Zbornik gozdarstva in lesarstva, 39, 1992, s. 83 - 100 
FDC: 921:923.4:303/304:308(4977.12) 
FOREST OWNERS AND FOREST WORK 
Mirko MEDVED* 
Abstract 
Only the most important findings of the investigation of wood production in private 
forests (MEDVED, 1991) are presented in the article. The private forest owners are 
classified in six socio-economic categories and four different classes, according to the 
sizes of their forest estates. The owners perform most of the felling and skidding by 
themselves. In average the technical equipment is rather old-fashioned and mostly 
inappropriate from the view of work safety. Individual protective outfit is extremely 
rarely used. Therefore the number of work accidents in forests is very high (in 
average 15 fatalities annualy). The accidents are more frequent in case of owners of 
smaller forest estates. The forest owners are convinced that they need more 
knowledge for work in the forests and that they should have professional assistance 
as well. In their opinion the professional assistance by tree marking would be the 
most important. 
Key words: private forests, forest production, working equipment, education, 
work safety 
LASTNIKI GOZDOV IN DELO V GOZDU 
Izvleček 
V članku je le nekaj pomembnejših ugotovitev iz raziskave o pridobivanju lesa v 
zasebnih gozdovih (MEDVED 1991). Lastniki gozdov so obravnavani po šestih socio-
ekonomskih kategorijah in štirih velikostnih razredih gozdne posesti. Lastniki sami 
opravijo največ dela pri sečnji in spravilu lesa. Tehnična sredstva so v povprečju 
dokaj stara in iz vidika varnosti pri delu, neustrezna. Uporaba osebnih zaščitnih 
sredstev je na izjemno nizkem nivoju, zato ne preseneča veliko število nezgod pri 
delu v gozdu (povprečno 15 smrtnih nezgod letno). Nezgode so pogostejše med 
lastniki, ki imajo manjšo gozdno posest. Lastniki gozdov so prepričani, da potrebujejo 
več znanja za delo v gozdu in tudi strokovno pomoč. Po njihovem mnenju je 
najpomembnejša strokovna pomoč pri odkazilu dreves za sečnjo. 
Ključne besede: zasebni gozdovi, pridobivanje lesa, oprema za delo, izobraževanje, 
delovne nezgode 
Mag. M. M. Dipl. Ing. of Forestry, Inštitut za gozdno in lesno gospodarstvo, Večna pot 2, 61000 Ljubljana, Slovenija 
Zbornik gozdarstva in lesarstva, 39 
CONTENTS 
1 INTRODUCTION 85 
2 THE METHODS OF WORK 85 
3 INCORPORATION OF FOREST OWNERS IN FOREST 86 
WORK 
4 . TECHNICAL AND PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT FOR 87 
FORESTWORK 
5 (UN)SAFETY BY THE FOREST WORK AND THE 89 
CONSEQUENCES 
6 THE EXPECTATIONS AND THE NEEDS OF FOREST 93 
OWNERS 
7 CONCLUSION 97 
8 SUMMARY 97 
9 LITERATURE 99 
84 
Medved M.: Forest owners and Forest work 
1 INTRODUCTION 
Within the research project "Production of wood in private forests of the Republic of 
Slovenia", an extensive inquiry of forest owners was organized by IGLG (Institut for 
Forest and Wood Economy) in summer 1990. 865 private forest owners (with an 
estate Iarger than lha) from the regions of Jesenice, Kamnik, Polhov gradec, 
Vrhnika, Idrija, Ajdovščina, Nazarje, Šoštanj, Laško, Vransko, Slovenske Konjice and 
Radlje ob Dravi were chosen by the principle of random selection. Almost a half of 
the relatives of persons who died in work accidents in forests in the last 10 years (63 
fatalities) were inquired as well. The results of investigation are published in the 
Master of Sciencc research work "Incorporation of private forest owners in forest 
production" (MEDVED, 1991). As the entire methodology of work had already been 
prepared before the moratorium on cutting in some puhlic forests was passed, the 
consequences of this measure were not assessed in this inquiry. 
Only the most important results of the investigation are presented in this article. I 
hope these results to be useful for the work of some people (agriculture furtherers, 
district rangers), especially for their contacts with forest owners. Due to the power of 
arguments, especially the ones concerning work accidents in private forests and 
(un)use of individual protective outfit, the farmers might become more careful and 
the authorities might try to solve the more and more complicated situation in the 
field of private forests faster and more cfficiently. 
