Forest sites classification - remarks concerning the role of soil in the rules of forest site diagnosis

The study deals with the criteria of forest site classification in forest planning taking special consideration of the significance of soils in forest site mapping. The analysis embraced two documents: Site-based principles of silviculture 2004 and Instruction of forest management. Part II. Instruction of differentiating and mapping forest sites 2003. It was pointed out that the soil criteria adopted in these two documents are inconsistent and incomplete and make it impossible for the appraiser to clearly distinguish forest sites on the basis of soil properties.