should be a closing-down stage in the wood value chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]