For forest owners, the forests mainly represent their working site, where they fell 
trees, bring wood products to the forest roads, prepare wood for winter heating, 
cultivate their forests, some evcn hunt a little, help by construction of forest roads 
and perform plenty of other minor, yet important jobs. A great variety of interests in 
private forests results in numerous different tcchniques of performing the forest 
work. The greatest differences in the way of work by individual forest owners occur 
by the process of wood production. 
Great differences exist in the equipment for felling, and above all in the equipment 
for extraction and transport of forest products. There also are great differences in 
qualification of forest owners fo.r these phisically very demanding and dangerous 
works. The danger of wood procluction in private forests is well presented by the 
number of accidents, which often end tragically. For the majority of farms in 
mountaineous regions of Slovenia, forests represent the main source of income. In 
low country, where smaller forest estates are prevailing, the owners usually do not 
clepend existentially on the forest income. 
2 THE METHODS OF WORK 
The forest owners were studied according to six socio-economic estate categories. 
They also were classified in four groups, with regard of the area of their forest 
estates. 
85 
Zbornik gozdarstva in lesarstva, 39 
The data about the age of family members and their jobs and the data about the 
areas of forest estate were the main factors for classification of farms to the socio-
economic categories. The foJlowing six socio-economic estate categories were 
suggested by agriculturists (KOVAČIČ, 1983): 
FULL-TIME FARM: ali the family members in their active age (between 15 
and 65 years) work nowhere but ona farm. 
POTENTIALLY FULL-TIME FARM: only the family members that do not 
belong to the heart of a family are employed outside of the farm. 
PART-TIME FARM: at least one of the active members of a family works 
nowhere but on a farm and at least one of the others is regularly employed 
somwhere else. 
SUPPLEMENTARY FARM: all active members of a family are regularly 
employed and only work on the farm in their free tirne. 
SENIOR FARM: ali family members are over 64 years and they stili work on 
a farm. 
NONAGRICULTURAL ESTATE: a family possesses some farming land (or 
forests in our case ), but nobody does any work there. 
By forest areas, the farms were grouped in four forest estate size classes. The size 
determination of forest estates was prepared after WINKLER (1987): 
the acreage of forest between lha and 2.99ha - very small forest estate 
• the acreage of forest between 3ha and 4.99ha - small forest estate 
the acreage of forcst between Sha and 14.99ha - medium forest estate 
the acreage of forest above lSha - large forest estate 
3 INCORPORATION OF FOREST OWNERS IN FOREST 
WORK 
Forest owners perform the work in forests by thernselves or together with their 
families, with help of hired workers or together with local forest enterprises. In 
considerably large area of forests nobody does the forest work - because there are a 
lot of forest owners, that do not even know where their forest estates lie. 
In Figure 1 the realization of most important forest works (felling, skidding, timber 
transport, silviculture, building of skidding trails), which are performed by forest 
owners and their families is presented. 
From Figure 1 it can be seen, that in case of agriculturally most active farms the part 
of work done by forest owners and thein families is much greater than in case of less 
active socio-economic estates. The greatest part of work is done by forest owners on 
their own by felling and wood extraction (90% or even more work in case of full-
time, potentially full-time and supplementary farrns, and less than 50% in case of 
senior farms and nonagricultural estates). A relatively small share of transports 
performed by farrners ( even in case of full-time farms), is a consequence of a great 
86 
Medved M.: Forest owners and Forest work 
share of market production. Because of that, plenty of wood transportations are 
realized with assistance of forest enterprises. But the activity of forest owners in the 
field of forest works which represent the major investments to forests (forest 
infrastructure - building of skidding trails, silviculture) is still insufficient. 
Share (%) 
100 
BO 
60 
40 
20 
FuH-tirne Potenti. Part-umo Supp1am. Sonlot Nonagr1. 
