Productivity and economic effectiveness of young black locust tree stands on afforested sulphur opencast mine sites

Abstract The correct selection of the species composition of afforestation in relation to the habitat conditions has a decisive impact on the effects of forest reclamation. In most of the reclaimed forestry areas in Poland, the stands enter the prelogging period, and it is possible to assess the first economic and production effects of reclamation. The assessment was made based on the analysis of the size of the harvested wood during the intermediate cutting on the heap of the former ‘Piaseczno’ opencast sulphur mine located in southern Poland and managed by the State Forests. At this stage of development, Robinia pseudoacacia played a large role in obtaining a good income from the sale of intermediate cutting wood and economic effects. The obtained results may be important in the context of indicating alternative directions for reclamation and afforestation of post-mining areas, e.g., for plantation purposes.