Forest owners in Slovenia propose that picking mushrooms and other forest fruits should no longer be free, and those who engage in this activity would need to purchase a special “vignette,” writes the Ljubljana daily Dnevnik on Saturday.
The introduction of a fee for picking mushrooms, blueberries, and other forest fruits through proposed systematic amendments to the forest law was suggested by the association of forest owners. The owners claim that their forest wealth is being “plundered.” Although the daily quantity of picked fruits is regulated by law, practice shows that it is not a recreational activity but a commercial one, especially when it comes to mushrooms that can be profitable.
The idea of “mushroom vignettes” is also supported by the director of the state Forest Service, Ivo Trošt, who believes that a permit costing ten euros would not be a problem. However, some forest owners believe it is better for mushrooms to be picked for free than for the state to collect a fee, the paper reports.
An attempt to transfer the rights to hunt game in Slovenian forests from hunting associations to forest owners failed a few years ago due to strong opposition, although the initiators cited legal arguments that forest management in almost all EU countries is tied to property rights, Dnevnik notes.
‘Mushroom vignettes’ priced at 45 euros were introduced a few years ago by a municipality in neighboring Austrian Carinthia, but the fee was soon abolished due to public dissatisfaction, and the vignettes were retained only as a means of recording the number of mushroom pickers.
