In 2022, the health status of the field protective forest belts on the territory of the State Hunting Enterprise Balchik and State Forest Enterprises General Toshevo and Dobrich was monitored. The assessment of tree crown condition covered 7069.3 ha (66% of all field protective belts in Bulgaria). The results showed that 70% of monitored belts were in good condition, 23% - in moderate condition, and 7% - in poor condition. Since 2014 the area of the protective forest belts in poor condition has increased 2.6 times, and 76% of them were situated in Dobrudzha region. Ash belts – Fraxinus excelsior (66% of all belts) and Fraxinus americana (10%) were in the worst conditon. In ash belts a process of crown dieback, premature falling of leaves and drying of whole trees were observed. In individual ash belts, drying reached up to 80% of tree crowns, regardless of their age and origin. The drying was mostly due to the biotic factors – insect pests and fungal pathogens. The protective forest belts of Quercus cerris, Q. petraea, Q., rubra and Gleditschia triacanthos stand out as sustainable tree species. It is necessary to significantly upgrade the methodology by which the monitoring of the health status of trees in the field protective forest belts is currently carried out. In the new methodology a detailed description of the type of data that need to be collected, the methods of assessments, and data reporting formats, have to be included.

Protective forest belts, forest management, monitoring of health status, deterioration of ash belts, Dobrudzha