Visit of delegation of the Republic of Tatarstan

On June 1 to 3 a delegation of the Republic of Tatarstan headed by the President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov has visited the Federal Republic of Germany (Saxony, Thuringia). On the part of the Ministry of Forestry of the Republic of Tatarstan the delegation included the First Deputy Minister of Forestry Kharis Musin and Doctor of Technical Sciences of the Department of Wood Materials Processing of Kazan State Technological University Nail Timerbayev. The visit to Dresden University of Technology was of particular interest of the Ministry’s representatives. For several years good and promising business relationships bind Dresden University of Technology and the Ministry of Forestry as well as the Faculty of Forestry and Environment of Kazan State Agrarian University and the East-European Forest Experiment Station of the Russian Research Institute for Silviculture and Mechanization of Forestry (VNIILM). To a great extent the key to successful co-operation was the support of the leadership of the Republic of Tatarstan and personally the Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov.

Two joint research projects were the result of numerous discussions and mutual meetings of Tatarstan and the Saxon foresters:

“Conservation and optimization of oak plantations in the Republic of Tatarstan” which involves a comprehensive study of the oak plantations on the territory of Kaybitsky Forestry to create mixed oak stands and optimize silvicultural parameters for their growing, and to develop sustainable high-yield stands; and “Wood plantations development and use in the Republic of Tatarstan” which implies the creation of fast-growing tree plantations of aspen and birch trees in order to grow commercial timber and to obtain wood chips used for the production of wood-based panels and in bio-energy.

2016 was the second stage in the implementation of these projects, and as of today, the field works are being performed: establishment of experimental oak plantations and plantations of fast-growing poplars. Today on the territory of the Sabinsky Municipal District the experimental fast-growing poplar plantations (Matrix) have already been created, on the territory of the Kaybitsky Municipal District the experimental plots of oak and linden trial stands have been established according to the schemes of Nelder’s experiments.