Economic issues in the forest management planning

The approach to forest management has changed many times over the time. Forest receives increasingly a lesser extent as wood and wild game supplier. Social and protective functions of the forest have begun to play more and more essential role. Change in the perception of the forest functions entails the questions about the economic consequences of the forest management in an era of changing priorities. This paper aims to,compare approaches to the economic consequences of actions undertaken in the forestry in different periods. The evolution of the approach to the economic analysis can be traced. Analysis of historical publications allows to observe the changes, starting from 1820, when no special attention to the uniformity of drawing income from the forest was paid, through the interwar period, when attempts were made to maximize the profitability of forestry and through the World War II, when no analysis of economic rationality was taken, to the current situation, when more and more attention is paid to the economic consequence of changes in forest management priorities. Presented issues should be a contribution to the discussion on economic issues associated with conducting forest management especially in the context of the tasks included in the forest management plan. It must be noted that; despite the provisions in the instructions for the analysis of forest economic conditions, they often were not reflected in the management plans. Studies aimed at awareness raising and, consequently, the development of the synthetic parameters of an objective description and comparison of the economic conditions of forestry functioning both within the forest district and larger units seem to be necessary.