The Contribution of Forests from Counties Located in Romania’s West Plain to The Area’s Long Lasting Development

The present paper reunites in an objective synthesis data from forest management plans realized in the West Plain during 1995-2008. The study focused on stands situated around cities and in their construction perimeter in order to emphasise their contribution to the area’s long lasting development. The paper’s importance derives from the fact that urban areas are in a continuous development that will incorporate heavily nearby forests. As such, through their functions, forests contribute to the long lasting development of the entire metropolitan area to which they belong. All forests from the West Plain were divided in stand elements (species of a certain age that belong to a forest’s composition). The study has taken into account all stand elements from the area that belongs to the forest category from around cities. The large number of these stand elements (2107) offers a solid base for the different realized analyses. The paper’s results show that from the entire surface of forests with recreation functions located in the West Plain, 4.670 ha are occupied by Forests from around counties, cities and villages as well as forests located in their construction perimeter. The most widespread species from this type of stand is pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.), which occupies 2072 ha. Forests from around cities from the West Plain are situated at altitudes between 80 and 400 m. The soils are predominantly common alvisol, while Arum-Pulmonaria is the most widespread flora. In the context of the long lasting development of urban areas with implications on nearby forests, the results and discussions of this article represent a first step towards knowing these forests and towards properly managing them in order to successfully fulfil their protection and recreational purposes