Development and condition of forests of the Far East

The  aim  of the  study is  to examine the  state  of the  Far  Eastern forests,  causes of their  degradation and  to identify further efforts to stabilize and  improve  the quality of the forest fund for the  foreseeable  future. The  methodological basis  comprises of silvicultural and  ecological  methods for assessing the  impact of various  factors  on the  components of forest  cenoses with  the  establishment of sample plots.  The  main characteristics of the forest  fund of the Far East  are provided in the study. It has been established that  the region’s forests have predominantly protective  and ecologically stabilizing functions. Plantations suitable for industrial exploitation account for less than 40% of the total forest area in the Far Eastern Federal  District. The forest fund is highly deconcentrated, with  the best forest areas located  in the southern and  central  parts  of the region, mainly in the valley  of the Amur River  and  its major tributaries – the Ussuri, Zeya, Bureya rivers and Lake Baikal. At present, the majority of industrially accessible forests has already been developed  and consists  of disturbed low and medium productive forest stands of grade III and IV bonitet with an average reserve of just over 100 m³/ha. The main causes leading to forest degradation are associated with industrial logging and fires. The clear felling most abundant here and subsequent forest fires have resulted in enormous losses of timber mass. The annual area affected by fire ranges from 1.5 to 1.8 million ha with a loss of over 100 million m3  of forest reserves. Attempts to compensate for the loss of forests through reforestation have been largely  unsuccessful. Most of the established forest crops die from forest fires in the first 5 to 10 years after planting. Less than 5% of all artificial plantations survive to maturity. The regeneration of Far East forests requires a transition to a selective logging system and  effective  measures to protect  forests  from  fires.  Natural regeneration of forests,  due  to their  high regenerative potential, is mostly successful, although sometimes through species change.

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