NEWS

In order to upgrade qualifications of timber industry workers the training and demonstration seminar “Modern labor saving devices for forest tending, safe work methods and protective clothes, operation and maintenance fundamentals using gasoline-powered tool as an example” was given at the premises of Lubyansky Forest Engineering College. The event was organized by the Ministry of Forestry of the Republic of Tatarstan and Husqvarna Company. The coach of the national Russian team of loggers, athletes to participate in World Championships, Alexander Goncharov, and the owner of the international diploma of a specialist in working with a chainsaw on the assortment technology and working together with forwarders Vladimir Bogdanov told the seminar participants about the development history of the gasoline-powered tools, chainsaw operation techniques at tree felling, bucking and limbing, the fundamentals of the correct operation of gasoline-powered tools and typical failures. After the theory the demonstration was arranged:

- Felling using modern manual gasoline-powered tools;

- Demonstration of the protective properties of clothing for working with chainsaws;

- Operation of the hand backpack air duct for suppression of ground fire.

In the context of the upcoming New Year and Christmas holidays we remind citizens as well as persons who substitute state or municipal offices, positions of state and municipal services, as well as employees of certain state and municipal institutions on compliance with the statutory prohibition to give and receive gifts.

If the official receives a gift, it creates the conditions for a conflict of interest and will result in liable provided for by the Russian laws.

It is the middle of the school year. But already now the students of graduate classes face a challenging task: to pass the Unified State Exam and choose the next educational institution.

Associate Professor of Kazan State Agricultural University Irek Singatullin and the Head Forester of Agryzskoye Forestry Ravil Imangulov gave a talk on choosing a profession to the students of Agryz schools.

The students were offered the choice of several areas, including forestry. The participants of the meeting talked about the conditions of education and the entrance examinations.

In Nizhnemeteskinskaya Secondary School of the Arsky District an event “Feed the birds in winter” and the traditional competition for the best birdfeeder among primary school children was held. In a conversation with the younger generation it was said about where and how the birds hibernate, about their thermal regulation, what they eat, what food they need in a cold season. The aim of the event is to deepen the children's knowledge about birds, their role in nature, the need to help the feathered friends. At the end of the event the results of the competition were summarized, the most active participants were awarded the diplomas.

An important conversation topic at the meeting of the Public Council at the Federal Forestry Agency on December 20, 2016 was the issue of legal regulation of the use of forests on agricultural lands in the context of the intensification of forestry.

The problem of forests on agricultural lands is much more serious than it seems at first glance. As of today, the area of the Russian agricultural lands overgrown with the forest is, according to various estimates, from 30 to 70 million hectares. In 2010 the area of ​​abandoned croplands was more than 31.6 million hectares. Typically, these lands are relatively highly productive and quite readily available in relation to the transport.

Remaining unused for over a quarter of a century, the agricultural lands have been covered with trees and shrubs, in many cases, they formed a full-fledged forest.

“We have already passed the first point of no return, when it was still possible to return the lands to agriculture, when their new reclamation would make economic sense. Now, taking into account the overgrown plants it is already economically not profitable. Moreover, we come to the second point of no return, when it is necessary to generate mission-oriented highly productive plantations using the forestry activities,” expresses his scientific point of view, the Director of the Institute of Forestry of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) Andrey Sirin.

It is particularly important that in compliance with current legislation, forest management and harvesting the merchantable wood on these parcels is illegal, the owners of agricultural lands are subject to administrative liability. As a result, these forests become targets of uncontrolled cutting and are in the zone wildfire risk.

Legally, these areas are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Agriculture. There is no farming on these territories, no compliance with fire safety and sanitation requirements; whereas the transfer of these lands to the state forest reserve or permit to farm on agricultural lands would create there the plantations with high yield, similar to the plantation forests in China and the United States.

According to the joint study of the Institute of Forestry of RAS and WWF, in the Uglich District of the Yaroslavl Region almost 30% of agricultural lands are covered with trees and shrubs and along with this more than 15% are dense, formed stands. In addition, another 10 to 20% of lands are in the early stages of overgrowth. The multi-year researches were conducted in the Uglich District, the Yaroslavl Region, typical for the center of the non-Black Earth Belt according to forest-site conditions, the state of agriculture and forestry.

