Forest recreation in annual balance sheet of a forest districts versus estimated recreational value of forests

The study was designed to determine current recreational value of the state forests in Poland from the viewpoint of their administrator (i.e. the State Forests National Forest Holding) and to compare this findings with the value estimated by other researchers. The research was conducted in 31% of all the forest districts administered by the State Forests. The survey was sent to these units by e−mail. It contained two questions about: (1) what part of the total annual expenditures of the forest district is connected with recreational development and use of forests, and (2) what part of the total annual revenues of the forest district is generated by recreational use of forests. Afterwards, the current recreational value of the State Forests was calculated. Budget related data come from the annual financial and operational statement of the State Forests. The findings show that operations linked with recreational use of forests in majority of the forest districts generate losses and only in some of them measurable financial gains are recorded. Costs linked to recreational use of forests are incurred by nearly all districts (97%), yet in the most cases they account for up to 3% of the total disbursements. Only 25% of the forest districts recorded revenues from this type of operations. The current recreational value of the State Forests in Poland is estimated to circa 8 USD/ha. Notably, this is a mean value for all national forests in Poland, yet not all of them are equally attractive to visitors. The relevant value for only urban and suburban forests equals 94 USD/ha, which is approximately 10% of the estimated value reported by other researchers. It can be assumed that the remaining part of the revenues generated by recreational function of forests represent earnings of local businesses (accommodation, catering, grocery shops, souvenirs, transport and other services). The present findings provide important information for the State Forest administrators and for the public. Forest administrators should seek the possibility to change above mentioned disadvantageous ratio to at least one of 3:7. Given this, a change in the national forest policy would be worth considering; a proposal for such transformation is presented