The article summarizes basic information about the conditions of forest seed management and nursery management in the Czech Republic. Given the fluctuating year-to-year development, it is problematic to predict the future trends in these fields. The source materials included data from the Reports on Forest Management of the Czech Republic supplemented with data obtained from the Forest Management Institute and the Czech Statistical Office, from an anonymous questionnaire survey into nursery operations, and technical literature dealing with the issue. First, the current state analysis was carried out. Subsequently, the further development was estimated based on synthesis principles. The main problems of forest seed production appear to be a decrease in the production of seed material and, consequently, a decrease in the quantity of seed stock. Areas with the least quality seed sources expanded. Forest nursery has long been struggling with the fact that there is no assured outlet for the cultivated planting stock before its cultivation. There were no plant production increases though unstocked areas expanded, but without an overall increase in recovery areas. From the perspective of their historical development, forest seed production and nursery practice are perceived as a part of forestry and the basis of forest protection and regeneration. Nursery practice has a number of problems – there is a lack of conceptual outlook for planting stock needs for forest regeneration, and the emphasis on economic efficiency is increasing. Companies face uncertainty using seedlings grown in the market. The article aims to evaluate the current problems of forest seed production and nursery practice, forest regeneration, and also inform about the possible development of these fields. The paper collects and evaluates data from the Ministry of Agriculture, the Czech Statistical Office (CZSO), the Forest Management Institute (FMI), and the data of the questionnaire survey of entities operating in the field of forest nursery. The addressed subjects cover the development of nursery areas, seedling production, development of sources and supplies of forest tree seeds, and development of areas of clearings. The research methods were analysis and synthesis of quantitative data from the official statistics on forestry. Additional data were collected from a questionnaire survey of entities doing business in the field of forest nursery. The findings confirmed or rejected the specified hypotheses: H 1: The amount of forest tree seed stocks is decreasing. The areas of the least quality reproductive material sources have been increasing; H 2: A rise in the production of seedlings is not conditioned by the growth of the area of forest nurseries; H 3: The final market price of forest tree planting material does not increase; H 4: Despite the increase in the area of clearings, there is almost no increase in the forest regeneration areas; H 5: The technical equipment of forest nurseries is becoming obsolete. Since 2007, there has been an increase in the identified sources of all commercial species (Fig. 3.) The use of the reproductive material sources for seed collection is shown in Tab. 1. The development of stocks of seeds and seed raw material is shown in Tab. 2. Seed stocks have not been replenished due to the harvest failures of recent years. Since 2013, the total area of forest nurseries has been increasing (Tab. 3), except for 2017 and 2018. The year 2018 showed a significant increase in the area of greenhouses and foil greenhouses. The reason was a change in the cultivation technology in favour of production of container-grown and balled plants. Fluctuations in the market price of forest tree planting material are shown in Tab. 5. There has been an obvious increase in the seedling prices in comparison with the initial level. The development of the regenerated areas is visible in Fig. 1. The gradual increase in the clearing areas is evident from Tab. 6; only in 2018, the increase leapfrogged by almost 10 thousand hectares. Forest nurseries with a larger production area have older technical equipment (Fig. 6). The influence of the growing area of a forest nursery on the amount of annual production of seedlings is shown in Fig. 7. The distribution of seedling production costs is shown in Tab. 8; the largest part of the costs is wage costs. The area of selected sources decreased and the area of identified sources increased. The decline in the production results in seed stock losses. With the increase in the production of seedlings, there is no increase in the production area of forest nurseries. The development of prices compared to the initial state has an increasing trend. There is significant deforestation of vegetation. Despite the long announced increased share of logging, there is no increase in the forest regeneration areas. The oldest technical equipment is in the forest nurseries with the production area of 5–20 ha. It is obvious from Table 7 that the technical equipment of nurseries is not obsolete. © 2020. All Rights Reserved.
