Forest Cover Change and Secondary Forest Succession Since 1977 in Budzów Commune, the Polish Carpathians

Abstract

One of the most widespread land cover change processes in European countries is the increase in forest cover. Forest expansion on abandoned agricultural land has played a major role in marginal mountain areas since World War II, and especially affected the post-socialist countries in Central and Eastern Europe. This study aimed at mapping forest cover change and forest succession in one of the communes of the Polish Carpathians ( Budzow ) over two time periods : 1977 – 1997 and 1997 – 2009. We identified rates of agricultural land abandonment and forest succession and assessed the dynamics of the process using aerial photographs, orthophotomaps as well as cadastral and census data. The results showed that Budzow commune experienced an expansion of forest cover from 40% in 1977 to almost 45% in 2009, and a significant increase in forest succession from 1% in 1997 to 10% in 2009, at the expense of agricultural land area ( 54% in 1977 and 40% in 2009 ). If the trend is widespread over the Polish Carpathians, the real forest cover may be much higher than follows from statistical data.