Methodology for recording and assessing FFH forest habitat types in the scope of the 3rd National Forest Inventory (NFI 2012)

Article 11 of the Habitats Directive mandates the implementation of nationwide monitoring, inter alia, of the conservation status of habitat types in the Member States. In Germany, the Federal Government/Länder Working Group on Nature Conservation, Landscape Management and Recreation (LANA) asked the Forest Directors' Conference (FCK) to supplement the National Forest Inventory with a methodology for recording and assessing prevalent forest habitat types for the national FFH report, thus making use of interdepartmental synergy effects. The scheme described herein presents a methodology for recording and assessing common or widespread FFH forest habitat types within the scope of the third National Forest Inventory (NFI 2012). It takes into account the requirements of the EU and the LANA-FCK paper of 2004. While the nationwide FFH monitoring and the National FFH Report provide for conclusions concerning the conservation status of each forest habitat type at the level of the biogeographic regions in Germany as a whole, they do not allow conclusions at the level of the Länder or with respect to even smaller subareas such as individual FFH areas. By implementing the scheme described here, the Länder can use the monitoring system in place for their contribution to the German FFH reporting obligation on forest habitat types. The methodology was adopted by the FCK and LANA and incorporated in the NFI procedure by the Federal Government and the Länder. The survey outcome was incorporated into the 2013 national FFH report. As a follow-up to the NFI 2012, the description of the methodology has been updated.