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Forest planners in former Eastern Block countries tend to provide conservative forecasts of timber supply, based on a rigid area control under the legislated rotation ages, and often assuming uniform forest management behaviour irrespective of the owner type. This study, in contrast, explores timber supply in a multi-disciplinary approach that analyses contextual factors and expands the space of future forest management options. Methodological steps include: (i) participatory development of qualitative scenarios, following different trajectories of contextual factors affecting forest management; (ii) identification of forest management programmes at the stand level; and (iii) modelling and economic assessment of future flows of timber at the landscape level. This research is carried out in a case study area (CSA) in central Lithuania containing 37,000 ha of forest, of which 80% is under state ownership. The development of forest resources was simulated for four contextualised scenarios: Business as Usual, Efficiency and Reforms, Ecology, and Climate Change Mitigation. Six forest-management programs were constructed together with stakeholders to describe the behaviour of state forest managers and private forest owners under each scenario. All four scenarios led to increased timber supply, largely due to the high proportion of middle-aged and premature stands in current forests. Notably, the present-day approach of rigid area control prioritises a steady timber supply through an evener age-class structure but largely fails on the last point. Our scenario analysis shows that relaxation of legislative requirements not only leads to increased long-term contribution to economic welfare but also enables achievement of evener age-class distributions.

Environmental consideration is an important facet of modern forestry. However, its perceptions by those who own and manage the forest are seldom investigated. After reviewing the evolution of pertinent legislative requirements, this study scrutinizes the attitudes towards environmental consideration, based on qualitative interviews of Lithuanian private forest owners (PFOs), state forest managers, forest management planners and other local forest stakeholders. We find a considerable increase of environmental consideration since 1990, with emphasis on forestland zoning at landscape level. Most of the interviewed forest managers and PFOs are aware of and compliant with the legal demands, however, their judgement of environmental consideration appears to be strongly affected by the degree of the faced restrictions. Informants who manage forest areas with a high share of non-commercial forest zones assess the current restrictions as excessive. Though the Lithuanian forestland zoning overall can be seen as a successful example of implementing multiple use forestry at landscape level, deep qualitative interviews expose several critical issues. Hastily performed zoning entails many mistakes, where the forest or landscape characteristics do not match the intended purpose. Even more critically, severe forest management restrictions around the nests of rare birds lead to widespread destructions of nests in private forests. The most important recommendations of our study are: (i) introducing a fair system of compensations for the economic losses inflicted on PFOs; and (ii) gradual rezoning of forestland, with radically improved consideration of local specifics, including on site assessments and genuine involvement of the local stakeholders.

Ample research on private forest owners (PFOs) has established high heterogeneity in owners' objectives, motivations and management decisions. Such heterogeneity is, however, rarely taken into account in forest scenario modelling. This study, in contrast, conducts a detailed forest owner mapping that feeds into simulations of ecosystem services (ES) under alternative future scenarios. First, we identify four private forest owner types (FOT) – Forest Businessmen, Household Foresters, Passive Forest Lovers, and Ad Hoc Owners through in-depth interviews and qualitative analyses on a case study area in western Lithuania. Next, each forest estate and forest compartment is assigned a FOT by combining the property registry and forest characteristics with opinions of two types of local experts: state forest managers and inspectors from the State Forest Service. Third, a set of forest management (FM) programmes is specified using field interviews and desktop research, FM records, and expert judgement for each forest compartment. Finally, ES provision is projected using a behavioural matrix combining management styles of FOTs with details of FM programmes. We simulate the dynamics of profits from forestry activities, accumulated carbon in live biomass and tree species diversity under a reference scenario without substantial changes; and a policy intervention scenario. The study demonstrates that treating forest owners as a homogenous group overestimates profits from timber and underestimates the provision of the other analysed ES, potentially misinforming policy decisions.