Socio-economic types of estate 
Figure 1: Forest works, performed by forest owners and their families 
4 TECHNICAL AND PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT FOR 
FOREST WORK 
It is well known that Slovene farmers are - regarding the quantity - very well 
technically equipped especially with tractors. Our investigation verified this - in 
average there is more than 1 tractor per farm in Slovenia (in case of full-timc farms 
even 1.8). Unfortunately, most of the tractors are rather old already - about 10 years 
in average. Most of the farmers also use tractors for work in forests (90%). For 
forest work, more and more farmers begin to use tractors with four wheel drive and 
almost 60% of farmers also use tyre chains. But a very worrying fact is, that one 
third of tractors is not equipped with protective cabine. And there are negligible few 
tractors with additionally reinforced cabin. The full-tirne farmers usually use winches 
for wood extraction (70% ). This characteristic distinguishes them from ali the other 
socio-economic types of landowners. Among the winches, 95% are single-drum 
winches, mostly used by the principle of three-point connections. 
Even better than with tractors, the forest owners are equipped with chain saws ( only 
the saws used for forest work were taken into consideration). Ali the types of farms -
with an exception of senior farms - posses at least 1. chain saw (full- tirne farms 1.7). 
87 
Zbornik gozdarstva in lesarstva, 39 
Compared to tractors, the chain saws are even more old-fashioned, but despite that 
their average age is not so high (8 years). So it is understandable that over 40% of 
the chain saws are not equipped with chain brakes. The forest owners are extremely 
badly equipped with measuring instruments. The consequence is (in)accuracy and 
(un)quality of bucking in private forests (MEDVED, 1989). 
Wood extraction performed by draught animals is becoming more and more seldom 
(only about 10% of forest owners stili use animals for wood extraction). Two thirds 
of forest owners perform hand skidding and preskidding. A lot of manual work is 
also done by loading of wood on the trailers (70% of forest owners). Only 10% of 
forest owners use tractor attachments for this purpose. The wood is transported on 
tractor trailers ( 44%) and home made trailers or carts (23% ). 
Even if the unsuitability of technical equipment is overlooked, this should never 
occur in case of individual protective equipment. In Figure 2 the use of particular 
protective means for forest work by forest owners is presented. For a comparison 
and better illustration, the results of a similar investigation from Austria - Kaernten 
(BERNKOPF 1991) are also presented. 
Share (%} 
100 ~-----------------------~ 
1 D Slovenla llllll!I Austria ~ Kaernten 1 
80 
60 
40 
Prot.trousers Ear protect. Helmet Gloves Boots 
Figure 2: The use of protective outfit by work in forests 
In general, conditions are the most critical in case of (un)use of protective helmets 
and special protective trousers by felling. The comparison with Austria shows, that 
also in this field we stili have a lot to do before we catch Europe. The forest rangers 
and the whole forestry will have to spend plenty of energy for the humanization of 
forest work in private forests. The forest rangers keep in permanent contacts with 
forest owners and are thus able to inform and warn them of the dangers of forest 
88 
Medved M.: Forest owners and Forest work 
work. Unfortunately, a great majority of forest owners is completely convinced that 
they perform their work perfectly and that nothing could ever happen to them. 
Because of this a suitable health and social insurance legislation and legislation 
concerning working security of farmers would contributc a lot to the safety of forest 
work. Just remember the case concerning the us.e of safety belts in cars! How much 
it was discussed whether the demand for their use was justifiable or not. Now this is 
legalized, and nobody argues about it any more; just the drivers that do not use 
safety belts have to pay penalties. 
The forestry branch will have to keep informing the forest rangers about the 
development of technical equipment for work in forests, so that they would be able 
to advise the forest owners when buying new equipment. In Slovenia, plenty of rather 
unexpensive equipment is available, which is because of its technological 
obsolescence no longer used in western countries. Due to the lower prices, such 
equipment has a lot of buyers among the forest owners that are not acquainted with 
the situation. 
5 (UN)SAFETY BY THE FOREST WORK AND THE 
CONSEQUENCES 
In the last 10 years in average 15 fatalities annualy took place in private forests. To 
this tragic number the 20 fatalities which each year occur by work with farm tractors 
could also be added (DURJA VA, 1990). 
In private forests a fatality occurs on every 100 000m3 of net annual cut. In Slovenian 
state forests, a fatality only occurs on every 1.300.000m' of annual cut. With regard 
to the quantity of annual cut, a 100% more fatalities occur in private forests of 
Slovenia than in the private forests in Austria (the comparison was done for the year 
of 1987). 
