Socio-Economic Importance of Main Non-Wood Forest Products Collection and Use for Inhabitants in the Czech Republic Ludek Sisak Faculty of Forestry, Wildlife and Wood Sciences Czech University of Life Sciences Prague  Introduction  Socio-economic essence of NWFP collection in the CR  Methods  Results  Conclusions

Socio-economic essence of NWFP collection in the CR  NWFP picked intensively from medieval times.  Edible mushrooms, forest berries, medicinal (drug) plants, fuelwood.  Entrance to forests in all kinds of ownership generally unrestricted, free of charge (only some exceptions).  Now: All forest stands accessible to people, they can pick enumerated forest products free of charge, irrespective of kind of forest ownership.  Article 19 of the latest Forest Act No. 289 from 1995: “Individuals are entitled to enter the forest at their own risk, and to collect for their own needs any forest fruits and dry wastewood lying on the ground“.

 Collection of NWFP ranked among the externalities.  Double socio-economic nature:  tangible,  intangible – part of the recreational functions of forests.  NWFP:  a substitute for similar agricultural products,  little part marketed in the CR,  greater part consumed in the forest visitors’ own households.  The importance of NWFP picking expressed simultaneously in the frame of the :  market or „shadow market“ (production) function,  in the frame of the non-market (recreational) function.

 The present Forest Act does not:  treat the possibility of planned production and harvest of the NWFP by forest owners and tenants,  protect such forest producers against pickers of commercially produced NWFP.  NWFP can be produced commercially and then marketed by forest owners, tenants and businessmen.  NWFP – alternative production to agricultural production, produced without any chemical means.  Forest management not only for timber production but also for the production of NWFP a kind of „agroforestry“ even under conditions of temperate zone developed forestry.  Such conception of forest management could increase:  the attraction, flexibility, stability and sustainability of forestry,  production and incomes possibilities in rural areas.

Methods  Investigations of the importance of NWFP started in 1994 and continued to  The quantity and quality of data collected and processed depended on financial means.  The following main kinds of NWFP surveyed:  mushrooms without species specification,  bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L.),  raspberry (Rubus idaeus L.),  blackberry (Rubus fruticossus L.),  elderberry (Sambucus nigra L.)  cowberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea L.).

Different methods used  Analysis of relevant materials and publications;  Questionnaire surveys representative samples of inhabitants of the CR (personal interviews);  Questionnaire survey foresters of all forest districts of the State Enterprise "Forests of the Czech Republic" (mail contacts);  Field monitoring of occurrence and of biological yield of bilberry;  Analysis of data on area of bilberry and cranberry, using forest management plans, in

Results  NWFP collection: 2 nd place among the main reasons for visiting forests, with 29% share, (short term relaxation took 1 st place, with 42.5%).  2/3 of inhabitants and 4/5 of households collected NWFP :  mushrooms picked by more than 70% of households,  bilberries by almost 50%,  raspberries by almost 30%,  blackberries by more than 20%,  elderberries by 15%,  cranberries by 8% of households.

Amount of collected main NWFP (kg/household) in the CR in Years NWFP Mushr.Bilb.Rasp.Black.Cowb.Elder.Total Aver

Influence of air pollution  20 of 75 administrative districts of the CR considerably affected by emissions (0.627 mil. ha of mil. ha accessible to public).  Surprisingly 27.5% of NWFP collected in the 20 districts from 25% of total forest area in the CR (data from 90’)  Research results on heavy metals in NWFP show the quantity of heavy metals in NWFP influenced rather by natural background than by the level of pollution.

Conlusions  Research results prove high importance of the NWFP collection for the population.  Total average annual value of collected NWFP reached more than 1/6 of an annual income from timber sale in the CR.  NWFP importance is even higher considering recreational value and other picked NWFP: drug and ornamental plants.  The amount of collected drug plants in dry state about 2.8 mil. kg annualy. Collected by 17% of households.  Collection of NWFP increases substantially also forest frequentation and enhances recreational value of forests.

Thank you for your attention Luděk Šišák Faculty of Forestry, Wildlife and Wood Sciences Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Kamýcká 129, Praha 6-Suchdol