ICEBREAK IN SLOVENIAN FORESTS AND SALVATION OF CONSEQUENCES

Abstract

From 31 January to 10 February 2014 more than half of Slovenian forests were affected by ice, the most severely affected regions were Notranjsko, the southwest edge of Ljubljana Basin, Cerkljansko and Idrijsko. In slightly more than a week's period after the ice storm that caused icebreak, the Slovenian Forest Service (ZGS) made fair assessment of the extent of damages to the forests. Additionally, the assessment of the type of damage was carried out by the Administration of the Republic of Slovenia for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief. The forest roads were cleared soon, while the rollway conditions were being improved by the forest owners over a lengthy period of time. ZGS devised the Restoration Plan, which aimed at felling or lumbering 9.3 mil m3 of timber volume. The Slovenian Government adopted a law and other regulations to enable the allocation of funds and personnel, and set out other conditions required for the forest restoration. Despite all the efforts, 21 people got killed while working in the forests in 2014. Due to a great possibility that bark beetles could multiply, the sanitation efforts focused on the speedy coniferous tree salvation. In 2014, the ZGS records show that 2.97 mil m3 (32 %) of timber gross volume was felled or treated.