Analysis of the State and Causes of Changes in Forest Cover in the Central Federal District: Current Practice and Possible Solutions
Authors: Ермоленко А.А. 
Published: July 2024

Проанализировано состояние лесов в Центральном федеральном округе, динамика гибели и восстановления лесных насаждений, а также  фонда лесовосстановления. Приводится оценка последствий лесных пожаров на примере наиболее пострадавших в 2010 г. субъектов Центрального федерального округа. Подтверждена закономерность связи возникновения лесных пожаров с породным составом насаждений. На основе анализа нормативной базы предлагается внести поправки в Правила лесовосстановления и Правила ухода за лесами, позволяющие обеспечить повышение пожароустойчивости хвойных насаждений искусственного происхождения за счет проведения уходов и формирование смешанного насаждения ко времени отнесения лесных культур к землям, занятым лесными насаждениями.

The absence of legislative prohibitions on the formation of pure coniferous plantations in practice at the present time leads to unsatisfactory results, manifested in a significant number of forest fires that have occurred, the area they have passed, the risk of their transition to the upper and, as a result, forest destruction, leading to a decrease in the forest cover of the territory, as well as the imbalance between forest management and recovery.  Effective solution of the issues related to the creation of mixed sustainable forest cultures is impossible without changing the current procedure for planning reforestation measures and legislating the necessary requirements, since the current system is not focused on creating sustainable plantations, but on obtaining high-quality coniferous wood in the shortest possible time, which is not satisfies modern conditions. The strategy for the development of the forestry complex of the Russian Federation for the period until 2020 provides for the improvement of forest legislation, which should be aimed at creating a regulatory legal framework that ensures the transformation of the state into an effective owner of forests and the organization of sustainable forest management and forest management in accordance with national and international criteria and indicators sustainable forest management. The results of the analysis of published sources, as well as the current legislation, show that until now the method for the formation of fire-resistant plantations from coniferous monocultures of artificial origin by performing a certain sample of individual breeds in the implementation of thinning is largely not applied. The adopted normative legal acts do not establish specific requirements for increasing the fire resistance of coniferous plantations of artificial origin and the formation of a mixed plantation at the time when forest cultures are assigned to lands occupied by forest plantations. To improve the fire resistance of forests, reduce their natural fire hazard, measures should be taken to regulate the rock composition of the created coniferous monocultures of artificial origin by performing a certain sample of individual breeds during thinning operations. For this purpose, it is advisable to amend the Rules of reforestation, as well as the Rules for the care of forests with regard to the establishment of requirements for the composition of the plantation at the time when forest cultures are assigned to lands occupied by forest plantations. Implementation of the recommended requirements will not only reduce the damage caused by forest fires, but also ensure a balance between reforestation and forest management, thereby stabilizing and further increasing the forest cover of the territory. In addition, the proposed solutions are economically more preferable than the creation and annual maintenance of fire barriers for which large financial resources are spent.