This article describes how the first forest maps in the Congress Kingdom of Poland were prepared and used. The source materials include the decisions of the governing authorities, special instructions for the forest surveyors, and original letters and reports related to the implementation of particular regulations. The principal cartographic materials consist of 22 surviving forestry area maps contained in the collections of the Central Archives of Historical Records in Warsaw. The following elements were studied: title text of the maps, their mathematical foundations, the scope of their content, their graphics and supplementary tables. The principles of forest cartography, as clearly set out in the documents, were implemented effectively in practice. Great credit for this goes to the chief organiser of the whole operation, Ludwik Plater, the general director of the State Forests. Thanks to his efforts, the Polish forestry system already had valuable thematic maps at its disposal in the 1810s. Together, they probably covered the entire area of the Kingdom. In the creation of the maps, a variety of Prussian and Austrian cartographic materials from the beginning of the 19th century was applied. The scale of the analysed maps was around 1:66 700. They were not required to meet high standards of geometrical accuracy – they were made hurriedly, during tours of forestry administrative areas. The rules for their editing were stated somewhat perfunctorily in the instructions, and consequently there were certain differences between maps in terms of content and graphical appearance. The main element of the maps’ content was the extent of the state forests and their division into regions and subregions. A significant novelty was the use of a uniform green colour to denote forest – previously pictorial symbols in the shape of trees had frequently been used. Another important element was the marking of the boundaries of areas of forest designated for felling. These were drawn every year in red. Other objects shown included foresters’ lodges, certain rivers, roads, and neighbouring villages and towns. The contemporary importance of these maps is variable, and depends primarily on the range of content given in the tables. Some of the maps dated 1818 contain only information on the assignment of forests to administrative areas or regions, and their surface areas. Maps from 1816−1817 also contain, among other things, information about tree species and forest types. In short, there is no doubt that ‘Plater’s cartography' was a short, but important, stage in the development of the forest cartography.
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