A historical outline and an analysis of causes and results of changes of organizational structure od state forest administration in Poland are presented, beginning from the organization of forest administration in the Polish Kingdom (1816) to the recent times (1987). A division of the paper into parts was adopted, correspondingly to historical periods, namely: the Polish forest administration in the Polish Kingdom (1816-1867), the inter- war period (1918-1939), the period of the Second World War (1939-1945), and the organization ot the state forest administration in People's Poland (1945- 1987). The first part describes the period of about 50 years, when the governmental forests were under the authority of the administrative branch of income and treasury, and when the Polish administration acted in them. The changes occurring during that period consisted generally of the decrease of numbers of field units with a simultaneous decrease of the area od governmental forests, in spite of including confiscated private forests into them. In 1918-1939 the state forests were under the authority of the agriculture branch. The balance of organizational changes during that period was positive. A unified forest administration was organized (issuing from three different systems of economics, management and administration of the invaders), the foundations of economic policy of state forests were formulated, the legal bases were created for them, and the forest economy and administration were made independent in an optimal way, converting "The State Forests" into an efficient economic organism. The number of forest districts and forest units was greatly enlarged, and thanks to this fact their size, especially in the central and western parts of the country, suited to the intensive and rational economy. But this favourable state was reached not earlier than in the second half of the period, after creating a highly efficient and independent centre of central administration. For all that period the three-level system of administration was maintained. The period of the Second World War is presented very briefly, but the post-war period is characterized largely. The numerous and frequent changes of management system and organizational structures are chronologically presented. Those restructurations were by no means always purposeful, and frequently they did not result from the needs of forest economy, but only from the imposed schematic adaptations of the forest management system to the rules being in force in other economic branches (the fifties). Some changes, although basically right ones, did not bring the results expected, because the basic conditions, constituting a part of planned changes (the seventies), had not been fulfilled. A conclusion results then, that the changes in the forest management organization should bear features of a permanent improve.....
