Text 2. Russia’s forests

Russia is endowed with a vast forest stock, as it inherited 95 % of the Soviet Un­ion's forested land. The Russian taiga forest is the world's primary wood reserve, covering 700 million ha. The forest is 80 % conifer­ous, representing 52 % of the world’s conifer­ous land. Russian forests cover an area ap­proximately the size of the USA, and the forested area of the Amazon Basin is 50 % smaller than Russia’s forests.

Russia's forests are classified, according to the former Soviet system, into three groupings: Group I is forests protected by strict regulations intended to preserve the forests' environmen­tal, scientific, recreational, and aesthetic value. Conservation ar­eas, national parks and strictly-protected nature reserves for scientific research, ecological monitoring and the study of natural diversity all fall within this category. Commercial har­vesting of timber is strictly pro­hibited and only sanitary silvi­culture is allowed, i. e. thinning stands and fertilization.

Group II is forests which serve both «protective» and limited industrial functions. Theу include fo­rests with inadequate raw timber resources that require intensive management to ensure that they are able to supply in­dustry while preserving their environmental value (i. e. watershed and soil protection, conserva­tion of biodiversity — including endemic species such as the Siberian tiger, and regulation of climate). These forests tend to be located in regions such as southern and European Russia which have a high population density and a developed transport network.

Group III consists of heavily forested regions that are used primarily for commercial ex­ploitation to satisfy Russian wood require­ments without detriment to their ecological values and services. Group III forests can be broken down into two categories: developed and to-be-developed forests, the latter mean­ing many forests in East Siberia and the Rus­sian Far East which are remote, and have a limited or non-existent transport network.

Traditionally, Group I, II, and III forests have contributed, respectively, approximately 9, 17, and 74 % of the total annual al­lowable cut (расчетная лесосека) under the control of the forest authorities.

Recent estimates place the Russian Fed­eration’s annual allowable cut (AAC) at 830 mil­lion m³. Experts consider 285 million m³ of the AAC to be unharvestable for a mini­mum of 20 years because the trees cannot yet be reached by the major transportation systems which are projected to be complet­ed within the next 15—20 years. Of this un­harvestable portion of the AAC, 80 % of the forested land is in East Siberia and the Russian Far East.

To all intents and purposes, the AAC for the Russian Federation therefore totals 545 million m³. This more realistic AAC com­prises 426 million m³ of currently accessible timber and 119 million m³ of potentially ac­cessible timber, where economic accessibility is a function of infrastructure development over the next 10—20 years.

About 50 % of Russia's currently access­ible AAC is located in European Russia, where the density of the population, infra­structure, and forest product processing facil­ities is greatest. In European Russia, easily ac­cessible coniferous stands have been over-harvested. And yet the 50 % of me 225 million m³ of Russia's deciduous AAC locat­ed in this region has traditionally been under-utilized.

The total realistic AAC, coniferous and deciduous forests are estimated at 320 and 225 million m³ respectively. The coniferous stands are predominately spruce, fir, pine, and larch. Spruce and fir are found throughout the Russian Federation, while pine is concen­trated in the Western regions of Russia but is also found in the Far East. Larch is rare in European Russia, but becomes increasingly common in coniferous stands as one travels eastward through the Russian Federation.

Deciduous stands are mainly birch, followed by aspen, and basswood, with a small percent­age of oak and beech. Birch flourish­es throughout West and East Siberia and ac­counts for the majority of the deciduous stands in these regions. In the Russian Far East, birch and aspen still dominate decidu­ous stands, however oak and other hardwood species also grow there.

Current policy and resource reviews are likely to reveal that each of the regions of Russia has its own specific needs and investment priorities. There is a strong potential for investment in European Russia in new technologies and the modernization of existing facilities.

Technology transfer and know-how in harvesting and regeneration methods are essential for sustainable development in these regions. Accessible larch stands in the Far East tend to be under-utilized as this species has a bad reputation amongst wood-processing industrialists because of its fiber morphology. However, the Japanese have begun to import Russia's larch and have conducted research that showed larch to be a very acceptable species for plywood. Through finding new applications for hitherto unacceptable species, Russia will be closer to sustainable practices, as it will no longer have to concentrate on the currently commercial species.

(from Pulp and Paper International, 1994)

Answer the questions:

1. What is the value of Group I forests?

2. What function do forests of Group II have?

3. How do forests of Group III vary?

4. What is the total volume of the annual al­lowable cut (AAC)?

5. How much of the total volume is unharvestable? Why?

6. Which coniferous and deciduous species grow in Siberia?

7. Are advanced technologies and know-how important for Russian forestry?

8. How can larch be possibly used?

Make up a list of topical vocabulary.