The volume of timber harvest is specified in forest management plan prescribed for every forest district for the period of 10 years.  This plan ensures that the harvested timber does not exceed  the production capacity of forests and that the standing timber in forests, the so called stand volume systematically grows. In short, foresters manage forests in a way ensuring its continuity and biological reconstruction.

The volume of timber harvest depends on the so called prescribed cut which is specified in the management plan for every forest.  It is the amount of timber  that is designed for cutting  in particular stands on a particular area and within the 10 years which  the plan covers. As the prescribed cut  is lower than timber increment  within the same period of time, the stand volume increases ( in Poland 55% of timber growth is harvested). It is estimated that the resources of the Polish forests amount to over 2,049 cubic meters of timber.  

The harvested timber comes from:

• Final cut – cutting "matured" forest stands, the main purpose is restocking and reconstruction of forest stands,
• Thinning cuts (cleaning and cutting) – removal of  undesired trees that are found to be dangerous to the remaining trees and valuable elements of stands,
• Not-planned cut – as  a result of natural disasters occurring in forests.

Types of forest utilization:

• Main utilization, that is timber harvest,
• Other utilization – harvest of undergrowth, forest fruit, seeds, etc.
• hunting

Tasks for the period from 2011 until 2020

timber harvest volume not bigger than 1052837 net merchantable timber, including:

a) prescribed cut in final cuts- 470457 m3 net merchantable timber

b) prescribed cut in pre-final cuts  –21823,85 ha  with the estimated thickness of  582380 m3 net merchantable timber,

Methods of timber harvesting:

Tree felling with self-loading tractors; using harvesters

Within the area of Forest District Krzystkowice the use of only biodegradable oil is allowed for operation of all the specialist equipment.