The greatest nurnber of fatalities take place in the areas of Murska Sobota, Brežice, 
Novo mesto, Kranj and Celje. 60% of fatalities occur during the working days of a 
week and 40% on Saturdays and Sundays. From this it could be eoncluded, that the 
majority of forest owners is regularly employed and thus has not enough tirne for 
forest work during the working days of a week. 
The greatest number of fatalities happen by felling (66%), one fifth by wood 
extraction (20%) • 2% out of the 20% by hand skidding and ali the others by tractor 
skidding. The remaindcr of accidents happen by loading and transportation of timber 
(14%). 
Most accidents are a consequence of a hit of a falling tree (29% ). It happens very 
often, that the worker who cuts a tree, fells it on his fellow-worker. Releasing of 
lodged trees is the second most dangerous forest work (ll % of fatalities). Among fif-
teen such cases, only twice a suitable method of releasing was chosen. Most often the 
fatality occured by felling of the tree, upon which the other tree was hanged-up. The 
89 
Zbornik gozdarstva in lesarstva, 39 
following operations share the third place: felling and manufacturing of the trees, 
injured or partially felled by weather rigours, load ridc by tractor skidding and full-
load transportation (9% of fatalities each). The next cause of accidents are falling 
branches and treetops. The inquired relatives of the victims told, that none of them 
used protective helmet by work in the forest. 
The injuries of head were the main cause of fatalities (58%) and the injuries of 
thorax the seeond one (22%). All other parts of the body were mentioned asa eause 
of fatality in less than 10% of accidents. 
Some forest owners, chosen by the principle of random seleetion, were asked a few 
questions about the aecidcnts by forest work. On every fifth farm, at least one 
accident has happened by forest work in the last 10 years. The accidents happened 
most often in case of full-time farms ( every third farm) and potentially Puli-tirne 
farms (every fourth farm). 
It was found out that the best indicator of frequency of the accidents is the forest 
estate area, while the socio-cconomic type of estatc almost has no influence on it. 
The senior farms are an exception - the injurics are much more frequent there 
although the least work is done by the owners (Figure 1). The trend of decreasing 
frequency of accidents by increased forest estate can be clearly scen from Figure 3. 
In case of small forest estates the accidents are four timcs more frequent than in 
case of estates larger than 1Sha - with regard to the acreage of forests as well as wlth 
regard to the quantity of forest production. 
ha/1 accident per year Num.or accid./1000 m3 of the cut wood 
750 ~--------~~--_-_-_-:__-_-_-_-----.. --------,------, 2.5 
---ha -1-m31 
600 + 
450 - 1.5 
300 
+ 
150 + 05 
oL-----L----~L----_, ___ ____,_ __ ___c ___ ____io 
O 5 10 IB 20 25 30 
Forest estate area (ha) 
Figure 3: The frequency of accidents in forests, with regard to the forest estate area 
90 
Medved M.: Forest owners and Forest work 
Because of a possibility of comparison, the results of some foreign investigations are 
presented as well. In the German countries Niedersachscn and Bayern, 0.58 
respectivelly 0.4 accidents happened per m' of the wood cut in private forests 
(REHSCHUH and co-workers, 1984). The calculations show, that annualy one 
accident happens per 890ha of forest in Niedersachsen and one per 540ha of forest 
in Bayern. 
The accidents by various phases of work and working operations (Table 1) were 
compared to the results from the private forests of Austria (STAOLMANN, 1986). 
The comparison is presented, because the results of ours are gotten by the inquiry of 
a random sample of farmers, while in Austria a special form has been issued for 
registration of accidents in forests by the Farmers Social Insurance Organization of 
Austria (Socialversicherungs-anstalt der Bauern). 
Table 1: The structure of accidents by various phases of working operations (shares 
in%) 
Phase of work/ The IGLG inquiry Austria 1986 
Working operation 1990 
FELLING ANO MANUFACTURING 61 73 
- Trimming 25 24 
- Barking 1 1 
- Passages 1 3 
- Other working operations 34 45 
SKIDDING 32 16 
- Tractor skidding 7 
- Hand skidding 9 
LOADING ANO TRANSPORTATION 5 3 
- Loading 1 
- Transport 4 
SILVICULTURE 2 4 
OTHER ACTIVITIES 4 
In Slovenia, there are relatively more accidcnts by skidding and transportations of 
wood. The most probable reason for this is, that more old-fashioned and for forest 
work unsuitable tractors are used. Because of that, the relatively smaller share of 
accidents by felling does not mean, that absolutely less accidents occur in Slovenia 
than in Austria. 
