The study presents results from gravimetric measurements of snow cover in a spruce stand and on an extensive clearcut of 20 ha. The investigation has been made on research plots in the Orlické hory Mts at an altitude of 900 m, on a slope with the WSW aspect, and the presented contribution includes assessments of winter periods from 1976/1977 to 1988/1989 with the main data being summarized in Tables 1, 2 and 3. In terms of balanced winter runoff, coniferous stands appear much more efficient than clearcut areas in montane altitudes. As compared with spruce forests there is a greater potential danger of high waters on clearcuts induced by salvage felling due to larger snow reserve and greater intensity of snow-melt (by 15-30%). However, the danger does not necessarily have to be relevant even immediately after felling induced by air pollution provided that the character of local forest soils has been preserved, their favourable retention and retardation capacity in particular. In the given case there were maximum daily totals of water from the melting snow of up to 50 mm that could be transformed into damage-free underground runoff.