ROMANIAN MOUNTAIN COMMONS PROJECT

Bio-physical characteristics of the resources: Most commons, 60% have a few separated plots of land and 40% have a rather compact surface. 63% of the commons have predominantly forests deciduous species, 26% have predominantly coniferous forests, and 11% have mixed forests. Concerning age of forests, 57% have mostly old forest, above 80 years, while 40% have forest aged below 80. The average annual allowable quota for harvesting is 1850 mc/commons. 66% of the forests in the commons are easy to access by existing roads. 39% of the commons own areas included in various forms of protection, Natura 2000 sites, and mostly national parks.

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In 2016, we interviewed representatives of 40 commons in the county of Hunedoara (one quarter of all commons in the county). From these, 67% had lawsuits regarding land restitution, and 20% have large amounts of land that were claimed but could not be regained. In 30% of the Hunedoara commons, many rightful descendants could not be found, and 15% of commons at the time of research still use the old members registers (from before 1948), as they did not draw up new ones.