The Extent of labour and costs of forest restoration with planting, sowing, and protection measures against game damages in Slovenia in the period 2007-2020

Abstract

We analysed the scope and costs of forest restoration with planting and sowing in Slovenia for the period 2007 – 2020, which was carried out by the Slovenian Forest Service (SFS). In the 14-year period, forest restoration by planting seedlings was carried out on 5,353 ha of forest areas, the soil preparation for restoration with planting and sowing measure on 3,489 ha, and the sowing measure on 457 ha. In total, 0.5% of the area of managed forests was restored in Slovenia, which on average means 0.04% of the area of managed forests per year. 61% of the forest areas restored with planting (approximately 3,300 hectares of forest) were protected against game damage. During this period, €9,457,562 was spent on seedlings, of which 66% for broadleaves and 34% for conifers. Within the scope of forest restoration with planting, 6,176,099 broadleaf seedlings (51%) and 5,913,388 conifer seedlings (49%) were planted, for a total of 12,089,487 trees. In the period from 2007 to 2020, €33,595,188 was spent on artificial forest restoration measures across the entire territory of Slovenia, with the largest portion going to planting (53%) and protection against game damage (42%), followed by soil preparation (4%) and sowing (1%). In the period under review, the average purchase price (value) of a classic bare-root seedling was €1.19 for broadleaves and €0.52 for conifers, while the average value of a container seedling was €1.96 for broadleaves and €1.67 for conifers. A comparison between the per-hectare restoration costs incurred with planting and the costs incurred with sowing for 14 forest managemet regions in the studied period shows that the cost per hectare for the planting measure is significantly higher (€6,187/ha) than the cost per hectare for the sowing measure (€1,036/ha).