Economic Availability of Forest Resources in Russia: An Analytical Assessment

The topic of the availability of forest resources is especially relevant for Russia, given the volume of the existing potential of these resources, distributed over a huge area of the country. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the possibilities of using the economic availability of forest resources in the practice of forestry in the Russian Federation. The article presents an analysis of the application of tools based on the economic availability of forest resources. It presents the classification of the forms of forest resources availability and analysis of possible situations that may occur assessing the economic availability of forest resources. The authors analyzed various methods of assessing the economic availability of forest wood resources, formed a criterion of economic availability and considered various conditions of economic availability. The results of calculations of economic availability assessments for the Vilegodskoe forestry located in the southeastern part of the Arkhangelsk region, according to which 19.1% of the analyzed plots were recognized as economically unavailable, are presented. The analysis of the characteristics of economically unavailable forest wood resources in the studied object has been carried out. Proposals have been developed on the spheres of the possible use of the toolkit for the economic availability of forest wood resources. The economic availability of forest resources can be widely used in the forestry practice of the Russian Federation in the areas of pricing and forest exploitation optimization. Its application will increase the level of payments for forest resources, due to the withdrawal of excess profits of loggers, and will also ensure the formation of more realistic forest plans.

Climate change and adaptation practices in the forestry sector of the Russian Federation

Over the past 10 years, the country’s legal and regulatory framework has been developing instruments related to sustainable development and security in the context of climate change. To investigate the practice of planning measures for adaptation of the Russian forestry sector to climate change, an analysis has been made of the information on planned measures for the conservation of the ecological potential of forests, adaptation to climate change and increasing forest resilience provided in the forest planning documents of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The information in the Forest Plans shall be correlated with the results of the vulnerability and risk assessment carried out for the specific forestry conditions and forms an appropriate set of adaptation measures. The conducted study showed that 100% of the constituent entities whose forest plans contain adaptation indicators have planned to carry out adaptation measures to the risk associated with the increased frequency of wildfires. The analysis showed no correlation between the amount of work and the cost of implementing each of the planned adaptation actions and events. At the same time, the validity of risk adaptation priorities in some constituent entities probably requires further refinement and clarification.

Mapping Forest Cover Changes using Sentinel-2A Imagery in the Municipality of Zubin Potok, Republic of Kosovo

This research aimed to investigate the changes in forest cover, utilizing Sentinel-2A imagery data. Annual results of deforestation, non-forest, and forest area in the Municipality of Zubin Potok (Kosovo) between 2016 and 2017 were presented and analyzed by applying the image difference change detection method on a Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) product derived for both years. The study reveals that forest coverage in this municipality has changed due to human activity (harvested and burnt forests). The footprint of changes was evidenced by using Sentinel 2A band combinations and very high resolution (VHR) images available in Google Earth (GE). From the overall forest-covered area of 24,873.61 hectares, the detected changes during the annual period are as follows: 24,423.57 ha or 98.19 % is mapped as forest, 113.75 hectares or 0.46 % as non-forest, and 336.77 or 1.35 % of the area forest is mapped as deforestation. These results can be used to identify human-made deforestation and to develop monitoring forest plans for the coming years.

Angle-count sampling method for estimating forest stand volume – a practical approach

Point sampling, which is also known as angle-count sampling (ACS), can be considered an efficient way of estimating the basal area and volume of forest stands. It is possible to use it in forest management: providing more accurate estimates (precision <10%) of site and stand characteristics needed for management planning. 20 black locust (Robinina pseudoacacia L.) stands were selected at final cutting age to determine the regeneration criteria based on their total volume. It was verified that at P=5% there was no difference between the main volume values of stands indicated in the relevant forest plans as well as calculated by the ACS method.

The Terms Foresters and Planners in the United States Use to Infer Sustainability in Forest Management Plans: A Survey Analysis

Sustainable forest management is important for advancing sustainable societal development. Effective communication plays a major role in how goals and objectives are achieved. This study aims to assess how sustainability is considered by people who develop forest management plans (or forest plans in short). We employed the snowball sample technique to locate the study’s respondents. In addition, an open-ended questionnaire and a mix method data collection (phone and email) and analysis (qualitative and quantitative) were found to be adequate methods to survey forest planners who have been involved in the development, implementation, evaluation, and/or revision of forest plans in the United States. Our approach helped us to understand their perceptions of and means of incorporating sustainability concerns in forest plans. A total of 55 surveys were completed by forest planners physically located in 26 of the 50 states in the country. Results suggested that planners generally placed environmental sustainability concerns over social and economic sustainability concerns. A variety of key terms were central to forest planners’ attempts to communicate sustainability, from which most were associated with philosophical and temporal principles that would then be associated with concrete actions and the human dimension. Nevertheless, respondents also acknowledged difficulties and misunderstandings in describing how forest sustainability should be demonstrated within a forest plan. Topics such as restoration, carbon sequestration, and resilience were infrequently associated with sustainability and sustainable forest management. Finally, we found that the respondents were divided on whether the language used in forest plans to demonstrate sustainability could be improved.

