Photo: LFZ / Buchgraber
Facts and figures on Austrian forests
With its 47% share of forests Austria is an EU country very rich in forests. More than 3.3 million hectares of its territory are used for forestry.
The highest forest shares are found in the Provinces of Styria (61.1%) and Carinthia (60.6%), but even the capital Vienna has a 21% share of forest-covered area.In the European Union of the 27 Member States (EU-27) there are 177 million hectares of forests and other stocked areas; i.e. about 42 percent of the land. The percentage of forested area of the EU-27 increases by approx. 0.4% every year.
To whom do Austria’s forests belong? About 50 percent are private forests with forest areas smaller than 200 hectares, 22 percent are private forests larger than 200 hectares. The Austrian Federal Forests manage approximately 16 percent of the forest area. 9 percent represent community forests, 2 percent account for municipal forests, and 1 percent is Provincial forest. This means that almost three quarters of Austria’s forests are privately owned and are managed by private forest owners.
The management of forests is but one of the many functions related to forests. According to the Forest Development Plan 64.5 percent of the forest area are subject to that economic function. Especially in mountainous regions the protective effect of forests (30.7 percent) is playing an important role to protect areas for living and economic activity. Forests also serve people’s well-being (3.6 percent) and, of course, recreation (1.1 percent). Also the protective effect against the wind must not be forgot.
Which tree species are found in Austria’s forests? About 67 percent are coniferous, 24 percent are broad-leaved. The remaining 9 percent account for shrubs, unstocked forest areas and gaps.
Spruce is with 53.6 percent the dominant coniferous tree. Only 2.3 percent are firs; 4.6 percent are larches; 5.6 percent are pines and 0.7 percent are other coniferous trees like arolla pines.
Among the broad-leaved species beech is with 9.6 percent the most frequent one, followed by oak with 2 percent. Other hardwood species like hornbeam, ash, maple, elm, sweet chestnut, or Spanish chestnut account for 8.0 percent. Softwoods like birch, alder, lime, asp, and poplar occur at 4.3 percent.
How healthy are Austria’s forests? According to the 2005 crown condition survey 50 percent of the crowns of Austria’s coniferous and broad-leaved trees are not thinned, 34.7 percent are slightly thinned, 11.7 percent are moderately thinned, and 3.1 percent are severely thinned or dead.
Austria is a country very rich in wood. In 2006, the volume felled amounted to 19 million cubic metres of timber harvested, largely coniferous wood.
Timber prices showed a positive trend for forest farmers. In 2006 the timber prices for logs, chemical pulpwood and fuelwood (hard) continued their upward trend from the second term of 2005.
The volume of growing stock is enormous in Austria. Every year the 1,095 million cubic metres of standing wood in forests is juxtaposed by approximately 31 million of annual increment. Only 19 million cubic metres of this annual increment are utilised every year.
15.02.2008, Lebensministerium Öffentlichkeitsarbeit