COMPARISON OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF MEASURES TO PROTECT YOUNG PLANTATIONS FROM DAMAGE CAUSED BY WILD BEASTS

Abstract

The effectiveness of fencing against game damage and its impact on the formation of young forest stands was investigated for forest plantations established in the period 2017-2021. To compare the effectiveness, plots fenced and plots protected with repellents were studied. The study was carried out in state forests located in the Plateliai, Plungė, Teneniai and Varniai Forest Districts of the Telšiai Regional Unit of the State Forests Enterprise. The degree of tree damage was assessed in 211 plots located in thirty plots. Fenced areas in state forests in the territory of the SFE Telšiai RU account for only a very small part of the protected plantations (6.75 %). The highest number of fenced areas was in 2017 (23.3 ha) and 2021 (21.1 ha), while in 2019 only 9.9 ha of plantations were fenced. The effectiveness of fencing as a measure to restrict the movement of game was found to be high when assessing fence damage, as the length of the damaged fence is only 0.42% of the total fence length. This shows that the fences are fulfilling their protective function. When examining the plant quantification (number of trees) in the fenced and repellent-protected areas, the ANOVA test was performed and the p-value was found to be > 0. 05, there was no statistically significant difference between the repellent-protected plots and the plots in the fenced areas. The percentage of severely damaged and dead trees was lower in the fenced areas (2.75 %) than in the repellent-protected areas (4.86 %). The fenced areas not only have a lower level of damage, but also protect a particularly valuable tree species, the oak tree, thus allowing the production of healthy stands that are not damaged by wild animals, thus enriching forest biodiversity.