We used snow-ball sampling and semi-structured interviews with 40 private forest owners and four district foresters in two forest management units in Slovenia to see how forest owners and forestry professionals understand forest management and how familiar they are to forest functions. Successful forest management meant different things to different forest owners and district foresters. Most of the owners believed they actively managed their property, a belief supported by the district foresters. Most of the owners said they visited their forests several times a week. However, the way they saw the function of forest management varied – some saw it as a mean of gaining social security, some saw it as a hobby, others perceived it as an obligation. Forest owners generally saw more obstacles in management than advantages. They were impeded by the lack of time, difficult access, low wood prices and the weather. The perceived benefits were mainly the income, satisfaction derived from work and visible improvement of the forest. The knowledge about forest functions was poor, most owners have never heard about them and only three owners listed all three main groups of forest functions. They were not aware of the first level priority areas coverage in their forest. Although they were familiar to the Natura 2000 network, they were not sure whether their land or parts of it are within the Natura 2000 area. Furthermore, not many owners knew management restrictions in the priority areas.
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