Forest Condition Monitoring in the Czech Republic 1984-2003

Prag

2005

431 S.

Zahlr. Abb., Tab., Lit. Ang.

Monographie

133842

In 1985 the Czech Republic joined the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution Effects (CTRLTAP). At that time the national monitoring of forest health condition covered all of the necessary internationally requirements. Monitoring of forest condition on the territory of what is todayęs Czech Republic started in the post-war years with the first visible symptoms of forest damage, much before it was decided to carry out monitoring on the European level within the framework of the above-mentioned convention. The Forest i.e. so-called stationary plots for "ecosystem research". In the mid-1990s a programme of intensive monitoring in these so-called Level II plots was initiated in the Czech Republic in connection with the Pan-European practice. Such monitoring satisfied the need for more detailed studies on the cause-effect relationships in forest ecosystems. From 1997-1998 the modifications to the grid pattern for assessing the Level I plots were completed. This provided better estimates for tree species composition and age on the plots. This new grid pattern, besides giving better estimates of species and age composition of the Czech forests, also better characterized forest stand condition, e.g. as presented in the annual reports of ICP Forests. The so-called transnational grid of plots became a permanent and integral part of the national grid and provided continuity in the assessment for both types of monitoring plots. The new European monitoring system is valuable because it provides: * Precise protocols for assessing forest health and overall environmental conditions and results in comparability of results and the possibility of implementing national level measures along the lines with reference to requested harmonization of legislation and respective measures, * Information on forest cosystem damage both in the Czech Republic and border regions of neighbouring states, * The option of using the data for political decision-making, e.g. international negotiations, information for private forest owners, and eventually privatization of forests, * The opportunity of using the results when submitting projects to international programmes, * The possibility of designating a new co-ordination centre for monitoring forest health condition and his assessment in the Czech Republic, * The possibility of formulating forestry policy which is in harmony with European and world trends, * The possibility of obtaining financial support from the UN Economic Commission for Europe, e.g. for participation in official meetings and activities related to the ICP Forests programme. * The ICP Forests Task Force has met once in the former Czechoslovakia and later in the Czech Republic. These meetings confirmed the Czech Republicęs interest in cooperation in terms of the above mentioned convention. Our country as well as other East European countries collaborated on their own with Member States of the Community, whose activities were financially supported since the early1990s. It makes possible not only providing of results on almost all-European level, but at the same time represented the first gradual harmonization of national regulations, methodologies and standards with regulations of the European Union. On several occasions between 1986 and 2003 international training courses were held to standardize classification protocols for crown condition assessment in the Czech Republic.