Because of the insufficiency of <lata for Slovenia, the consequences of injuries in 
forests were evaluated by help of the Austrian statistics. The many years' average of 
accidents in private forests of Austria (from the social insurance records) is 2553 
accidents annualy. 15.5% of accidents (395 annualy) ended by permanent invalidism 
91 
Zbornik gozdarstva in lesarstva, 39 
and 0.78% (20 annualy) with death. These data are valid for the period of 1974-1984 
(STADLMANN, 1986). With our inquiry it was found out that 17% of injuries in 
Slovene forests were very bad (so bad, that more than 4. months of medica! 
treatment were needed). Being aequainted with the extent of invalidity in Austria it 
could be concluded, that the consequence of these 17% of accidents in Slovenia was 
at least partial invalidity in most cases. 
The number of ali the accidents in private forests of Slovenia is not known. We tried 
to find it out by two methods: 
the share of fatalities among ali accidents in private forests of Austria is well · 
known, as well as the number of fatalities in private forests of Slovenia, 
with the results of our inquiry (forest area/1 aeeident yearly - MEDVED, 
1991, p.77). 
Using the first method it can be concluded, that in private forests of Slovenia in 
average 1910 accidents occur yearly (which would be the concern of Social 
Insurance, if they happened in Austria). According to the inquiry 2065 accidents 
happend per year. The difference of results of two completely independent methods 
is only 8%. Regarding the conditions in Austria it could be concluded, that each year 
in our forests at least 2000 accidents happen, which will sooner or later have to 
become the concern of the Social Insurance of Slovenia. 
In ali the following calculations for Slovenia, the number of 2000 forest accidents per 
year will be used. If once again the Austrian results (15.9% of disabled persons) are 
taken into account and the proportion is used for the calculation of the extent of 
accidents in. Slovenia, it could be concluded, that about 300 of the people, who are 
injured by work in private forests in Slovenia in one year, remain permanently 
disabled. 
After an accident, medica! treatment is necessary in most cases. With regard to the 
injuries, the hurt person is medically treated in hospital, in outpatients' department 
or at home. Medica! treatment is not neccessary only in case of slight injuries. As no 
data exist about the extent of the latter, they are not registered in the statistical 
evidence. According to the evidence of Austrian Social Insurance for Farmers, 
hospital treatment is neccessary for 43.3% of forest accidents, treatment as 
outpatient in 43.1 % and medica! treatment at home in 13.1 % of accidents. Only 
0.4% of persons are so slightly injured, that they need no medical help. 
The tirne of hospitalization depends on the type of injuries and on the method of 
medica! treatment. In average, the duration of hospital treatment after forest 
accidents is 2 weeks. A special trouble is uncapability for work - a patients' status. In 
average, this status lasts for 32 days (from the same source ). 
In Germany, Austria and Switzerland the average costs of medica! treatment of 
persons, injured in forest, accidents, were evaluated. Different methods of evaluation 
were used. The costs were from 2700 DEM per accident (BLASCHKO, 1983), where 
only the direct expenses were taken,into consideration, to 4400 DEM, where ali the 
92 
Medved M.: Forest owners and Forest work 
indirect expenses were also considered. For the Swiss conditions, BUTORA (1982) 
made a calculation, that the average costs per accident were 3700 SFR. 
Supposing that an accident costs 3000 DEM in average, and that at least 2000 
accidents happen each year in the private forests of Slovenia, the annual costs of 
medica! treatment of the persons injured by work in forests are 6.000.000 DEM per 
year (60 000m3 of timber at price of 100DEM/m3) - that is 3% - 4% of the value of 
the entire annual cut of the private forests in Slovenia. 
The analyses of forest accidents are maybe not of a great importance for the work in 
forest districts, but they are the most important basis for explanation of 
pretentiousness and danger of forest work and the consequences of forest accidents. 
In any case, these results will have to be taken into consideration by the young State 
of Slovenia, which will have to decide whether to earmark more money for 
prevention of accidents or to pay medica! treatment, invalid pensions and pensions to 
the relatives of the victims of fatalities in forests. 
