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1 800 ha are obliged to employ graduates from the university of agriculture.

After a three-year practice they have to pass an examination under federal

supervision.

Professional training of forest workers is also regularly conducted and is carriedout by agricultural schools as well as by the training centres for farmers or forest

workers such as Ort. Presently there is a steady decrease of professional forest

workers due to increasing mechanization and a preference for less strenuous

professions. Today forest enterprises are forced to accomplish forest operations

by employing farmers as well as logging contractors, more and more.

SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF FORESTS

The most significant objectives of the Austrian Forest Act dealing with a

sustainable management of forests are the following four principles: production,protection, environment and recreation. The productive function guarantees the

supply of timber; the protective function should reduce dangers caused by

nature, harmful environmental influences and it should maintain soil

productivity; the environmental function of forests affects the environment,

especially the balance of climate and water regime as well as the purification

and renewal of air and water and the reduction of noise; recreational effects are a

very important aspect for the Austrian tourism industry.

FOREST GRANTS

Another article of the Austrian Forest Act deals with forest grants. The objective

is to conserve and improve all functions of forests concerning public interests. In

this case the federal government, as well as the provincial governments, issue

grants for the various treatments in forest stands. The grants are not for the

purpose of raising the income of forest owners, but primarily to improve forest

conditions.

Healthy forests, which are optimally adapted to climatic and soil conditions,

guarantee commercial and social benefits. Tree species have adapted to climaticand soil conditions in the process of evolution during thousands of years. Our

task is to ensure that the natural selection in adaptation will not be disturbed by

man. The Forest Act is also based on that necessity and it regulates the

requirements for seeds and plants used for afforestation and reafforestation in

Austria.

Forest research has assessed the growth conditions in the Austrian forests and

the results show the territorial distribution of tree species and their associations

in specially defined growing areas. Wherever natural regeneration cannotproduce seedlings, restocking with plants of selected origins is used in re- and

afforestation.