!!!Forstwirtschaft

Forestry: 46.2 % of the entire territory of Austria is covered by 
forest; the distribution of forest land varies widely by region. In 
the last few decades forest areas have been cut down in order to build 
roads, power plants and residential areas, as well as for recreational 
facilities; however, in total the entire forest area is growing 
annually by around 2,000 hectares (until the mid-1980s by as much as 
6,000 ha) due to the scattering of seed into Alpine meadows, 
reforestation of marginally productive soil, etc. The significance of 
Austria's 3.88 million hectares of forest (as of 1990) lies in the 
production of raw materials as well as in non-economic gains such as 
soil and water protection and recreational value. Approximately 3.33 
million hectares are production forests (commercial production 
forests, high timber forests, usable portion of protective forests, 
regrowth forests). Almost one-fifth of Austria's forested lands is 
classified as protected forest area. The percentage of protected 
forest area amounts to 46 % in Tirol, 42 % in Vorarlberg and 32 % in 
Salzburg.

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In terms of farm size 53 % of the forested area is small forest 
property (up to 200 hectares), 32 % is large forest property and 
around 15 % belongs to the Austrian Federal Forests ( Bundesforste 
(OeBF)). With regard to forest ownership, the land registry shows 65.1 
% as private forests, 13.6 % as communal forest land (co-operatives 
9.5 %, churches 4.1 %) and 21.3 % as public forests 
(e.g. OeBF, provinces, municipalities).

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According to the permanent inventories kept since 1961 by the Ministry 
of Agriculture and Forestry, production forests contain (as of 1990) 
over 972 million m%%sup 3/% solid in standing timber corresponding to 
292 m%%sup 3/% solid per hectare, giving Austria the largest forest 
stocks in Europe after Switzerland. Average annual growth amounts to 
31.4 million m%%sup 3/% (9.4 m%%sup 3/% per hectare). As increasingly 
less is cut down than grows back, Austria's forest reserve is steadily 
growing. Between 1981 and 1990 use of the forests for timber came to 
only 19.4 million m%%sup 3/%, 70 % was final felling, 30 % due to 
thinning and incidental usage. To illustrate the small-lot character 
of forest cultivation, it may be pointed out that only 33 % of the 
cutting operations consist of clear-felling, i.e. felling in areas 
larger than 500 m%%sup 2/%.

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Employment in the forestry industry has been in steady decline, 
amounting to just over 5,000 forestry workers, 3,600 salaried staff 
and civil servants in 1993. A large portion of forestry work is done 
within the context of farming. The intensity of forest cultivation and 
the rationalisation measures in forestry work (including management of 
the protective forests) depend on the degree to which roads connect 
the forests to the outside world; including public roads through the 
forests themselves, forest roads amount to 42 metres per hectare on 
average.

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The Forestry Law of 1975, amended in 1987, provides the legal basis 
for the supervision of Austria's forests. The task of the Forestry 
Service, a supervisory agency of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture 
and Forestry, is to secure the sustainability of all material and 
non-material effects. The Forestry Law also regulates the public use 
of the forests for recreational purposes. In order to drive on the 
roads running through forested areas, permission from the proprietor 
of the land is required. Protection from mountain torrents and 
avalanches, including structural measures come under the jurisdiction 
of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. In order to 
correctly cultivate the forest lands, timber companies with more than 
500 ha forest land are required to be headed by a forestry service. 
Smaller timber companies receive technical support from experts from 
the Chambers of Agriculture.

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On average 12.6 million m%%sup 3/% of stripped wood is harvested in 
Austria every year. 83 % is pine-wood, 17 % deciduous wood. 21 % of 
the felled trees are used for firewood, 79 % timber, much of which is 
in turn further processed in sawmills. While around 4.3 million 
m%%sup 3/% untreated wood is imported to Austria, Austria exports only 
0.6 million m%%sup 3/% solid.

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Austria's sawmills produce almost 7 million m%%sup 3/% in cut timber, 
an additional 0.7 million m%%sup 3/% cut timber is imported. Austria 
exports a total of just under 4 million m%%sup 3/%, up to two-thirds 
is exported to Italy. Austria's timber processing industries (pulp, 
paper and chipboard industry) are heavily dependent on exports and 
process 5.7 million m%%sup 3/% wood on average annually, of which 60 % 
is taken directly from the forest and 40 % is waste wood from the 
sawmills; in addition approximately 1.4 million t recycled paper is 
reprocessed corresponding to a raw wood equivalent of 4.1 million 
m%%sup 3/% roundwood. Employment in the timber processing industry has 
been declining slightly (differing by sector); the sawmills registered 
10,000 workers, the paper and pulp industry just under 11,000 in 1993; 
the remaining timber processing companies had 26,000 workers.

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Despite the density of tree cover in Austria and the rate of regrowth, 
forestry accounts for only around 0.5 % of GDP; including the timber 
industry, the ratio amounts to 4.2 %. The timber export rate totals 
between 12 % and 15 % of Austria's total exports. For Austria's trade 
balance these figures translate into an annual surplus of around ATS 
20 billion.


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