The prevailing small scale of farming and the substantial resources of man power in rural areas have led to the dominance of field cultivation. The biggest share of forested areas is found in the western and north-western regions. There is a continuous forest complex extending from the Kaszuby Lake District to the western Sudets plateau. A similar situation is found in the Carpathians. A higher than average forest ratio is also found in the Suwal ki and the Mazury Lake Districts, as well as in some upland regions.
Pine trees represent the dominant species in the whole of the lowland part of Poland.
Only in the Carpathians and the Sudets, as well as in the uplands, the composition of forests, in terms of tree species is more differentiated. Transformation of land use and land management in the restructuring period The last few years have been characterized by a small but permanent diminution of the area of arable land. All the other categories of land use have been growing at the expense of arable land. Low quality farm land has in most cases been subject to afforestation. Field studies carried out in over a dozen selected communes indicate that the afforestation program was in the recent years hampered by insufficient financing.