The Institute of Forestry of RAS has developed a methodology to assess the situation with the agricultural lands overgrowing with the forest at the regional level, based on the analysis of map data and medium and high resolution satellite observations, including the creation of a network of ground points and holding the two-level classification of multispectral data of land remote sensing.

The possible ways to solve legal issues are to transfer the overgrown agricultural lands to the jurisdiction of the forest management authorities of the constituent of the Russian Federation, or to make amendments to the Land Code of the Russian Federation authorizing farming on agricultural lands. According to Andrey Sirin, it will create an important precedent for the appearance of private forests, which will require the development of rules and regulation of forestry in such forests.

Then it would result in the artificial high-yield forests, allowing not only the highly profitable intensive forestry, but also to compensate for the decrease of forest lands as a result of the implementation of infrastructure projects. However, the resolution of the issues with forests on agricultural lands is hindered by the viewpoint of the department responsible for these lands.

“Federal Forestry Agency receives complaints from people who are concerned about the efficiency of the land use. A quantity of parcels, including in regions with insufficient forest cover and challenging environmental conditions, are overgrown with forest, but are not provided with adequate care, including the fire prevention measures. Currently, the land users have no right to legally grow a forest, as a form of land use. Growing forests on such areas will have a positive impact on the overall ecological status of regions,” says the Head of the Forest Use and Reproduction Administration of the Federal Forestry Agency Mikhail Doronin.

  On December 20, 2016 in the Federal Forestry Agency a meeting of the Public Council at the Federal Forestry Agency was held. The meeting was chaired by the Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation – the Head of the Federal Forestry Agency Ivan Valentik and the Director for Conservation Policy of the World Wildlife Fund of Russia – the Chairman of the Public Council at the Federal Forestry Agency Evgeny Schwartz.

The key topics of the Public Council’s meeting were such issues as the implementation in 2016 of the Transparency Concept of the Federal Forestry Agency, including the availability of the open source data – information on the use, reproduction and protection of forests and other information and put of the forest pathology survey reports in compliance with the Federal Law No.455-FZ on the Internet sites of the state forest management authorities in the constituents of the Russian Federation.

The draft of the State program of the Russian Federation “Development of forestry” for 2013-2020 and the issue of legal regulation of the use of forests on agricultural lands in the context of the intensification of forestry were discussed. The separate matter was the draft of the Public Declaration of aims and goals of the Federal Forestry Agency for 2017 and the implementation of Public Declaration of aims and goals of the Federal Forestry Agency in 2015 and 2016.

An important agenda item was the draft federal law “On Amendments being made to the Federal Law “On Protection of Lake Baikal” and the Forest Code of the Russian Federation in terms of improving the regulation of forest relations” allowing clear-cutting in the forests of water protection zones and the central ecological zone of the Baikal natural territory.

“As for the work of our Public Council, I believe that this is one of the most active public councils. In general, we analyzed the practical aspects of other agencies – in many agencies the meetings are more relaxed, less severity in the discussions. I think we should keep within these parameters and not to lose momentum, because the forests issues in our country, the sectoral problems are in quite complicated condition, despite the fact that much is taken and much has been done.

From the point of view of the public council’s recommendations, 53 out of 90 recommendations have been taken into account. I think it is a good indicator, because they are take into account not only as a matter of form, but also put behind the changes in the Russian legislation,” said the Head of the Federal Forestry Agency Ivan Valentik.

The participants of Green Russia movement looked back on the year at nine key environmental activities. In Moscow there was an awarding ceremony of institutions. 85 constituents of the Russian Federation took part in the competition of environmental and patriotic projects “Victory Forest”. According to the Head of Green Russia Environmental Movement Kurchenkov K.Yu., Nurlat children's Ecological Association has presented the most abundant material. Chibidina T.I. sent the scheme of planting, the list of veterans in honor of which the seedlings have been planted, the photos of veterans of the Great Patriotic War, their life record data. With the help of forest establishment the nameplates were made. In the album there are photos of children who were engaged in planting and caring for seedlings and in the search operations in spring and summer. The second album is the scenarios of celebrations devoted to May 9 in each parallel class, the campaign of the Immortal Regiment in Nurlat town. A trip to Moscow to the awarding ceremony was made possible thanks to the patronage assistance of the Nurlatsky Forest Establishment, the Head Galeev R.M., and to the support of Makoil oil company, the Head Ishkineev D.A. We thank all project participants and congratulate them on the upcoming 2017 New Year. To start the Year of Ecology with the most prestigious award is the event enjoyable and at the same time is much obliging.