For forest sustainability and vulnerability assessment, the landscape scale is considered to be more and more relevant as the stand level approaches its known limitations. This review, which describes the main forest landscape simulation tools used in the 20 European case studies of the European project “Future-oriented integrated management of European forest landscapes” (INTEGRAL), gives an update on existing decision support tools to run landscape simulation from Mediterranean to boreal ecosystems. The main growth models and software available in Europe are described, and the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches are discussed. Trades-offs between input efforts and output are illustrated. Recommendations for the selection of a forest landscape simulator are given. The paper concludes by describing the need to have tools that are able to cope with climate change and the need to build more robust indicators for assessment of forest landscape sustainability and vulnerability. The INTEGRAL project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No. 282887. http://www. integral-project.eu/. Moreover, financial support by the Transnational Access to Research Infrastructures activity in the 7th Framework Programme of the EC under the Trees4Future project (No. 284181) for conducting the research is gratefully acknowledged. This research has also received funding from the European Union H2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 691149 (SuFoRun). Researcher Jordi Garcia-Gonzalo was supported by a “Ramon y Cajal” research contract from the MINECO (Ref. RYC-2013-14262) and has received funding from CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya. This paper could be achieved thanks to support of EFIATLANTIC donors: Conseil regional d’Aquitaine, Ministère de l’agriculture et de la forêt.

The relation between public and forest changes during the time. Public opinion and interests has considerable influence on decision making regarding forestry. Half of Lithuania’s forests (circa 1.1 mill. ha) has state forest status and are managed by state forest enterprises (SFEs) under confidence rights. One of the most important strategic aims for SFEs is to meet public needs. Yet, public opinion and forestry facts mismatches. Therefore, this study aims to analyse prevailing opinion on forestry practices in state forests managed by Kaisiadorių SFE that are located in Kaisiadoriai municipality. The sociological survey methodology was applied that was conducted involving respondents representing inhabitants over 18th years old. Data was analysed by conducting frequency analysis. Results showed incorrect public opinion concerning with increase of forest coverage, sustainable cutting intensity and increasing environmental consideration. According to opinion of the respondents, the quality of the forests, afforestation and forest sanitary was well improved by Kaisiadorių SFE. It was determined the demand to develop more recreation infrastructure objects in Kaisiadorys municipality forests. The comparison between surveys conducted in 2007 and 2014 showed increasing amount of public that was quite well informed on forestry issues. Also, it determined changes in information sources concerning forestry. Results of the research stressed the necessity of the long-term strategy for the information dissemination. Keywords: forestry, public opinion, survey, state forest, state forest enterprise. Article DOI: http://doi.org/10.15544/RD.2015.043

While sustainable forestry in Europe is characterized by the provision of a multitude of forest ecosystem services, there exists no comprehensive study that scrutinizes their sensitivity to forest management on a pan-European scale, so far. We compile scenario runs from regionally tailored forest growth models and Decision Support Systems (DSS) from 20 case studies throughout Europe and analyze whether the ecosystem service provision depends on management intensity and other co-variables, comprising regional affiliation, social environment, and tree species composition. The simulation runs provide information about the case-specifically most important ecosystem services in terms of appropriate indicators. We found a strong positive correlation between management intensity and wood production, but only weak correlation with protective and socioeconomic forest functions. Interestingly, depending on the forest region, we found that biodiversity can react in both ways, positively and negatively, to increased management intensity. Thus, it may be in tradeoff or in synergy with wood production and forest resource maintenance. The covariables species composition and social environment are of punctual interest only, while the affiliation to a certain region often makes an important difference in terms of an ecosystem service’s treatment sensitivity info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

In contrast to quantitative surveys up to date, this study employs in-depth interviews and qualitative analyses aiming to provide detailed contextualized portrayals of private forest owners (PFOs) in Lithuania, where forest ownership underwent crucial changes in the last two decades. We scrutinized narrations of 18 owners, focusing on the background and goals of forest possession, actually applied management practices and informants' future plans. Content analysis of the narrations revealed three classes of goals: ideational rationale, i.e. immaterial justification for owning and managing forest, financial goals referring to monetary benefits from selling forest products and own material use for household needs. Reported practices differ widely among PFOs, ranging from largely absent management to intensive silvicultural regimes. Syntheses of each informant's goals and practices enabled discerning four types of PFOs. Forest Businessmen typically own largest estates (>100 ha) and regard forest as an investment to get long-term financial benefits; they resort to forest management for timber and often intend to enlarge their possessions. Household Foresters primarily use timber for own needs, regularly applying selective tree cutting; such forestry results in frequent but small-scale management interventions. Passive Forest Lovers aspire for recreational or environmental values, being largely uninterested in timber harvesting. Ad Hoc Owners usually are small scale, have vague goals and rarely engage in forest management. The study concludes with discussing policy implications of the identified diversity of PFOs.

