The purpose of the paper is to report on the structure and the potential production of tree stands in the belt of dense forest in the locality of Pilsko, which were formed as a result of connecting natural processes with various methods of cuttings. In two stands single cutting harvesting was applied, corresponding to single tree selection cutting (Einzelplenterung in German). In the third stand there was cutting in the form of small gaps which corresponds to mountain selection cutting (Gebirgsplenterung in German). In the control period (1998-2008) the stand volume on two plots, Pilsko 1 and Pilsko 3 increased from 448 to 479 m3/ha and from 237 to 298 m3/ha respectively, however, in Pilsko 2 the stand volume decreased slightly from 401 to 397 m3/ha. The increase in the volume of the stand reached from almost 5 m3/ha in Pilsko 2 to approximately 8 m3/ha per year in the other plots. The stability of the stand is ensured mainly by the presence of trees in the thinnest classes in the lower and medium layer of the stand as well as the continuous process of regeneration. In this context the stand in which cuttings were taken in the past, characteristic of mountain selection, exhibited more beneficial features. All the researched stands exhibited great differences in the age of trees which enabled them to be classified as uneven-aged stands. The age at the breast height diameter of the oldest drilled spruce was 344 years and frequently the encountered specimens of this variety are of the age of 223 and 276 years. The uneven-aged structure of the stands, however, does not simultaneously ensure a complex and stable structure. In order to form, or to maintain, stable upper mountain spruces, which are under partial active protection (outside reservations with total protection) mountain selection cutting, or cutting by a method of group selection, should be recommended. These methods of cuttings ensure the variations within the structure of the stands, which minimises the risk of large-area disintegration.
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