Sep 20, 2005. /Lesprom Network/. The harmonization of the Bulgarian forestry legislation to the relevant EU laws has been fully completed, head of the National Forestry Board Iliya Simeonov told a news conference Monday within a two-day international partner working meeting on the project "Mountain Forest Network". Forest lands in Bulgaria total 4.064 million hectares. Out of the 3.886 million hectares of forest land managed by the National Forestry Board, 2.730 million hectares are lands with tree- and environment-making functions. Nearly 1.8 milllion hectares are protected and recreational forest lands. Structurally and in purely practical terms the forestry sector still needs certain legislative amendments that take into account the specific features of the various terrains and the various interests towards them, Mr. Simeonov said. About 5 million cubic meters of timber is currently produced annually from Bulgarian forests, which is nearly thrice lower than the forest growth. Taking a question, experts from the National Forestry Board said that an expert assessment is underway to determine the need to increase the lands put under anti-erosion forests. The experts said that the share of illegal logging is not such so as to create a danger for erosion. Attending the Sofia working meeting are representatives of forestry boards of seven countries: Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Slovakia, Macedonia. The aim of the forum is to present the state of the forestry sector in Bulgaria and discuss new models for developing and managing mountain forests in the countries that are partners in the project. The project is implemented under EU's INTERREG Programme.