Historical outline

      The Department of Forest Management was finally established after the Second World War, formally in 1947, but until 1950, no full-time staff were employed and lectures were given by Z. Pohl M.Sc., eng. Director of the Direction of State Forests in Poznan.

      Effectively, the Department of Forest Management was established in 1950, i.e. when Boleslaw Zabielski PhD. the then assistant professor, was asked to act as the head and organise the unit. He immediately set out to employ young co-workers, developed a teaching program and drew a comprehensive, multifaceted research program, which focused mainly on the following problems: reconstruction of forest complexes and stands; stand volume, increment and structure; ways of forest management.

      The first assistants in the newly established Department included: Mr Janusz Bartolewski M.Sc., Mr Stanislaw Nowinski M.Sc., Mr Waclaw Sokolowski M.Sc., and Mr Kazimierz Urbanski M.Sc. Mr Nowinski moved to the then Higher Agricultural School in Wroclaw and his post was taken by Mr Jan Meixner M.Sc., eng. In 1953, Mr Urbanski moved to the Department of Special Forest Silviculture and the vacant post was taken over by Mr Edward Zolciak M.Sc., eng. Next Mr Bartolewski was sent to the Forest Experimental Station in Siemianice near Kepno where he was given the task of establishment and management of the Field Dendrometric-Management Station in Ustronie (as it was then called). As of the 1st of October 1955, Mr Konrad Magnuski M.Sc., eng. was employed in the Department at the position of an assistant. Simultaneously, Mr Bartolewski left the Department and moved to wood industry. In 1956 Mr Meixner moved to the Department of Dendometry and Mr Bohdan Wazynski M.Sc., eng. was engaged for the vacant post. Another personnel change occurred in 1962 when Mr Sokolowski became the Director of the University Main Library and Mr Ryszard Mis, M.Sc., eng. was engaged for the vacated position. This employment ended a long period of staff changes in the Department and a long period of personnel stabilisation of the research - teaching staff at the Department followed. After the employment in 1972 of still one more employee - Mr Jan Kukula M.Sc., eng. - to the post of an assistant, the Department team has, practically speaking, remained unchanged until today. New, young workers were employed only after prof B. Zabielski (1981) and prof. E. Zolciak (1988) retired (see: current List of Employees).

      Professor B. Zabielski was head of the Department for 20 year, i.e. until 1970 when Polish Universities were subjected to organisational changes and Departments were replaced by institutes. So Departments of Dendrometry, Forest Economy and Forest Management merged and the Institute of Organisation of Forest Economy was established. The institute system persisted until 1981 when the system of Departments was restored at the Faculty of Forestry. Professor dr. habil. Edward Zolciak was first the head of the Division of Forest Management, which operated within the structural framework of the institute and, after the restoration of the original university structure, he continued as head of the re-instated Department of Forest Management. From October 1984 until September 2001 the Department was administered by prof. dr habil. Konrad Magnuski. In October 2001 the helm of the Char was taken over by prof. dr. habil. Ryszard Mis.

      The Department has two field stations: the Experimental Station in Ustronie (the Forestry Experimental Station in Siemianice) and the Experimental Station in Zielonka (the Forestry Experimental Station in Murowana Goslina). The first of the two, for all practical purposes, ceased its operation after J. Bartolewski M.Sc., had left it and it had to be reinstated in 1958 by K. Magnuski M.Sc. who was sent there from the Department and who acted as its manager for nearly 18 years. The Station has been functioning ever since, thanks to the financial support of the Experimental Station in Siemianice. The Zielonka Experimental Station was established in 1964 and, for a number of years, it carried out a specific range of Department experiments. However, in recent years, due to financial problems, no separate employee has been employed there and all the research has been carried out in the result of short-term visits of research workers or undergraduate students.