According to Roslesinforg, there are about 28 regions in Russia where secondary uses of forests, such as harvesting wild plants, hunting, farming and others, prevail over traditional timber harvesting. The area of forests occupied by all other types of forest use is three times less than the area allocated for industrial timber harvesting – 54.8 million hectares against 172.8 million hectares.
In total, in addition to timber harvesting, there are 15 other uses of forests that are not related to their felling. The forest is used for collecting wild fruits, berries, nuts, mushrooms, birch sap, medicinal herbs, for hunting, creating forest plantations and growing fruit trees, agriculture, laying engineering networks, as well as for scientific purposes.
16 regions of Russia do not cut down forests at all – these are Lipetsk, Oryol, Volgograd, Rostov, Astrakhan, and Orenburg regions, Kalmykia, Crimea, Sevastopol, Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, Stavropol Krai, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Tyva and Chukotka.
In another 12 regions of the country, the areas leased for secondary purposes are larger than the billet, that is, they are used in ways that do not harm the environment, more environmentally friendly, safe and modern. Moreover, this year in some regions, in addition to traditional sources of income from cutting plantings, officials intend to actively develop new ones.
In particular, for the purpose of rational and multipurpose use of forest resources, to lease plots to entrepreneurs for the industrial harvesting of wild plants, medicines and other forest resources, the development of ecotourism. Thus, only 1% of the forests of the Magadan region are involved in industrial turnover, the rest of the forest fund lands are used in the field of hunting and agriculture, the situation is similar in Kamchatka – only 5% are given to logging, the rest is either not occupied by anyone, or leased to hunting cordons and hunting bases.
In the Saratov region, 2% of the lease is used for harvesting, the rest of the forest is not used by anyone. In the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) 80% of the entire lease area is provided for agriculture (reindeer husbandry), only 20% is leased by loggers and for geological exploration. Khakassia uses 22% of the forest for harvesting, the rest is distributed among hunters, farmers and collectors of medicinal plants.
The Murmansk region and Tatarstan each give 23% of the forest fund to logging, their main forest specialization is related to geological exploration and mining, laying engineering networks and tourism. Not so long ago, industrial fishing and scientific activities for forest research began to develop here.
The Tambov region uses 25% of the forest fund, Samara – 30%, Transbaikalia – 37%, the Altai Republic – 39%, Chuvashia – 40%, hunting and geological exploration activities predominate here. At the same time, modern technologies make it possible to engage in geological exploration, mining and laying engineering networks, causing minimal negative impact to the forest and its inhabitants.
In order to minimize adverse impacts on forest ecosystems, work is carried out along the shortest path, mainly using non-forest lands, existing objects and bypassing the territories of traditional nature use of indigenous peoples, as well as cultural heritage sites. And when cutting down, first of all, they get rid of dead, damaged and very old trees, after which compensatory reforestation is mandatory at the rate of one to one.
Please note that this press release is based on materials provided by the company. AK&M Information Agency shall not be held liable for its contents, nor for the legal and other consequences of its publication.
