Reforestation works 2016 are summarized

2016 has been declared in Russia as a “Year of Reforestation” and the reforestation works were paid the special attention. In 2016 the reforestation works on in the territory of the Russian Federation were carried out on a total area of ​​781.1 thousand hectares, which is 102.2% of the plan, including leased parcels of forest area - on the area of ​​636 thousand hectares. The artificial reforestation was carried out on the area of ​​178.4 hectares, the combined reforestation – on the area of ​​17.3 thousand hectares.

The greatest scope of reforestation work was carried out in the Irkutsk Region on the area of ​​121 hectares, in the Arkhangelsk Region – 62.7 thousand hectares, in the Khabarovsk Region – 51.7 thousand hectares, in the Vologda Region – 50.3 thousand hectares, in the Krasnoyarsk Region – 46.8 thousand hectares, in the Komi Republic – 33.8 thousand hectares, in the Perm Region – 31.9 thousand hectares, in the Kirov Region – 29, 8 thousand hectares, in the Republic of Buryatia – 27.1 thousand hectares, and in the Amur Region – 22.6 thousand hectares.

Top ten constituents of the Russian Federation to implement the reforestation works in full are the Lipetsk Region, the Nizhny Novgorod Region, the Moscow Region, Bashkortostan, the Sakhalin Region, the Tver Region, the Tambov Region, the Leningrad Region, the Novosibirsk Region and the Republic of Karelia.

Ten worst constituents of the Russian Federation failed to implement the reforestation works in full are the Primorye Territory – 56.7% of the plan were fulfilled, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) - 59.3%, the Murmansk Region - 61.3%, the Sverdlovsk Region - 63 , 4%, the Republic of Kalmykia - 65.3%, the Chita Region - 69.6%, the Ryazan Region - 78.6%, the Kurgan Region - 81.0%, the Tyumen Region - 87.4% and the Republic of Altai - 89.0%.

One of the key reasons for non-implementation of reforestation plans was lagging of the scope of reforestation works behind the logging volumes, primarily due to the small and medium logging companies. Their equipment allows them to carry out logging only in the most favorable winter period, on the frozen ground, and in spring and summer they cannot perform reforestation works by their own. Moreover, each year the violation of forest reproduction technology is recorded on 35% of rental space.

The Federal Forestry Agency has carried out in full the reforestation activities provided for by the plan of activities for 2016 “Year of Reforestation”, including the spring campaign “The All-Russian Day of Tree Planting” and the autumn campaign “Live, the forest!”, All-Russian Research and Practice Conference to Discuss the Topical Reforestation Issues and the All-Russian campaign “Forest Begins with a Seed”.

Also, the All-Russian contest “The best student work on reforestation and afforestation”, the All-Russian contest “The best forest nursery” and the campaign “Green oak-grove” on the territory of the state war-historical and natural museum-reserve “The Kulikovo Field”.

In the framework of the spring campaign “The All-Russian Day of Tree Planting” more than 18 thousand hectares of plants, including on the land of forest reserve – 9.4 thousand hectares, were established, more than 51 million saplings were planted by 3.5 million people.

During the autumn campaign “Live, the forest!” more than 6 thousand hectares of plants, including on the lands of forest reserve – 1.5 hectares and on the lands of other categories – 4.5 hectares (parks, garden squares, commemorative planting and walkways) were established, more than 25 million saplings were planted by about 1 million people. The most public events were held on the territory of the Belgorod Region (179 thousand people), the Moscow Region (174 thousand people), and the Kemerovo Region (100 thousand people).

The main problem of reforestation in Russia is the lack of volume and quality of work on forest reproduction. During 2014-2016 the Russian timber sector steadily increases the volumes of timber harvesting, while the dynamics of reforestation does not match the dynamics of the timber harvesting. In Russia, annually the clear cuts are carried out on the area of ​​about 1 million hectares, 80% of them in the parcels of forested area offered for lease.

“Currently, the Russian Government decided that reforestation must be at least equal to the drop out of forests. One of the basic postulates for all participants of forestry should be the formula “hectare for hectare”, contemplating the compensation of dropped out forest areas by planting the equal area previously not covered by forest. It was decided that the forest cover should be the key criterion for evaluating the activity of forest management authorities of the constituents of the Russian Federation and relevant federal forestry agencies. The main success rate of their work should be the increase in the forest cover in Russia. Already in 2017 it is planned to increase reforestation volumes up to 1 million hectares that is to a volume of dropped out forests,” says the Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation – the Head of the Federal Forestry Agency Ivan Valentik.