Urban Area - Review of Protective Forest Management

Protective forests are areas, primarily used for wood production in the past, where forests gradually attain different roles based on its purpose and management plan. Forests are significant factors in karst management where over time devastated forest areas have been cultivated with conifers. One of those areas is camp (N 43°55’, E 15°30’) in small coastal city- Pakoštane, where we’ve conducted our research. It is almost a century old Aleppo pine culture which spreads over 25 hectare, on limestone based brown and red soil with more than 45 % stony surface. Holm oak forest is community (Orno – Quercetum ilicis H-ić 1957.) with mostly dense canopy, normal density and no silvicultural work in past few decades. The forest has following structure- number of trees: Aleppo pine 346/ha, Holm oak 261/ha, evergreen deciduous bushes (< 2,5m height) 1047/ha or in total 1654/ha; - basal area: Aleppo pine 26,47 m2/ha, Holm oak 3,23 m2/ha, evergreen deciduous bushes 4,33 m2/ha or in total 34,03 m2/ha. In contrast to normal ecological-management type (EMT) III-L-10 [1] significant differences have been detected. Absence of necessary silvicultural interventions is visible considering relevant indications of present state: average crown transparency “2”, short and thin canopy, great number of deadwood: Aleppo pine 432/ha and Holm oak 148/ha, appearance of fungus fruiting body on 60 trees/ha, construction work mechanical damage of both trunk and root system 140 trees/ha and lastly Aleppo pine tree marking conducted by non-professional forester- resulted in wrong selection of trees that are meant to be fallen in future maintenance period. Natural forest degradation that is taking place in this woodland, due to anthropological influence on stand, unfortunately led the forest of this auto-camp in troublesome state.