A Decade of Sanitary Fellings Followed by Climate Extremes in Croatian Managed Forests

Andreja Đuka (), Milivoj Franjević, Kristijan Tomljanović, Maja Popović, Damir Ugarković, Krunoslav Teslak, Damir Barčić, Krešimir Žagar, Katarina Palatinuš and Ivica Papa
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Andreja Đuka: Institute of Forest Engineering, University of Zagreb Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Milivoj Franjević: Institute of Forest Protection and Wildlife Management, University of Zagreb Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Kristijan Tomljanović: Institute of Forest Protection and Wildlife Management, University of Zagreb Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Maja Popović: Institute of Forest Engineering, University of Zagreb Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Damir Ugarković: Institute of Ecology and Silviculture, University of Zagreb Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Krunoslav Teslak: Institute Forest Inventory, Management Planning and Remote Sensing, University of Zagreb Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Damir Barčić: Institute of Ecology and Silviculture, University of Zagreb Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Krešimir Žagar: Croatian Forests Ltd., Street Kneza Branimira 1, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Katarina Palatinuš: University of Zagreb Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Ivica Papa: Institute of Forest Engineering, University of Zagreb Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia

Land, 2025, vol. 14, issue 4, 1-28

Abstract: Forests in Croatia are characterized by higher levels of biodiversity in species composition. Three significant events occurred in Croatian forests over the past ten years, all of which have a common denominator—sanitary felling. The challenge in the sustainable development of forests started with the ice storm of 2014 that amounted to damage and raised costs in forest stands to EUR 231,180,921. The second challenge was in 2017 when the bark beetle outbreak occurred in the Gorski Kotar region. In December 2017, a windstorm in the same area caused damage to approximately 500,000 m 3 of wood stock. The third climate extreme was in the summer of 2023 when three storms with strong winds and heavy rain damaged even-aged forests of common beech and pedunculated oak. The damage was substantial: 3,954,181 m 3 of timber was mostly broken and destroyed across 21,888.61 ha of area, and the most damage was in the pedunculate oak forests of Slavonia, i.e., Quercus robur subsp. Slavonica, at 1,939,175 m 3 . For the main meteorological stations in lowland Croatia, data on precipitation amounts (mm) and wind speeds (m/s) were collected for the period 1981–2023, and the results of our analysis for the last decade are presented. Meteorological drought was analyzed using the rain anomaly index RAI. Data regarding open space fires in the Mediterranean karst area of Croatia were collected from the Croatian Firefighting Association, and the calculation of the burned area index (BAI) was determined. Throughout the entire area of Gorski Kotar County, a sample of permanent plots was set and used to assess the extent of forest damage from the ice storm in 2014 and for the establishment of permanent monitoring of the recovery of trees and forests damaged by the ice storm. The monitoring of bark beetles in the Gorski Kotar region started in 1995 and is still in progress. The aftermath of bark beetle outbreaks in two uneven-aged silver fir stands was studied after a bark beetle outbreak and a sanitary felling of 4655.34 m 3 . In the area of lowland Croatia, a statistically significant and positive correlation was found between sanitary fellings, maximum wind speeds, and rain anomaly indices in even-aged forests. In conclusion, sustainable development will be at risk due to difficult recovery, rising costs, and overall climate change in the years to come.

Keywords: salvage logging; storms; bark beetle outbreaks; damage of the forests; sustainable development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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