A voice for the environment
Ciprian Dumitru Muscă A voice for the environment — life sciences, economics and public policy, written from the field
Projects

ASFOR

The Romanian Foresters’ Association — positions, amendments and dialogue with public institutions.

Ciprian Dumitru Muscă shaking hands with young foresters in green vests and protective gear, in front of a green tent
With the young foresters. A strong profession renews itself constantly, but never loses its roots.

Deep Roots, Ideas for the Future

The forest is not a seasonal resource. It is a profession with deep roots, a strategic national infrastructure, and the only resource that, at one and the same time, stores carbon, replaces concrete and steel, and supplies renewable energy.

The voice of forest professionals

ASFOR (Asociația Forestierilor din România — the Romanian Foresters’ Association) is the voice of professionals in forestry, timber harvesting and wood processing. We are the organization that defends the legitimate interests of those who work in the forest and along the wood value chain, while also taking responsibility toward the generations to come. We are not asking for privileges. We are asking for stability, predictability, genuine dialogue, and recognition of the fact that a healthy forest is built through active management, not through abandonment.

Ciprian Dumitru Muscă speaking into a microphone among forestry competitors wearing numbered vests and protective helmets, at a professional contestLarge group of foresters in orange vests on a path through a broadleaf forest
The people of the profession: at a foresters’ competition and out in the field, in the forest.

From harvesting to a smart bioeconomy

Our vision is clear: moving from mere harvesting to a smart bioeconomy. Wood must be put to its highest-value uses — in construction (CLT, glulam), in long-lived products, in efficient energy. The forest must be managed digitally (SUMAL, LiDAR, traceability), with modern machinery and well-trained people.

Construction site with curved glued laminated timber (glulam) beams and a worker in a hard hat and high-visibility vestModern yellow forestry tractor on display at an outdoor fair, with mountains in the background
Wood in construction, with glued laminated timber beams, and modern harvesting machinery.

Forestry education remains the foundation: young people must learn “to cut without breaking the thread, to measure without lying, to harvest without emptying”. A strong profession renews itself constantly, but never loses its roots.

Ciprian Dumitru Muscă with award-winning children holding framed diplomas and ASFOR bags, at the Treasures of Călimani painting contestChildren and adults planting larch seedlings, bent over the soil
Treasures of Călimani, the children’s painting contest, and larch planting in the Călimani communities.

Our priorities

Our priorities are non-negotiable:

  • energy security for Romania’s villages (including through more efficient use of firewood);
  • real, accessible funding for modernization and regeneration;
  • mandatory consultation of professionals before any legislation concerning the forest;
  • recognition of wood as a strategic material at the European level, not as a footnote to climate policy.
Stacks of logs and piles of branches left after harvesting, at the edge of a spruce forest
Wood and harvesting residues: a renewable energy source for Romanian villages, if used efficiently.

At the decision-making table

ASFOR sits at the table of social dialogue, alongside our partners in the employers’ confederation, because the voice of the forest sector must be heard where decisions are made. We are members of the relevant European organizations, and in Brussels as well as at home we advocate for smart simplification, not for red tape that holds back operators who play by the rules.

Ciprian Dumitru Muscă in Brussels, in front of the European Parliament buildingASFOR members around a long table in a bright room, at the December 2025 meeting
In Brussels, in front of the European Parliament. The meeting of ASFOR members on December 12, 2025.

Deep roots

The forest is in no hurry, but it knows where it is going. We, who look after it, must know too. The dignity of the profession, unity and professionalism are the conditions for Romania to turn its more than 7 million hectares of forest into a real engine of rural prosperity and climate security.

This is ASFOR: deep roots, ideas for the future, and responsibility toward both the forest and the people.

Dr. ing. ec. Ciprian Dumitru Muscă
President of ASFOR

Learn more about the association at asfor.ro.

From the journal: ASFOR