The Ministry of Forestry of the Republic of Tatarstan summed up the work for the current year and outlined the tasks for 2019
Today, the Ministry held an extended meeting of the board on topic “On results of work of the Ministry of Forestry of the Republic of Tatarstan in 2018 and tasks for 2019”. The event was attended by Prime Minister of the Republic of Tatarstan, Aleksei Pesoshin, Head of the Forestry Department for the Volga Federal District Aleksandr Ornatskiy, Minister of Forestry of the Republic of Tatarstan Ravil Kuzyurov, Chairman of the Council of Municipalities of the Republic of Tatarstan Ekzam Gubaydullin, heads of ministries and departments, heads of municipal districts, head-foresters and forest managers of the republic.
The main report was made by the Minister of Forestry of the Republic of Tatarstan, Ravil Kuzyurov.
He said that currently the total forest area in the Republic of Tatarstan was about 1.3 million hectares, the forest cover - 17.5%. “Tatarstan is a low forest region, therefore, our main task is to increase forests through reforestation and afforestation”, the Minister said.
According to him, in 2018, according to the state task, reforestation was carried out on the area of 2.379 hectares, and laying of protective forest stands on the area of 2.470 hectares. Over the year, more than 48 tons of seeds of the main forest-forming species were harvested in the republic’s forestry enterprises, including 0.7 tons of coniferous breeds, over 11 tons - with improved hereditary properties. More than 30.3 million pieces of standard planting material were grownin Tatarstan forest nurseries, including about 24 million softwoods, more than 5 million hardwoods, and over 1 million shrub species.
“This amount of planting material is enough to create forest crops and protective forest plantations on agricultural land and other land categories in 2019”, said Ravil Kuzyurov.
In order to improve the sanitary condition of forest plantations of the republic, a pathology survey was conducted on the area of 49 thousand hectares and sanitary and health-improving measures on the area of more than 7 thousand hectares. Through the efforts of foresters of Tatarstan, it was possible to reduce the area of damaged and dead plantings by 9.5 thousand hectares.
The Minister noted that at present the estimated cutting area for all types of logging is 2.390 thousand cubic meters. For 2018, 970 thousand cubic meters were mastered, that is 41%. Thinning and sanitary cuttings were carried out on the area of 20.5 thousand hectares, and thinning in youngsters was carried out on the area of 7.7 thousand hectares. At the same time, the volume of liquid wood amounted to 670 thousand cubic meters.
In conclusion, Ravil Kuzyurov thanked the President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan, the Government of the Republic of Tatarstan, the Federal Agency of Forestry and the Department of Forestry in the Volga Federal District for their support and assistance in working for development of forestry in the republic.
Then, during the meeting, Shamil Khairullin, Head-Forester of the State Public Institution of the Republic of Tatarstan “Arskiy Forest District” and Airat Akhmerov, Director of the State Budgetary Institution of the Republic of Tatarstan “Forest Fire Center” spoke at the meeting.
Shamil Khairullin dwelled on results of the work carried out in 2018 and shared experience of growing planting material of spruce and pine in greenhouses with polyethylene coating. Among the advantages of this method, he outlined a reduction in time for growing planting material two times, an increase in yield per hectare, and a reduction in material and labor costs.
Airat Akhmerov acquainted the participants of the event with activities of the SBI of RT “Forest Fire Center”. In particular, he said that the center included 5 fire and chemical stations of III type and a regional dispatch control center, whose tasks include reported datacollecting, analyzing, processing and further sending.
According to Airat Akhmerov, in order to reduce the risk of forest fires this year, an information campaign "Against burning of dry grass", a master class "Protecting forests from fires", a game trip "No to forest fires!" and other events were held.
Afterwards, Aleksander Ornatskiy, Head of the Forestry Department for the Volga Federal District, made a presentation on topic “On execution of the transferred powers of the Russian Federation in the field of forest relations in the Republic of Tatarstan in 2018”.
He noted that purposeful work on conservation, protection and reproduction of forests was carried out in Tatarstan. This year, the specialists of the republic provided in full implementation of work on reforestation, forest management, protection of forests from fires, etc.
“Tatarstan was the first in the Volga Federal District to coordinate the Forest Plan for the period 2019-2028 with Rosleskhoz”, said Aleksandr Ornatskiy. “In general, the region confidently holds leading positions in national rating from year to year.”
Summing up the meeting, Prime Minister of the Republic of Tatarstan Aleksey Pesoshinoutlined that development of forestry was one of the important conditions in creating a favorable environment and ecological safety of Tatarstan people. The main responsibility for this direction is assigned to the Ministry of Forestry of the Republic of Tatarstan.
Aleksey Pesoshin noted that for the eighth year in a row forest fires were not allowed in the republic. The whole arsenal of foresters to protect forests from fires, a set of organizational measures for fire supervision in forests had shown its effectiveness.
In 2018, there was a positive trend in reduction of the volume of illegally harvested wood compared to 2013, the Prime Minister of Tatarstan noted. In five years, the number of illegal logging has decreased by 57%.
Concluding his speech, Aleksey Pesoshin called on the employees of the Ministry to pay special attention to the issues of staffing and interaction with industry-specific educational institutions.
“At all times the forest service was a noble work for the good of our country. The forestry workers of the republic are highly qualified specialists who fully perform their professional duty, demonstrating amazing dedication to their work”, he concluded.
The meeting ended with the award ceremony for distinguished forestry specialists of the Republic of Tatarstan. The honorary title “Honored Forester of the Republic of Tatarstan” was awarded to Reforestation Engineer of the State Public Institution of the Republic of Tatarstan “Kzyl-YulduzskiyForest District”, Vladimir Bolshakov, District Forester of Biklyanskiy District Forestry ofSPI of RT “Nizhnekamskiy Forest District”, Vladimir Mukhanov, “Honored Economist of the Republic of Tatarstan” - Deputy Minister of Forestry,RaisGumerov. Also, specialists were awarded with the Gratitude of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan, the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Tatarstan, Diplomas of the Federal Forestry Agency, the Ministry of Forestry of the Republic of Tatarstan and others.