The objective of the investigations was to determine the effects of different methods of soil preparation and utilization of logging residues on the aboveground biomass of pine seedlings in a three year old artificially established culture. The statistical analyses showed a strong influence of the soil preparation methods on the biomass. The ways in which the logging residues were utilized on different sample plots did not significantly affect the biomass. The interaction between different methods of soil preparation and utilization of logging residues did not prove significant, either. The highest biomass values were found on plots where elevated rows had been established with a plow and where the soil had been prepared by plowing with a PLZ-75 plow, regardless of the way the logging residues were utilized. The lowest biomass values were found on all plots where the soil had been handled with a forest soil cutter, regardless of the logging residue utilization method.

This paper presents a proposal for commercial measures aiming at protecting the Ergates faber (Linnaeus 1761). Ergates faber is a beetle species (Coleoptera) from the longhorn beetles’ family, Cerambycidae, and remained protected in Poland since 2001 following the Regulation of the Minister of the Environment of 26 th September 2001 (Journal of Laws 2001, no. 130, item 1456), while it was never listed in any exhibit to the Habitats Directive. In order to protect the Ergates faber in Poland it was necessary to draft a new set of principles for commercial forestry that would best facilitate the preservation of the species. The paper also indicates sites of this beetle’s occurrence never published before.

The paper presents results of the research carried out in beech stands of the Carpathian beech fertile complex (Dentario glandulosae-Fagetum) in the lower subalpine zone in the Bieszczady National Park. The objective of the presented study was to analyse changes of species composition in all developmental stand of the lowers stands in the period from 1993 to 2003/04. The obtained results are proof of high levels of stability of the stands in focus, which was confirmed by absence, at the beginning and at the end of the control period, of statistically significant changes in species composition of the old trees layer, undergrowth and natural seeding. Enduringly, the Carpathian beech stands are build by three specific forest-forming species to the Eastern Carpathian Mts.: beech, fir and sycamore.