Following the decrease in beetle-damaged wood, the Czech State Forests Lesy ČR expect logging volumes to remain stable over the coming years © Lesy ČR
In the past six years, a total of 64.7 million m³ of log wood were harvested in forests managed by Lesy ČR. In the record years of 2020 and 2019, 14.4 million m³ and 13.9 million m³ were felled respectively. Damaged wood, especially beetle-damaged wood, accounted for 9.8 million m³ in 2020 and 9.6 million m³ in 2019.
With a logging volume of 11.4 million m³, of which 7 million m³ were beetle-damaged log wood, 2021 was still characterized by the massive impact of damaging events in previous years. In the same year, log harvest totaled 30 million m³ in the Czech Republic, with calamity-related felling accounting for 26.3 million m³ or 87%. 95% of the wood harvested in the country was coniferous wood. In 2019 and 2020, the percentage of damaged wood across the entire national territory was only 1 to 2% lower than the total annual harvest volume.
In the years from 2013 to 2022, the ten-year average logging volume was 21.7 million m³, while the average volume of damaged wood was 17.2 million m³.
In 2022, the Czech state forests harvested 9.2 million m³. In that year, the share of damaged wood had already fallen significantly to 2.9 million m³. In 2023, 7.7 million m³ were felled, of which only 1.6 million m³ were damaged wood. For 2024, Lesy ČR expects a log harvest volume of 8.1 million m³. It is also interesting that in the years from 2021 to 2023, the planned logging volume was 23 to 30% higher than the actually harvested volume.
According to the “Strategic Development Concept for Lesy ČR 2025-2029”, an annual log harvest volume of around 8 million m³ is planned for the years 2025 to 2029, with only 7.7 million m³ expected to be felled in 2026. The logging volume in the whole of the Czech Republic usually totals between 17 and 18 million m³.
The Czech state forests own almost 1.2 million hectares of forests, of which 74% (887,000 hectares) are designated as commercially used forests and 3% (35,000 hectares) as protective forest. The remaining 269,000 hectares (22%) are defined as “special purpose forests”.
