Case study of qualitative sorting of raw wood assortments in the conditions of a forestry enterprise in Slovakia

Abstract Valuation of timber growing in commercial forests is a key issue for forest owners, forest enterprises, but also a starting point for long-term planning in the field of forest management. The subjective approach of the evaluator can, to a large extent, lead to inconsistencies in the area of wood qualitative evaluation. This paper aimed to perform an objective qualitative analysis on a selected set of 179 logs of hardwood raw-wood assortments in a selected Forest enterprise in Slovakia. Qualitative analysis, which was performed by the Technical Conditions used by Lesy SR, š.p. confirms the identical classification of raw-wood assortments, in comparison with the classification performed by the management of the forestry enterprise, in 65 logs (36.3% of logs). In 114 (63.7%) logs, the log assortment was classified in another quality class. Most of the logs, which were reclassified to lower quality classes, showed limiting qualitative features of multiple sweep (83 logs), resp. significant simple sweep over 8 cm/m (5 logs), soft rot over 20% of the end diameter area (10 logs), and decaved knots (19 logs). Our work confirmed that the qualitative evaluation of raw-wood assortments in forestry enterprises in Slovakia is not optimal and correct. The work should thus contribute to improving the setting of optimization processes in the timber production phase in forestry enterprises.