The Federal Forestry Agency will give in Yoshkar-Ola a seminar “The Russian Forest Legislation in the Current Economic Environment” where the experts from the Ministry of Forestry of the Republic of Tatarstan take part. The issues to be addressed at the seminar are the following: the protection of the rights and legitimate interests of the Russian Federation on the lands of forest reserve, judicial practice, control over the legal regulation, the legal aspects of the arrangement and activities of state forest management system in the Urals Federal District. The court practice of the federal state forest supervision and interaction with tenants of parcels of forest area, the activities of wood collection and shipment points, experience and challenges of imposition of administrative sanctions for violations in the field of forest relations, and the procedure for recovering arrears under the lease contracts in respect of parcels of forest area are to be discussed as well.

Buinskoye Forestry and Buinsky Forest Establishment held the joint meeting “2016 end-of-year review of the work of forestry and forest establishment; scope, main principles, and objectives of the Federal Law No.273-FZ “On Combating Corruption” dated 25.11.2008; implementation of the Federal Law No. 415-FZ dated 28.12.2013 and the Federal Law No.455-FZ dated 29.12.2014”. Presentations were made by the Head-Forester of Buinskoye Forestry I.I.Gataullin, the Director of Buinsky Forest Establishment S.V.Kirillov, and the Deputy Head-Forester M.M.Gafarov. Forester for forest protection and conservation M.I.Egorov told about the key measures for the prevention of corruption. In addition, forester for forest management articulated the objectives for 2017 concerning the works on the conservation, protection and reproduction of forests.

The Head of the State Control and Supervision Department of the Ministry of Forestry of the Republic of Tatarstan Niyaz Tazmeev took part in the program “Tribune of the New Age” on TNV channel with the support of the Presidential Anti-Corruption Department of the Republic of Tatarstan.

During the program Niyaz Tazmeev noted that the main problem of illegal use of forests lies in the fact that not all parcels of forested land are measured. As of 01.12.2016, the property registration of the Russian Federation on the lands of forest reserve was made in the area of ​​1235.4 thousand hectares, which is 99.9% of the total forest area (1236.4 thousand hectares). The Cadastre bodies registered these parcels as previously recorded land plots (they have reference cadastral number).

The boundaries of 1764parcels of forest land are clarified (boundary survey was carried out) on ​​an area of ​​173 thousand hectares (14% of the forest reserve of the republic). As part of the execution of public contracts the state cadastral registration was made in respect of 768 parcels of forested land in the area of ​​126.6 thousand hectares within the boundaries Nurlatsky, Sabinsky, Aksubaevsky, Agryzsky, Aznakaevsky forestry. Currently, the Kazan branch of Roslesinforg keeps on cadastral works within the boundaries of Agryzsky, Aznakaevsky and Aksubaevsky forestry.

In 2014-2015 the branch of Roslesinforg, Moslesproekt, has performed works on preparation of documents containing the land plot data necessary for cadastral registration within the boundaries of Zelenodolsky, Prigorodny and Bugulminsky forestry on the total area of ​​76,158 hectares and made cadastral registration of 103 parcels of forested land on the area of ​​2,974 thousand hectares. Currently, such works are in progress.

The Ministry of Forestry of the Republic of Tatarstan is working on restrain of violations with regard to the restriction the free access of people to the forests. In 2016 the state forest inspectors revealed more than 70 cases of restrictions on the free stay of people in forests, by installing fences, barriers, artificial barriers. The judicial authorities sustained 25 claims of the Ministry of Forestry to eliminate violations of the forest legislation by the removal of fences and barriers.