Results
Since the previous measurements, the forest area in the Netherlands has increased slightly to 373,480 hectares and now accounts for 11% of the land use. More than three quarters of the forested area qualifies as high forest (even-aged and uneven-aged). The rest consists of special forest and other plantings.
Part of the forested area could not be included in the inventory (6% of the sampling points) because access was denied or the location was inaccessible. Ownership conditions have hardly changed since the MFV
Despite the increase in clearcut areas (1.4% compared with 0.3% in MFV) the Dutch forest is getting older, more mixed and slightly more uneven-aged. The average stock of living and dead wood continues to increase. The average increment has declined slightly while felling levels have remained more or less the same.
There has been a clear shift from conifer to broad-leaved species. Roughly two thirds of the annual estimated felling of 1.3 million cubic metres of wood comes from conifer forests and one third from broad-leaved forests. On the other hand, broad-leaved species account for around 75-80% of the regeneration. As a result, the percentage of conifers is gradually declining in terms of surface area, stock and increment. The ratio of conifer to broad-leaved species is now more or less equal, with the Scots pine as the main conifer species and the oak as the main broad-leaved species. Poplars are rapidly losing ground. A striking result is that there has been no felling in 43% of the permanent sampling plots since the MFV.