Dobročský Primeval Forest has been studied for many decades. Photo: Z. Vlach

Slovak primeval forests have long enjoyed a high reputation across European forestry circles. Perhaps the best known among them is the Dobročský Primeval Forest, where generations of outstanding forestry scientists have studied complex patterns of climax forests. Amongothers Prof. Š. Korpeľ and Prof. H. Leibundgut must be named because of their revolutionary studies on virgin forests and the utilisation of discovered growth patterns in silviculture.

Primeval forest growing atop Poľana, a former volcano. Photo: Š. Macko

Other famous primeval forests are Badín, Stužica and Vihorlat to name just a few of them. They consist of stands either dominated by beech trees, or their tree species composition includes also fir and spruce thus creating the ”Carpathian mixture”. Primeval forests often show a very conspicuous vertical and diameter differentiation. It is conditioned by the mutual shift of fir and beech generations, as the fir lives 350 to 400 years, while beech trees only 210 to 230 years. Consequently, 1,7 generations of the beech, Fagus silvatica, rotate during the existence of only one generation of fir. Fir, Abies alba, is usually suppressed by beech trees in the initial stage of its growth. When they die away, firs usually accelerate their growth and increase their proportion of the total trees volume over the unit area. The tree volume of once the largest fir in the Dobročský Primeval Forest was around 50 m³ and its height was 56 m. It was broken by wind during a storm in 1964.

Stužica is a primeval forest in a remote area close to the borderline between Slovakia and Ukraine. Photo: Z. Vlach

A well-balanced mosaic of sectors representing all growth stages can be recognised in primeval forests: the phase of growing up, the optimum phase and the phase of disintegration. Such a balanced texture is an unmistakable feature of primeval forests growing in natural conditions characteristic of the Slovak territory. A primeval forest includes trees of different species, age, volume and height. This feature is called ”structure”.

Another type of primeval forest in Slovakia is represented by stands being protected in reservations Kašivárová and Lesná. Kašivárová primeval forest, whose standing volume amounts up to 724 m ³ per ha, features two storeys. The upper storey is established almost exclusively by oak, Quercus petraea. The outstanding feature of Kašivárová oaks is their stems’ quality. They reach on average 30 m, whereby trunks are clear of secondary branches up to some 15 m above the ground.

Kašivárová, along with additional 73 natural reservations, where the remains of primeval forests on the Slovak territory are under governmental protection, play an important role in the modern society. Besides their scientific value they offer a lot of esthetical enjoyment. Primeval forests may well be regarded as the memory of our planet which contains a concentrated and highly organised information. Now, when the civilisation is in for possible climatic changes, the research on adaptation strategies of tree communities may as well contribute to the survival of forests - and mankind - in the 3^rd millennium.

To have a peek into the world of Slovak primeval forests click here.

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