COST Action E 52 - vTI - Bund.de

The health status of beech forests is good and they are of high vitality. It is determined by the site
conditions, incl. climatic and pedologic, insects and fungal background, the age of the stand and
management. In general, beech forests are weakly attacked by insect pests.
20-year investigations of International Co-operative Programme ‘Forests’ indicate that in comparison
with other main tree species in the country the state of European beech is the best one (MEW, MAF,
UF, FRI, 2006).
The following diseases are of significant practical importance: wood rots, caused by wood-destroying
fungi Basidiomycetes, as well as stem and branch canker, caused by the fungus Necrotia ditissima.
Some abiotic factors such as windbreaks and ice breaks, although rarely, cause significant damages.
In November 200 , about 500,000 m3 wood mass, mainly from pre-mature stands (60 – 80 years
old) were broken and fell due to windbreaks and ice breaks in Balkan range beech forests (the State
Forestry Etropole, Botevgrad and Vitinia) within the altitudinal range of 00 – 800 m up to 1,100
– 1,200 m.
The felling with preliminary natural regeneration is the basic management way of forests in Bulgaria
especially during the first half of the 20th century (Vachovski, Dimitrov 2003).
In the pure beech stands shelterwood felling and group-selection system are usually applied, the
number of the phases and their duration depending on the regeneration.
In the mixed beech stands, especially with species with contrast ecological requirements, as those by
beech, fir and spruce, the single tree selection system is the most suitable.
The clearcutting in the high-stem forests has been forbidden by Forestry Law since 1992.
When the regeneration with beech at some site conditions is missing or is insufficient and no
additional natural regeneration is expected, only afforestation with beech seedlings is reliable and
applied during the last 3 – 4 decades. The area afforested with beech reached 2,652 ha in 198 and
after that followed a significant reduction of afforestation with this species – 1,46 ha (1990), 309 ha
(1994), 121 ha (2000), 4 ha (2005).
The production of beech seedlings – 1,250,000 in the year 2000, 5,0 0,000 (2002), 2,000,000 (2008)
– is realized most frequently in a traditional way – in open nurseries or in temporary nurseries under
the canopy of beech stands preliminary thinned to density of 30%.
Beech timber production reached 2,990,000 m3 (139.2% of the growth) in 1960, after that decreased
to 2,26 ,000 m3 (110.4% of the annual increment) in 19 0, to 1,1 5,000 m3 ( .5%) in 1980, to
5,000 m3 (61.1%) in 1990 (Garelkov et al. 1995). During the period 2000 – 2005 the average
wood harvesting of beech was about 1,100,000 m3 of which 810,000 m3 in high-stem beech stands,
250,000 m3 in coppice and 40,000 m3 in reconstructed beech stands, the ratio of the main fellings
being 64% (Kostov, Rafailova 2009).
GeNe-PooL coNservaTIoN
The most reliable method for conservation of beech gene pool is in situ. It includes genetic resources
of genus Fagus in the three national parks – Central Balkan, Pirin and Rila, in seven natural parks, in
reserves, and all approved seed production stands.
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