Norway spruce responses to drought forcing in area affected by forest decline

Aim of study: To assess the crown condition and radial growth of Norway spruce on plots with an increasing frequency and strength of drought during the last decades.Area of the study: Northern Moravia, Czech Republic.Material and methods: Crown condition assessment and dendrochronology analysis were used.Main results: Tree-ring width was significantly influenced mainly by previous autumn and current summer climate. Temporal variability of growth-climate relationship shows that the impact of water sufficiency (precipitation, relative soil water content, drought index) markedly increased mainly during the 2000s and the 2010s. Most of climate-growth relationships were significant only in the last two or three decades. The observed crown condition and their relationships with TRW also indicate stress intensification during the same period. Our results suggest that the water availability was the main factor affecting radial growth, occurrence of negative pointer years and probably also the factor triggering the decline.Research highlights: In these current site and climate conditions, silviculture of Norway spruce is extremely risky in the study area. Our results have also shown that the observed climate change is too dynamic for the long-term forest plans, especially as regards their recommended forest species composition.

THE ROLE OF PROTECTIVE FORESTS IN THE ECOSYSTEM

The purpose of the research is to analyze the state of protective forest stands, the objectives are to study the species structure of forests, the level of utilization of the calculated cutting area, the acceptability of the established cutting ages. Information base of research were forest plans of ministries and departments of forestry, forestry regulations and reports of forest areas. The proceedings used are test plots laid down to identify the functional purpose in water protection forests and restricted water bodies. The forest cover of the territory played a certain role in the allocation of protective forests, while the ravine-beam plantations and shelter belts are not taken into account, although it is they who substantially stabilize the environment and drastically change the situation towards increasing land fertility and reducing the risk of soil degradation. The established categories of protective forests correspond to the functions they perform, however, the ages of logging require revision based on scientific research.

The features of designing on forest lands in Russian Federation.

В работе проанализирована современная ситуация с проектированием на землях лесного фонда, переданных в пользование под различные цели. Действующее лесное законодательство Российской Федерации предусматривает широкий список возможных видов использования лесов, многие из которых не имеют отношения к ведению лесного хозяйства. При этом существует ограниченный перечень договоров на основании которых лесные участки могут быть переданы в пользование. Исходя из трактовки действующего законодательства, использование лесов должно осуществляться в соответствии с лесным планом субъекта Российской Федерации, лесохозяйственными регламентами лесничеств (лесопарков), а также на основании договоров, на основании которых лесные участки передаются в пользование, и заключенных соглашений. Анализ нормативно-правовой базы, а также существующей практики позволил выявить проблемы, связанные с практическим применением ряда документов, регламентирующих разработку проектной документации на лесные участки. По результатам проведенного анализа предложено внести ряд изменений в нормативно-правовые акты Российской Федерации, регламентирующие использование лесов. Предлагаемые изменения касаются в первую очередь использования лесов, переданных по договорам безвозмездного пользования и по договорам постоянного (бессрочного) пользования. Также в работе проанализированы особенности разработки проектной документации на лесные участки, используемые для целей, не связанных с заготовкой древесины и ведением лесного хозяйства. По результатам выявленных пробелов в законодательстве предложено внести изменения в подзаконные нормативно-правовые акты, регламентирующие особенности создания объектов лесной инфраструктуры и особенности создания объектов не связанных с созданием лесной инфраструктуры. The article present results of analysis of current situation with the designing on forest lands. The paper analyzed the current situation with the design on forest land transferred for use under different objectives. Current forestry legislation of the Russian Federation provides a list of possible uses of forests, many of which are not related to forest management. At the same time there is a limited list of contracts under which forest land may be leased out. Based on the interpretation of existing legislation, the use of forests should be managed in accordance with forest plans of the Russian Federation, forest management regulations of forest districts (or parks), as well as on the basis of contracts under which forest areas are used. Analysis of the legal acts as well as current practices revealed problems with the practical application of a number of documents regulating the development of projecting and planning in forest sector. According to the results of the analysis suggested a number of changes in the regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation governing the use of forests. The proposed changes relate primarily to the use of forests on the base of contracts of gratuitous use and contracts of permanent (perpetual) use. Also we analyze the features of the development of design documentation for the forest areas to be used for purposes not related to timber harvesting and forest management. As a result it is proposed to amend the normative acts governing the features of creation of forest infrastructure objects, and especially the creation of objects not related to forest infrastructure on forest lands.