216 THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF WORKING PLANS 



cent are managed as coppice; 3 per cent as coppice with 

 standards. 



Forest organization in Austria has reached a remarkable 

 state of perfection despite the exceedingly irregular conditions 

 as portrayed. The Austrian Kameraltaxe (Austrian formula — 

 see method Xo. 5) dates from 1788; in the Tyrol a volume 

 period method was in use in the sixteenth century. From these 

 early beginnings a systematic forest organization has been built 

 up and extended even to the most remote regions,* comprising 

 not only the state forests but also the large tracts privatel}' 

 owned. Practically half of the forested area of Austria is under 

 working plans. 



The salient features of Austrian working plans as contained 

 in the government code of 1901 f are as follows: 



Division of Area begins with the setting aside of protection 

 forest wherever necessary; it is usually divided from the lower 



* For example, the remote Bukovvina, lying between Russia and Rumania 



on the extreme eastern border of Austria, shows 73 per cent of its 1,113,970 acres 

 of forest covered by detailed working plans in perfect operation. When this 

 province was acquired by Austria in 1775 from Turkey it was largely — nearly 

 50 per cent of the total area — in trackless virgin forest. The first work of forest 

 organization, that of making provisional working plans, was completed in 1818. 

 .\bout 1850 the preparation of final working plans was begun on the basis of period 

 area method; failing of systematic revisions these soon became mere waste paper, 

 the more so since it was impossible, for lack of markets and of logging facilities, 

 to carrj' out the cuttings as planned. In 1875 a thorough reorganization of the 

 forest administration in the Bukowina was begun looking to the opening up of the 

 hitherto inaccessible timber resources. A section of forest organization (Ein- 

 richtungsabteilung) was created in the Bukowina district similar to that already 

 existing in all the other district offices of the empire. A thorough reconnaissance 

 (Durchforschung) was made and on this basis new provisional working plans 

 prepared, beginning, of course, with the more accessible forests. As the data 

 and utilization warranted it, these were transformed into regular plans with fre- 

 quent revisions, on the model of those prescribed for the rest of Austria. For the 

 development of working plans practice in the provinces of Bosnia and Herzego- 

 vina, see " Die forstlichen Verhaltnisse und Einrichtung Bosniena und der Her-. 

 zegovina," L. Dimitz, Vienna, 1905, briefed For. Quart., Vol. Ill, No. 2, pp. 

 143-150. 



t " Instruktion fiir die Begrenzung, Vermessung und Betriebseinrichtung 

 der Oesterreichischen Staats und Fondsforste," 3d edition, 1901. 