6 THE EXPECTATIONS AND THE NEEDS OF FOREST 
OWNERS 
The education of forest owners is not very wcll organizcd in Slovenia. Their 
readiness and sometimes eagerness for education is not well known, so the fields of 
education for them are rather hard to imagine (MEDVED, 1989). Because of this, 
the forest owners were inquired, whether they thought they should have more 
knowledge for work in the forests (Figure 4). 
The number of affirmative ("YES") answers was proportional to their attachment and 
dependence on forests. Those, who work a lot in the forests and who also have 
rather some experience, share the opinion, that thcy should have more knowledge 
for the more effective and less dangerous work in the forests. The cause of deviation 
in case of inactive owners of large forest estates is most probably in a too small 
number of inquiries within this category of forest owners. 
For ali the people, who will in future organize education for forest owners, it is 
neccessary to know the fields and topics of education in which the forest owners are 
especially interested. The data concerning the most important of these fields are 
presented in Figure 5. 
The smaller the farming activity, the smallcr the intcrest in further education. The 
greatest interest in education exists on full-time farms and the lowest on senior 
farms. To everybody, the education in felling is the most important. Silviculture is 
the second topic of interest, followed by the sale of timber, the protection of forests 
and the tractor skidding. 
93 
Zbornik gozdarstva in lesarstva, 39 
100 
80 
60 
40 
20 
Full-tlme Part-uma Supplem. Nonagri. Senior 
Socio-econornic type of estate 
estate 
area 
Figure 4: The share of affirmative answers about the greater knowledge needed for 
work in forests 
Share of answers in % 
Full-time Part-time Supplem Nonegri. Senior 
Socio-econornic type of estate 
Figure 5: In which fields would you like to improve your knowledge? (the share of 
affirmative answers in % ) 
Until now, the education for forest owners has mainly been organized by forest 
enterprises. The Centre of Forestry Schools in Postojna (GŠC) only joined this 
activities from tirne to tirne. This could be well observed from the answers, where 
the education should take place. For mass education, the home surroundings within 
the local forest enterprises is the most suitable. Yet, there are quite some farmers, 
94 
Medved M.: Forest owners and Forest work 
who would also gladly join the courses organized in Postojna, so it would only be 
reasonable to start thinking about better exploitation of the capacities of the Centre 
of Forestry Schools for the needs of private forest owners. 
Share of answers in % 
80 
eo 
40 
20 
Full-time Pa.rt-tirna Supplem. Nonegri Senior 
Socio-economic type of estete 
Figure 6: Where should the education for forest work take place 
More than two thirds of forest owners think that they will stili need professional 
assistance for forest management in future. The smallest interest for such assistance 
was showed by the owners of senior farms (55%) and by the owners of 
nonagricultural estates (63% ). More than 70% of the owners of forest estates larger 
than 5ha are convinced, that professional assistance is necessary. Only 57% of the 
owners of forest estates of 3 5ha believe, that they might need help, while the 
situation in case of forest owners with 1 - 3ha is different - 63% think, that assistance 
will be necessary. 
Because the "professional assistance" is rather a wide notion, some more particular 
questions have also been raised about the main activities, connected to forest 
management: marking of trees for felling, execution of felling, execution of skidding, 
removal of timber, silviculture, building of forest roads and skidding trails, inventory 
of forests, advising about new equipment and crediting. The differences in answers 
about the expected professional assistance among the various socio-economic classes 
of forest owners are much smaller, than by any earlier questions. Because there are 
no characteristical differences, only the average values of expected professional 
assistance by single working processes are presentcd (TABLE 2). 
95 
Zbornik gozdarstva in lesarstva, 39 
Table 2: By which activities in forests would you like to have professional assistance 
or help for the execution of work? (shares in %, n = 865) 
Activity Proffesional assistance 
Not expected Expected Rank 
Marking of trees for felling 48,7 51,3 1 
Execution of felling 94,8 5,2 8 
Execution of skidding 95,0 5,0 9 
Removal of timber 74,9 25,1 7 
Silvicul ture 66,1 33,9 5 
Building of roads and skidding trails 59,3 40,7 2 
Inventory of forests 63,6 36,4 3 
Advising and crediting 74,0 26,0 6 
Education 66,0 34,0 4 
The opm10ns of forest owners about the necessity of professional assistance for 
different phases of work vary significantly. By the majority, assistance is expected for 
the marking of trees for fclling and for building of forest roads and skidding trails. 
