The Ministry of Climate and the Environment adds that Paulina Hennig-Kloska “personally thanked Witold Koss for one and a half year management of the work of the General Directorate of State Forests.” The spokesman for the Ministry Marek Pogorzelski said that the name of Koss's successor would be given in the near future.
The decision to dismiss Koss ends his and a half period of managing the State Forests. As a general director, he replaced the previous boss, Józef Kubica, after the recommendation of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who planned a number of changes in forest management, including increasing social control over the activities of the institution. During his term of office, Koss was accompanied by three deputies: Jerzy Fijas, Marcin Polak and Bogdan Jaroszewicz, responsible for various aspects of forest management.
The takeover of the duties of the head of LP by Koss was associated with the announcements of the introduction of new rules regarding the functioning of the State Forests. Hennig-Kloska emphasized in January 2024 that The changes are aimed at taking into account the social and environmental functions of forests, and the transparency of activities was to significantly increase.
Forest moratorium and greater protection of forest areas
During the term of office of Witold Koss, the so -called forest moratorium, covering suspending or limiting tree felling at approx. 1.3 percent forests managed by LP. Although it was to apply for a short time, the ministry decided to extend it in September of the same year. The introduction of such regulations aroused mixed reactions – part of the wood industry and the opposition expressed an objection, and ecological organizations considered insufficient activities. According to the government coalition agreement, as much as 20 percent. Polish forests were to be excluded from obtaining wood, but the implementation of this goal encountered resistance.
During the November nationwide meeting about the forests, a proposal was presented with a greater protection of 17 percent. areas managed by LP. The plan divides the areas into two categories: those covered by full protection (7.9 percent of forests) and those on which a modified forest management would be conducted (9.1 percent).
Changes in the wood sales system
During the term of office of Witold Koss in 2024, changes in the wooden sales system were introduced for 2025-2026. According to the climate ministry, the new system would strengthen local entrepreneurs and contribute to limiting wood exports outside the EU. Introduced, among others Geography criterion promoting the development plants closer to the purchase site, the price criterion was reduced in tenders, increasing the importance of processing wood and its depth, as well as geography. Companies can also place orders for 75 percent. What they bought earlier and wood is sold twice a year, not three. Entrepreneurs buying wood must agree to a possible audit of foresters and checking if the declared processing has a place.
LP representatives, however, pointed out that Without deep system changes, including acts, it is impossible to significantly limit wood exports. That is why they proposed, among others a change in the act on the preservation of the national nature of the country's natural resources, according to which a ban on wood exports outside the EU would be introduced for three years.
In May this year The then Minister of Development Krzysztof Paszyk announced that the ministry is working on an act that would have, among others define wood as a raw material of strategic importance for the Polish economy, limit its exports and support local processing. Until now, however, the project has not been published in this matter.
See also: The State Forests want to put windmills in … forest. Residents are protesting
Career of Witold Koss
Witold Koss was born in 1962. He is a graduate of the Technical Secondary School of Forestry in Tuchola. After graduating from the Faculty of Forestry of the Agricultural University of Poznań, he worked in the Dębno Forest District. In the years 1996–1999 he was the director of the Wood Industry Department. In 1999 he moved to the Bogdaniec Forest District, where he was a supervision engineer and then a deputy forest inspectorate.
From 2008 he was the head of the Regional Directorate of State Forests in Szczecin. After leaving the management in 2015, he was a forest inspectorate in the Skwierzyna Forest District.
