A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1021 



changes, it may become necessary in due course to ask Parliament for additional 

 powers. 27 



GREECE 28 



Private owners control slightly more than one fifth of the forest 

 area of Greece. The forest code adopted in 1929 gives the state a 

 general right to supervise the administration and exploitation of 

 private forests. These must be handled in accordance with manage- 

 ment plans prepared by trained foresters and approved by the Minis- 

 ter of Agriculture upon recommendation of the Council of Forests, an 

 advisory body composed of Government officials, technical foresters, 

 and representatives of forest owners and industries. These plans 

 must be revised at least once every 10 years. Owners of small tracts 

 may form cooperatives for the protection, management, or exploita- 

 tion of their forests, and such cooperation may be required if one third 

 to one half of the owners in a given unit so request. 



Protection forests, to be classified by the forest service upon applica- 

 tion by local officials or interested parties, include forest, pasture, or 

 cultivable land on which the public interest requires that a forest 

 cover be maintained to protect the soil on slopes, to protect land lying 

 below from snow and earth slides and soil washing, to protect land 

 from floods, coastal erosion, or drifting sand, or to protect the shores of 

 lakes and streams, roads, railroads, habitations, monuments, and 

 historical spots. Any cutting in protection forests which denudes 

 the land or jeopardizes its continuous productivity is prohibited, and 

 the Minister of Agriculture, with approval of the council, may forbid 

 any cutting, cultivation, or grazing. In general, selective cutting is 

 allowed, after due notice, and in coppice forests small areas may be 

 clear cut. Cutting of trees around sacred, historical, or artistic sites 

 is prohibited, except as partial cutting may be authorized by the 

 Minister. Owners cannot be compelled to undertake improvement 

 works at their own expense, but if such work is deemed necessary and 

 the owners are unwilling to do it, the state may expropriate the land. 



With the approval of the local forestry commission and the Council 

 of Forests, the Department of Agriculture may classify land as in need 

 of reforestation or afforestation. This includes land with scanty or 

 no natural tree growth which should be forested for the reasons enu- 

 merated above, as well as land bordering highways and railroads. 

 Owners of large estates (over 3,000 stremma, or 300 hectares) may be 

 required to afforest up to 15 percent of their land, depending on its 

 character. The forest service furnishes seed and plants at low prices 

 for planting classified lands, and may do the planting in case an owner 

 refuses. In that case the owner is required to pay the same royalty 

 when timber is cut as though it were on a state forest. Clearing, cul- 

 tivation, or grazing of these lands is forbidden, except that a limited 

 amount of grazing may be permitted by the Minister of Agriculture. 



Owners may be required to construct and maintain firebreaks 

 around forests that are especially subject to fire, and owners of pine 

 forests may be required to adopt other preventive measures, such as 

 thinning or pruning the stands. Fires may not be built in or near 

 forests between May 1 and September 30 unless proper precautions are 

 taken. Cost of extinguishing fires on private land is to be collected 



" Tenth annual report of the forestry commissioners for the year ending Sept. 30, 1929, p. 30-31. 

 28 Loi No 4173 sur la sanction et modification du dcret-loi du mai 1929 "sur le code forestier , 17 jum 1929. 

 In Annuaire International de Legislation Agricole 1929. Internatl. Inst. Agr.. Rome, 1930. 



