Poland is the European leader as far as the forest area is concerned. The forests occupy 29.2% of the territory of the country, they grow in the area of 9.1 million hectares.The vast majority are state forests, of which nearly 7.6 million hectares is managed by the State Forests Holding.
Forest use means to utilize its resources, i.e. timber, ground cover products, Christmas trees, whole plants or their parts suitable for the needs of pharmaceutical industry; it is also extracting minerals and many others. The foresters make forests accessible to the public, however in a way which ensures their sustainability.
Forest economy in the State Forests is based on forest management plans designed for a 10-year period. They are obligatory in each forest district. The forest management plans are prepared by specialist units such as the Bureau of Forest Management and Geodesy (BULiGL). The forest management plans are then approved by the Minister of the Environment, however this is preceded by social consultations on the matter.
The State Forests’ forest management is conducted in accordance with the following rules: the preservation of forest stability, sustainable development and nature conservation. It is recognized by many international certificates, that were given to regional directorates of the State Forests.
About 60 percent out of 618 vertebrate species, that occur in Poland, live in forests. Civilization progress imbalanced longtime stability of forest ecosystem and its rules, which also impacts animals that live there. Therefore, the number of animals, the manner of keeping and possibilities of preventing damages caused by animals are regulated by the Polish and EU law.