Introduction

Abstract

The history of forest inventories goes back to the end of the Middle Ages when intensive use of forest resources first led to wood shortages which, in turn, forced users to begin forest planning, particularly near towns and mines (Loetsch and Haller 1973; Gabler and Schadauer 2007). The first information collected for these purposes was from assessments of forest area and crude estimates of growing stock.

As a noun, the word ‘inventory’ refers to a detailed list of articles according to their properties, and as a verb the word refers to the process of constructing the list. Thus, forest inventory refers to both the tabulated forest information and to the process of measuring and analysing the data on which the tabulated information is based. Further, the tabulated information generally includes estimates for trees, tree properties and forests, often on the basis of areal units (Loetsch and Haller 1973; Loetsch et al. 1973; Davis et al. 2001) and is regarded as reliable and adequate for its intended purposes.

The first inventories were often local with the aim of assessing the available timber resources for specific purposes and were often conducted by the timber users, for example companies (Loetsch and Haller 1973; Loetsch et al. 1973; Davis et al. 2001). It soon became obvious that such inventories could not easily be used to compile national level forest information for purposes of formulating national forest policy; thus, National Forest Inventories (NFIs) were initiated.

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