An Approach to Assessment of Naturalness for Forest Stands in Lithuania

Forest policies are developing towards achieving higher ecological and nature protection standards. European COST action E27 "Protected forest areas in Europe - analysis and harmonisation (PROFOR)" highlights the need of more precise assessment of forest naturalness on a national level. In this paper official existing classifications related to forest naturalness in Lithuania are discussed and the shortcomings of such classifications are highlighted. We presented an analysis of the existing situation and also proposed six definitions of different forest naturalness classes with their describing criteria.