In Poland, private forests cover the area of 1,774,698 ha, which constitutes 19.2% of total forest area in the country. It is assumed that their actual share is much bigger, because about 300,000 ha of agricultural grounds covered with secondary succession forests, have not been classified as a forest grounds. In 2013, the complete and actual forest management documentation was prepared by 68.7% of private forests. The stand tending, especially commercial thinnings, cannot be legalized without mentioned documentation. What is more, the update of the Forest Data Bank was made according to the incomplete information on forest description and regulation of forest utilization. Nevertheless, private forests are an important ecological and economical element of Polish land use, and it is supposed that their importance will increase in the future. In Poland, there are some certain problems and expectations related to the private forests. The aim of the paper is to present selected aspects on private forests like their history, legal basis, and problems that occur during the preparation of documentation. The private forests have never been given proper consideration. The owners did not have an organized system of aid and consultancy. In 1991, existed separated legal basis were replaced by a common regulations for all types of the property of the forests. Poland’s accession to the EU caused the growth of expectations of private forests. Unfortunately, previous neglects, resulted mainly from the agricultural reform after 1944, weren’t eliminated, and their effects are still noticeable. Present legal basis is insufficient and sometimes imprecise. Another problem is the lack of supervision in case of the abridged forest management plan or forest inventory. Furthermore, the Forest Act does not precise who is to pay for preparing these documents. Also, the legal character of abridged forest management plan is often discussed. Private owners often treat forests as a source of financial profits by commercial thinnings or conversion of forest land into building land. Owners do not seem to be interested in the forest regeneration or forest tending as these are source of cost. Also non−productive servicing is not their goal. There is a need for elaboration of economical and legal solutions, which would make amends to private forest owners servicing some social or ecological functions. The supervisory authorities should get clear procedures related to the private forests.
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