ACADEMICIAN OF THE RAS ALEXANDER SERGEEVICH ISAEV — 90 YEARS ANNIVERSARY

On October 26, 2021, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Sergeevich Isaev would have turned 90. A. S. Isaev was doctor of biological sciences, professor, member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, director of V. N. Sukachev Institute of Forest Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences USSR (1977–1988), chairman of USSR State Committee of Forestry (1988–1991), creator and the first director of CEPF RAS (1991–2004), scientific advisor of CEPF RAS (2004–2018), chairman of the Scientific Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences on forests (until 2018), editor-in-chief «Russian Journal of Forest Science» (1980–2018).

Forester Preferences on Revising Silvics of North America—a Survey of Registered Foresters in Four States

Silvics of North America (SNA) is a widely used silvicultural manual. However, the last SNA was published in 1990. Therefore, 2,589 registered foresters were surveyed across four US states to answer two broad questions: (1) Should SNA be updated? And (2) would an updated SNA still be a useful tool for forest management? Most respondents indicated that the type and extent of content contained in the previous version of SNA was still desirable today. Aside from updating all sections with recent research findings, expansion was suggested for ecosystem services provided by species. An update to maps provided in SNA, through changes to natural ranges of tree species and other aesthetic improvement, was suggested by most survey respondents. These findings support the conclusion that the SNA would still be an essential source of information if 21st-century issues such as climate change impacts and adaptation measures were included in the update. Study Implications: There have been major changes in the environment and forest science over the past 30 years, but SNA has not been revised to reflect these changes. The results of this survey indicate that an update to SNA is warranted. The results presented here can serve as a guide for a future update of SNA.

The impact of forest science in Chile: history, contribution, and challenges

In this article we describe Chile’s transition from an agriculture productive model that originated in the 19th century into a more complex economic model that incorporates forest production, explaining the role of forest sciences in this process. Forest science has made great contributions to the country especially in terms of improving forestation and forest management techniques that have allowed the rapid expansion of the forestry industry and prevented soil erosion on degraded lands. However, native forests have been neglected and vast areas of forest have been replaced with exotic plantations. This process has highlighted the imperative need for developing a new productive model to assure not only a fair distribution of wealth but also the use of science-based sustainable forest management practices to protect native forest ecosystems nationwide. A national strategic plan for managing, conserving, and restoring native forests is needed not only to align the forest industry with sustainable development but also to develop sound climate change strategies to allow the country’s goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050. Under this scenario forest science can play an important role by producing much needed evidence-based knowledge.

THE WAR VETERAN, SCIENTIST OF FORESTRY M.G. KHANISLAMOV

The article is dedicated to scientific activities of a war veteran scientist of the Institute of Biology of the Bashkir Branch of the USSR Academy in postwar years. Candidate of Agricultural Sciences M.G. Khanislamov was in charge of the laboratory of forest insects at the scientific institution for many years. His hard work made it possible to substantially contribute to the development of forest science and achieve considerable success in forestry. The scientist was granted title of honor «Honored Scientist of the Bashkir ASSR». He was also awarded numerous medals for battle merits for the Motherland.