The current state of non-forest land in the Czech Republic and Slovakia – forest cover estimates based on the national inventory data

We present the state and the development of forests on non-forest land in the area of the Czech Republic (CZ) and Slovakia (SK). The forests have a different origin, and are currently outside the interest of forest management, nor the whole forestry related legislation is applicable to them. The national forest inventory (NFI) was performed in CZ in the years 2001–2004 and 2011–2014, while in SK in the years 2005–2006 and 2015–2016. The NFI sampling was applied to all forests, i.e. to those growing on both forest and non-forest land. According to the NFI data, the current proportion of forests on non-forest land was not negligible, since in CZ it reached almost 10%, and in SK even more, 13%. While in CZ they were more evenly spatially distributed, in SK they occurred mainly in the central and eastern parts. Broadleaved tree species accounted for approximately two thirds of their growing stock. Their tree species composition was more diverse than the one on forest land. Carbon stock in tree (aboveground and belowground) biomass of forests on non-forest land was 28.5 ±1.6 million tons in CZ and 20.3 ±2.9 million tons in SK, which represented 7.7 ±0.4% and 7.7 ±1.1% of the total tree biomass in CZ and SK, respectively. Hence, it is important to take the forests on non-forest land into account, to see their current state positively, to include them to other forests and to try to maximise the use of their functions by society.