Forestry

The purpose of the statistical activity is to provide information about felling, new plantations, and reforestation.

Administrative data process

Gross felling based on National Forest Inventory (NFI);

gross felling based on felling documentation by county and type of forest land;

areas of new plantations by county;

reforestation by county

Classification of Estonian administrative units and settlements (EHAK);

categories of forest protection of the International Union for Conservation of Nature;

UN-ECE/FAO Temperate and Boreal Forest Resource Assessment 2000 (forest categories and definitions)

Forestry

Average increment of the stock of stands per year – difference between the original and residual value of stands in a period, which shows the increment of the stock of stands in a year (based on increment calculation method of the forest survey guidelines)

Average stock of stands per hectare – volume of timber expressed in cubic metres per hectare

Cleaning – a type of maintenance felling in forests where the average diameter at breast height is below 6 cm (i.e. young growth) in order to improve light and nutrition conditions of the dominant tree species and design the forest composition

Commercial woodland – forest land (stands) that is not included in the category of strictly protected forests. It includes forests with partial commercial restrictions (for example water protection forests, protection zone of capercaillie, Natura 2000 areas).

Dominant tree species – the tree species with the greatest stem volume in the stand

Forest land – habitat of woody vegetation with an area of at least 0.1 hectares where the height of woody plants is at least 1.3 metres and the canopy closure is at least 30%. It includes areas temporally forestless such as clear cut, windfall or burnt areas.

Maintenance felling – a silviculture technique to improve forest quality and/or forest sanitary conditions. Maintenance felling includes cleaning in stands with the average breast height diameter of up to eight centimetres, thinning in stands with the average breast height diameter of eight centimetres and larger, and sanitary cutting.

Regeneration felling – a type of felling in order to create conditions necessary for a new forest generation. As a general rule, regeneration felling is used in mature stands.

Stock of stands – volume of timber expressed in cubic metres from stump to tree top including bark and excluding the volume of branches

Territory covered by forest (%) – the share of stands in the area of the territory

Thinning – type of maintenance felling for the raising of the value of a forest, for the regulation of forest density and composition, and for enabling the use of the timber of dead trees which will fall out in the immediate future

Contribution to natural forest regeneration – a reforestation method for promoting the generation and development of natural regeneration through various techniques (soil scarification, leaving seed trees or groups of seed trees in the cutting area, removing competing grass and deciduous trees from coniferous regeneration, partial cultivation, etc.)

Forest planting – a reforestation method where young trees are planted in a permanent growing site

Forest seeding – a reforestation method where tree seeds are sown on a scarified (mineralised) patch or strip

Other felling includes
- track cutting, including the cutting of quarter or boundary lines or the cleaning of an existing ride or road shoulder, ditch bank or ditch shoulder from trees with the average breast height diameter of more than eight centimetres;
- formative cutting carried out at a protected natural object in order to attain the protection goal in accordance with the protection management plan, action plan for the protection and control of a species or for the purpose of preservation and improvement of the status of a protected individual natural object or key habitat;
- deforestation, i.e. the cutting that is done in order to enable the use of land for purposes other than silviculture.

Forest land

All of Estonia's forest land

Estonia as a whole

MM03: Gross felling based on national forest inventory (NFI) 1999–...

MM04: Gross felling based on felling documentation by county and type of forest land, MM05: Areas of new plantations by county, and MM10: Reforestation by county 1991–...

In Table MM03, data for the year before last are published, while the rest of the tables show data for the previous year.

Not applicable

Year

Official Statistics Act.

Statistics Estonia has entered into an agreement with the Environment Agency to obtain administrative data.

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