Minister of Forestry of the Republic of Tatarstan Ravil Kuzyurov answered the questions of Tatarstan residents in the online broadcast of the official communities of Tatarstan in social networks
Today Minister of Forestry of the Republic of Tatarstan Ravil Kuzyurov took part in a live broadcast of the TatarstanOnline program, during which he spoke about the state of the republic's forestry complex, priority tasks for the upcoming period, and also answered questions from citizens received through social networks.
The minister said that today the total area of the lands of the Republic of Tatarstan occupied by forests is 1 million 271 thousand hectares, the forest cover is 17.5%. If we consider the species composition of forests, aspen occupies 20.5%, linden ‒ 19.7%, birch ‒ 17.8%, pine ‒ 15.8%, oak ‒ 14%, spruce ‒ 6%, other species ‒ 6.2%.
“Yes, of course, our priority goal is to work to increase forests through reforestation and afforestation. Another, no less important task is to improve the species composition of forests, ‒ the minister said. ‒ Regarding reforestation, the regional project “Preservation of Forests in the Republic of Tatarstan” is being implemented within the framework of the national project “Ecology”. Also, we annually carry out work on the establishment of protective forest plantations on agricultural lands”.
“We are fully provided with our own standard planting material. There are 51 basic forest nurseries in the republic, where more than 30 million seedlings are grown annually, of which 12 million are in the Forest Seed Breeding Center of the Republic of Tatarstan, ‒ added Ravil Kuzyurov. ‒ This amount is enough to carry out all the reforestation work.”
The Minister confirmed that there are no cases of industrial illegal logging in the Republic of Tatarstan. Also, unlike the eastern, more forested, regions of our country, there are no so-called “black lumberjacks” in the republic. “Cases of illegal felling of trees by citizens are mainly of a domestic nature, mainly violations arising from people's ignorance of forest legislation, felling of dead trees instead of the permitted collection of dead wood,” Ravil Kuzyurov emphasized.
The head of the Ministry of Forestry of the Republic of Tatarstan said that fire safety in the forest in the Republic of Tatarstan is provided by 20 type II forest fire stations at the forestry enterprises and 5 type III forest fire stations at the Forest Fire Center. “Every year we develop a Consolidated plan for extinguishing forest fires, form forest fire units, mobile fire extinguishing groups, carry out in full measures for the fire-fighting arrangement of forests, ‒ said Ravil Kuzyurov. ‒ During the fire hazardous season, there is an increased control over the observance of fire safety rules in forests, space monitoring of fire hazardous situation, aviation and ground.”
“Despite the pandemic, 2020 was a turning point for us in many ways. Last year, thanks to the support of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Nurgalievich Minnikhanov, the implementation of a program for the overhaul of buildings of the Ministry's subordinate institutions began, the level of wages of workers in the industry was significantly increased and measures to support young specialists came into force. Young specialists who graduated from a professional educational organization can receive a payment in the amount of 150 thousand rubles, an educational organization of higher education ‒ 300 thousand rubles,” the minister added.
As tasks for 2021, the head of the Ministry of Forestry of the Republic of Tatarstan outlined the transfer of a number of public services provided by the Ministry to an electronic format, the search for opportunities to implement projects for the establishment of water-protective forest plantations along the banks of the Volga and Kama rivers, the creation of a center where seedlings of English oak with closed root system, preparation for the 100th anniversary of the founding of the first state management body of the forestry complex of the Republic of Tatarstan and the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the State Budgetary Educational Institution “Lubyanka Forestry College”.
Also, Minister Ravil Kuzyurov answered questions regarding problems with the growth of American maple, deforestation during the construction of the M-12 highway, the rules for collecting deadwood, harvesting and supplying wood to the Kastamonu woodworking plant, family dynasties, etc.
“Dead branches or trunks of trees that have fallen to the ground as a result of storms, windbreaks or significant snowfalls, but are not logging residues at the sites of logging operations, are defined as deadwood, ‒ the minister said, in particular. ‒ When harvesting dead wood, it is allowed to use hand tools (hand saws, axes).”
Recall that the TatarstanOnline program has been released in the official communities of the Republic of Tatarstan since April 2020. Within the framework of this project, Tatarstan citizens can ask their questions on current topics to the guests of the studio online. More than 25 ministers and heads of various departments of Tatarstan were guests of the studio. And in September 2020, President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov took part in the online broadcast and answered questions from users of social networks ‒ residents of the Republic of Tatarstan.