Integrated forest protection
Authors: Tabaković-Tošić Mara 
Published: April 2024

In forestry science and profession, continuous efforts are being made to implement forest protection, the most perfect, most efficient and most complex dynamic systems of interconnected and inextricably linked parts of living and non-living nature, against all harmful abiotic and biotic factors, integrally and in an organized manner. Integral forest protection implies versatile and maximum, continuous, application of protective measures in order to ensure unhindered growth and growth of trees, and the creation of the highest quality wood volume. The dangers that threaten mature forest trees are numerous. Maintaining the vitality of forest plant species, from seedlings to trees of different age classes, is a long-term process during which they can be exposed for a longer or shorter time, to harmful biotic or abiotic factors, which sometimes cause long-term pathological processes, with unforeseeable environmental and economic consequences. Their sources lie, on the one hand, in the ecosystem itself, and on the other, in the activities of man, who consciously or unconsciously stimulates them. Any intervention in natural forests must take into account that they are regulated communities of the living beings and that the laws of its maintenance and renewal must be respected, if its regulatory mechanisms are not to be disrupted. Integral forest protection, as well as its most important part related to integrated pest management (IPM), requires a conceptual approach to knowing the complexity of forest ecosystems and the role of man in maintaining their good health and vitality. Integral protection must be used in a broad context, as a set of all available activities that prevent economic damage, with as little disturbance of biocenotic balance, as little environmental pollution and as low costs as possible, that is, as much economy as possible. This implies the unification of numerous activities, aimed at eliminating the causes of damage and preserving their stability, and through a strategy of protection against all adverse factors, not just the currently most aggressive. Prevention in IPM, requires an ecological approach to problems in the forestry business. The protection of natural and anthropogenic stands should be based primarily on preventive measures. Prevention in IPM is an ecological approach to problems in the forestry business. In order to decide on the necessity of applying repressive measures, it is necessary to determine, for each species and area, specific harmfulness thresholds, as well as risk assessment, which usually includes characterization of biological control means, definition of possible ecological and health risk and efficiency. The application of pesticides in forests has always been the subject of, sometimes very heated, discussion by the scientific and professional public. The main controversy was over whether natural enemies are powerful enough to keep a certain type of harmful organism in natural numbers, that is, below the threshold of harmfulness. Management of pesticides and their use in the fight against the most economically important forest pests, includes a detailed analysis of the benefits and risks of this method of IPM. Pesticides are used only when this is the only solution, to prevent the occurrence of absolutely unacceptable damage. The use of pesticides cannot be justified if the costs of control, or potential damage to the environment, are greater than the estimated loss of wood mass. Therefore, monitoring, whose task is to detect harmful organisms and assess the infestation of forest ecosystems, should be part of the overall forest management plan. Long-term monitoring of individual species and taking appropriate forestry measures reduce or eliminate the need for repressive pesticide control measures.