Inventory of forests, education and silviculture are the following three activities on 
the rank-list. The least assistance is expected for ali the three phases of timber 
production: felling, skidding and transportation of wood. 
96 
Medved M.: Forest owners and Forest work 
7 CONCLUSION 
In spite of organizational and business changes in forestry, the continuous activity of 
forest ecosystems and also the business interests of ali the forest owners will have to 
be maintained and supported. Due to the fact, that two thirds of Slovene forests 
already are private property, and this share is certainly going to grow bigger in the 
years to come, and due to the expected changes of forest Iegislation as well (free 
market for timber, greater obligations of forest owners by their forest work, changes 
in fiscal policy, ... ), ali the people competent for this field will have to change their 
way of work and intensify their activities - especially the advising, education and 
guidance of forest owners. 
Because of the importance of their duties, the forest rangers - who are the ones to 
keep permanent contacts with forest owners - will no Ionger be able to do everything 
by themselves. Professional assistance of educational, research and other state in 
stitutions will be needed for additional training of the existing cadres and for 
adequate education of the new ones. 
Because of the needs for training, education and professional assistance, expressed 
by farmers and other forest owners, the state and society are obliged to make this 
education possible and the foresters are obliged to cooperate professionally with 
forest owners much more intensivelly and creatively. The need of further guidance of 
forest owners is also showed by a great number of accidents among them. And forest 
decline as well dictates to the society and foresters to help forest owners, because it 
is not possible for the forest owners to salve the consequences of pollution of the 
environment (which influence the forest ecosystcms) by themselves. We are also 
obliged to do this, because the Slovene puhlic has declared forest decline the first 
and major problem among ali the ecological problems of our environment. 
8 SUMMARY 
For different private forest owners, the forests have different value. The forest 
owners were therefore classified by two criteria: by the socio-economic category and 
by the forest estate area. The following six socio-economic categories of farms were 
defined: full-time farm, potentially full-time farm, part-time farm, supplementary 
farm, nonagricultural estate and senior farm. By the forest estate areas, the owners 
were categorized in four classes: lha - 2.99ha, 3ha - 4.99ha, 5ha - 14.99ha and more 
than 15ha. The owners with an estate smaller than lha, were not included in the 
investigation. 
Most of the felling and tractor skidding (more than 85%) is performed by the forest 
owners and their family members on their own, only in case of senior farms and 
agriculturally nonactive cstates, hired workers are more frequent. The participation 
of forest owners in silvicultural work is below 50%, especially in case of 
supplementary farms and senior farms and in case of agriculturally nonacrive estates. 
Plenty of silvicultural work is done by forest enterprises, yet a lot stili remains 
97 
Zbornik gozdarstva in lesarstva, 39 
undone. 
Forest owners are very well equipped with chain saws. The average age of saws is 8 
years. Only one half of the saws, used for forest work, are equipped with chain 
brakes. Most of the tractors are owned by full-time farmers and those with medium 
or large forest estates. In average, the tractors are 10 years old, 22% of the tractors 
do not have a protective cabin, and only 12% are equipped with a roll bar. 
The forest owners only seldom use protective outfit 
trousers, protecting against cuts by chain saws. Some 
protective helmets, yet they only rarely use them. 
especially the protective 
more forest owners have 
In average, 15 fatalities in forests occur in Slovenia each year. The comparison of the 
Austrian data concerning forest accidents with the results of our inquiry shows, that 
approx. 2000 serious accidents occur in our private forests every year. 15% of victims 
are in.valids for life. Forest work accidents are more frequent on the estates smaller 
than Sha. The most often forest accidents happen on senior farms. The rehabilitation 
of injuries, resulting from forest work, lasts for a month in average; half of this tirne 
is usually needed for hospital treatment. The average costs of medica! treatment of 
the injured vary from 2700 DEM to 4400 DEM per injury (foreign authors). 
The willingness to participate in education is relatively high among forest owners, 
especially among the farmers in their active age and among the owners of large 
forest estates. There is quite some interest for education within regional forest 
enterprises. Two thirds of the forest owners expect professional assistance offered by 
forestry service also in the future. By their expectations of assistance, the help by 
tree marking is placed in the first position. 
98 
Medved M.: Forest owners and Forest work 
9 LITERATURE 
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99