Area-based nature protection and stand attributes for assessing economic impacts on forest owners

Forest conservation planning requires evidence of how administrative protection categories correspond to forest conditions. We linked three project-defined categories to 5 530 plots from the second Czech National Forest Inventory (2011–2015) and adjusted comparisons for stand age, forest vegetation zone, terrain and inventory year. The strong category showed a distinctive combination of attributes: greater broadleaf representation, more frequent standing deadwood and less frequent stump occurrence than both the reference and moderate categories. Adjusted standing-deadwood occurrence reached 31% in the strong category and 19% in the reference category. The directions of these contrasts persisted under alternative classification rules. Protection class explained little additional variation in live or total standing volume. Broadleaf-share differences varied among forest vegetation zones, and tree-diameter differences varied with age and zone. Recorded woody-taxon diversity showed a small difference that depended on the classification rule. Composition, tree dimensions and occurrence indicators therefore distinguished the categories more clearly than growing stock. These cross-sectional associations identify biological inputs for subsequent economic assessment of management restrictions on forest owners; monetary impacts were not quantified. Valuation requires species-specific timber quantities, management alternatives, prices and costs.