In October 2012, a snowbreak severely damaged young beech forests with leaves still attached to the crown in the area of Brežice. Until this event, there was not much known on how to respond to such a large natural disturbance, so forestry experts did not know, in what way and how fast will natural regeneration take place and if salvaging of the forest would accelerate the process. In this research, we study the structure of young beech forests, according to the different methods of treatment when snowbreak occurs. For the purpose of this research, 12 research plots with a size of 20 x 20 m were placed and all trees above 1, 3 m height were identified according to species and measured for diameter. In the second part of the research, crop trees were selected and tagged - the highest, most vital, intact and of the highest quality. The last part of the research included evaluation of the canopy gaps in the area of the damaged plots, where we also sampled rejuvenation in the subplots of 1, 5 x 1, 5 m. The analysis of the survey plots revealed that the plots still contain a sufficient amount of trees for the further development of stands, as well as crop trees, but their dimensional ratios were not within target intervals. There was a small quantity of saplings presented in the subplots, so we expect that the gaps will be closed with the lateral growth of the canopy of the edge trees. We conclude that the salvage logging has a favourable effect on regeneration of the damaged stands as it accelerates the decomposition of damaged trees. However, the problem with salvage logging is its economical point of view; how to provide resources and convince owners to participate.
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