Socio-economic status inventory and its reflection on forest management plans

In this study, it was sought to find solutions about how the data regarding forest-public relations would be formed, how it would be evaluated and where they would be used in the planning works in the framework of socio-economic status inventory (SESI) in the Ecosystem Based Functional Plans which was put into practice in 2008. Moreover, the possibility of making forest management plan suitable for multi-purpose utilization and participation as sustainable forest management (SFM) was also discussed and some recommendations were made. Drahna Forest Sub-district Directorate was selected as the study area because of the following reasons; it is adjacent to the Küre Mountains National Park, the forest and forestry works are intensively carried out, the local people best represents the forest villagers, there is a high migration rate, it is easy to access the required data since the area is near Bartın province. As the material of the study were utilized a house-holders directed questionnaire of 75 questions, forest management plans of the forest sub-district directorate for 1967-1986, 1986-2005 and 2006-2025 and stand type maps, criminal records books, deforestation, occupation and utilization record books, road system plan and maps. Moreover, a literature review was made and the opinions and suggestions of public institutions and organizations, NGO's and experts were also taken into consideration. The data from the questionnaires were coded in SPSS edition 22 and Kolmogorov Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk-W Tests were used for the control of normal distribution. Kruskal-Wallis H, Mann-Whitney U and Dunn Tests for multiple comparisons, Correlation Analysis for determining the degree and direction of bilateral relations and Factor Analysis for determining the directorate's aims and the forest functions with a participatory approach were used. The analysis results showed that the demographic factors which affect the differentiation between the villages and the participants' points of view towards the forest resources, and their relationships, demands and suggestions are the population in the households, gender, age, educational and social security status. The economic factors are monthly expenses, main and secondary income sources, animal existences, land quantities, housing types, heating-cooking resources and annually consumed wood. According to the factor analysis, 3 main forest functions arise as the production of forest products, natural protection, ecotourism and recreation. In the general area of planning unit were presented the spatial changes that occurred depending on the time within the administrative boundaries and 3 affected areas formed in the distances of 250, 500 and 1.000m to the residential areas in 1967. The number of forest crimes and illegal forest assets of villages were examined as m3 and deforestation and occupation crimes were examined as m2. While the amount of allowable cut in the planning period 1967-1985 was 22.185m3, it decreased 37% to 13.884 m3 for the period 1986-2005; the population in 1985 was 5.061 and went down 32% and became 3.419 in the following planning period. The amount of open space area without trees decreased 227,6 ha and normal closed forest land increased in 2.522,97 ha while spaced closed forest land decreased 2.295,33 ha. Of the affected areas where the social pressure was analyzed, the open spaces in 250 and 251-500 m regions increased 24,26 and 25,31 ha respectively. According to the registered results, the villages of high potential of crimes are respectively Dereli, Gökpınar and Köklü. Dereli, Düzköy and Alıçlı are the villages that should be respectively worthy of notice in terms of deforestation, occupation and utilization. In all planning terms, 70% of the illegal forest assets are logs and 30% is wood. As a result of the study, the socio-economic statuses of the villagers were determined and their points of view towards forest and forest resources and the relationship between forest establishment and villagers were revealed explicitly in many ways. The forest villagers were involved in the participation process and the management aims and functions were determined.