Forest Resource

Overview
Bulgaria is a hilly country in south-eastern Europe to the west of the Black Sea. Forest and other wooded land accounts for over a third of the land area, a proportion which is increasing as a result of afforestation, intended chiefly for soil protection, rather than wood production, and to correct forest degradation in earlier years. Plantations account for more than a quarter of the forest area, most of the remainder being classified as semi-natural. There is a small area of forest undisturbed by man. The major part of the forest area is available for wood supply. The areas not available are increasing, partly at the expense of areas available for wood supply and partly as a result of afforestation. Broadleaved species account for about three fifths of the growing stock volume, the main species being beech and oaks. The main coniferous species are Scots and Austrian pine and Norway spruce. There has been an impressive increase in growing stock in recent decades, as a result of regeneration, afforestation and a cautious utilization policy. All forests were State-owned until the restitution process began in 1999; ownership by municipalities and private individuals is expected to gradually increase.

Forest Types

Geographic Description
The Republic of Bulgaria, located on the Balkan Peninsula, is bounded on the north by Romania, on the east by the Black Sea, on the south by Turkey and Greece, and on the west by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) and Macedonia. The area of Bulgaria is 110 980 km2. The greatest distance from north to south is about 330 km and from east to west about 500 km.

Mountains cover much of Bulgaria, interspersed with fertile valleys and plains. The average elevation is about 480 m. The Balkan Mountains cross the country from the north-western corner to the Black Sea and form the watershed between the Danube River and the Aegean Sea. Botev Peak is the highest elevation at 2 376 m. The northern side of the Balkan Mountains slopes gradually to the Danube River to form the northern Bulgarian or Danubian Plateau. Transitional plains lie to the south of the mountains and are an important agricultural region. The Rhodope Mountains, which form the boundary with Greece on the south, rise to the country’s highest point, Musala Peak, at 2 925 m.

The principal river draining Bulgaria is the Danube. Several other rivers, including the Iskur and the Yantra, flow into the Danube. The Maritsa River flows east to Greece and Turkey across the Thracian Plain. Other important rivers are the Kamchiya, which empties into the Black Sea, and the Struma and Mesta, which flow south to the Aegean Sea.

Most of Bulgaria has a continental climate, with cold winters and hot summers. The climate in general is more severe than in other European areas of the same latitudes, although a Mediterranean climate, with dry summers and mild, humid winters, prevails in the valley of the south-western Rhodope Mountains.

The average January temperatures in the country range from 2° C near the Black Sea to -17° C in central Bulgaria. July temperature range between 16° and 27° C. The average rainfall is about 630 mm per year, ranging from a low of about 190 mm in the north-east, to a high of about 1900 mm in the Rila Mountains. The wettest period is early summer in most of the country and autumn or winter in the southern valleys. Snowfall is generally light except in the mountains.

Forest Industry

Management

All forests were state-owned before the restitution process started in 1999. It is expected that the ownership pattern after the restitution process will be as follows: 33% state, 50% municipal and 17% privately owned. Protected nature reserves and forests with a special regime of management constitute more than 30 percent of the total forest area.