Pajamų kapitalizavimas yra vienas is turto vertinimo metodų. Metodo taikymas miskų vertinimui yra specifiskas dėl ilgo miskų auginimo laikotarpio bei miskų daugiafunkciskumo. Ekonominio vertinimo tikslais tyrime taikyta tokia Lietuvos misko isteklių ir funkcijų klasifikacija: mediena, misko grybai, misko uogos, misko vaistiniai augalai, medžiojamieji gyvūnai, misko rekreacinės funkcijos, CO2 naudojimas, biologinės įvairovės issaugojimas, vandenų apsauga, prieserozinės funkcijos, laukų apsauginės funkcijos, sanitarinės bei higieninės funkcijos. Lietuvos miskai pagal medieną įvertinti dviem metodais: misko įmonių grynųjų pajamų kapitalizavimo ir pagal Faustmano formule. Pagal nemedieninius misko isteklius ir funkcijas miskai vertinti dviem etapais: 1) metinės naudos įvertinimas; 2) grynųjų pajamų apskaiciavimas ir kapitalizavimas. Žaliavinių nemedieninių misko isteklių naudojimo metinės pajamos įvertintos remiantis jų rinkos kainomis. Misko rekreacinių isteklių vertinimui taikytas kontingentinio vertinimo metodas. CO2 sunaudojimui vertinti – tarsos leidimų kainos. Biologinės įvairovės issaugojimo funkcijai – alternatyviųjų islaidų metodas. Vandenų apsauginėms funkcijoms, prieserozinėms ir sanitarinėms bei higieninėms misko funkcijoms – isvengtų islaidų bei produktyvumo pokycių metodai. Nustatyta Lietuvos miskų kompleksinė vertė – 26,7 mlrd. Lt (medieną vertinant pagal Faustmano formule). Miskų vertė pagal nemedieninius isteklius ir funkcijas sudarė 36,9 %.

Valstybinių miškų urėdijų veiklos veiksmingumo vertinimui skiriama vis daugiau dėmesio, siekiant padidinti viešojo sektoriaus indėlį į valstybės biudžetą. Ūkio subjekto veiksmingumo vertinimo esmę sudaro veiklos rezultatų palyginimas su naudotais ištekliais. Didžiausia visų veiksmingumo vertinimo metodų patikimumo problema yra objektyvios ir visiems proceso dalyviams priimtinos ūkio subjektų išteklius ir rezultatus charakterizuojančių rodiklių bei jų svorių sistemos parengimas. Darbe yra pateikiamos dvi miškų urėdijų veiklos ištekliais ir rezultatais charakterizuojamos rodiklių sistemos – detalizuota ir jos pagrindu paruošta, sustambinta. Abiem atvejais atrinktiems rodikliams buvo suteikti svoriai. Tiek rodiklių sistemai sudaryti, tiek svoriams nustatyti buvo taikytas ekspertų metodas. Panaudojus sustambintą veiklos rodiklių sistemą nustatyta, kad veiksmingiausios yra stambios ir didžiausias kirtimo apimtis turinčios miškų urėdijos. Due to the purpose to increase the public interests in the state budget, more attention is given for the studies on efficiency regarding state forest enterprises in Lithuania. Firstly, the general problem of measuring efficiency is the creation of a reliable system of indices compound by inputs and outputs. Then, the identification of weights, and finally, the system of indices need to be appropriate for all concerned. This paper analyses the principles of indices system formulation regarding efficiency evaluation of performance of state forest enterprises. The system of indices was formulated by a two level sample. The idea of defining efficiency was to divide indices into the so called inputs (resources that need to be saved, and outputs (products and/or services that need to be produced more. It was identified that by the system of accountancy of Directorate General of State Forests the system of indices could be created based on objectivity. The most considerable weight (15.5% within inputs was given to the index of “Annual allowable cut” and the most considerable weight (0.6% within outputs was given to “Revenues of roundwood sales”. The following three groups of estimated effectiveness were formed of state forest enterprises: containing 18 state forest enterprises with the coefficient of effectiveness kj ≥ 0.9, containing 20 state forest enterprises with coefficient kj ≥ 0.64