Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm ISBN-13: 978-951-40-2007-0 (PDF) ISBN-10: 951-40-2007-3 (PDF) ISSN 1795-150X www.metla.fi Northwest Russian Forestry in a Nutshell Sari Karvinen, Elina Välkky, Tatu Torniainen and Yuri Gerasimov Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 2 Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute publishes preliminary research results and conference proceedings. The papers published in the series are not peer-reviewed. The papers are published in pdf format on the Internet only. http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/ ISSN 1795-150X Office Unioninkatu 40 A FI-00170 Helsinki tel. +358 10 2111 fax +358 10 211 2101 e-mail julkaisutoimitus@metla.fi Publisher Finnish Forest Research Institute Unioninkatu 40 A FI-00170 Helsinki tel. +358 10 2111 fax +358 10 211 2101 e-mail info@metla.fi http://www.metla.fi/ Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 3 Authors Karvinen, Sari, Välkky, Elina, Torniainen, Tatu & Gerasimov, Yuri Title Northwest Russian Forestry in a Nutshell Year 2006 Pages 98 ISBN ISBN-13: 978-951-40-2007-0 (PDF) ISBN-10: 951-40-2007-3 (PDF) ISSN 1795-150X Unit / Research programme / Projects Finnish Forest Research Institute, Joensuu Research Unit / Russian, Central and Eastern European Forestry Information Service, project 3406. Accepted by Timo Karjalainen, Professor, 20 June 2006 Abstract The purpose of the paper is to provide a general view of the current state of the forest sector in Northwest Russia. The paper is a translation of the Finnish guidebook on forestry in Northwest Russia "Luoteis-Venäjän metsätalouden taskutieto", which was published at the Finnish Forest Research Institute in spring 2005. Some small updating and alterations have been made since the publishing of the guidebook in Finnish in 2005, but generally the paper presents the most current information available at the time of writing the Finnish version. The paper studies the basics of Russian forestry, covering themes from forest resources to their management and utilisation. The ongoing renewal pertaining to the forest legislation and administration will lead to changes in forest sector, which may deviate greatly from the plans predicted at the time of writing the publication. Thus, the courses of the changes are presented rather briefly. In the chapter about forest utilisation the allowable and actual cuts for different regions of Northwest Russia are given and the guidelines for forest utilisation are described. The logging methods and Russian harvesting technology are presented briefly. In the chapter about forest industry the annual production figures and locations of production plants for sawmill and wood-based panel industry as well as for chemical forest industry are given. In addition, the competitiveness, investments and foreign trade of Russian forest industry are discussed. Further information on topical events may be obtained in Finnish on the internet service of Expertise in Russian Forestry -project at www.idanmetsatieto.info. Keywords Russia, Northwest Russia, forest resources, forest utilisation, forest industry Available at http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm Replaces Is replaced by Contact information Sari Karvinen, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Joensuu Research Unit, Yliopistokatu 6 (P.O. Box 68), FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland. E-mail sari.karvinen@metla.fi Other information Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 4 Contents Preface ...........................................................................................................................6 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................7 2 Ownership and Administration of Forests ..............................................................8 2.1 Legislation Concerning Forests and Their Utilisation.....................................................8 2.2 Administration of Forest Resources....................................................................................8 2.3 Forest Administration .........................................................................................................9 3 Forest Resources.....................................................................................................14 3.1 Russian Forest Resources .................................................................................................14 3.2 Forest Management Groups..............................................................................................15 3.3 Tree species.......................................................................................................................16 3.4 Development Classes and Age-Class Distribution ...........................................................17 4 Forest Certification ..................................................................................................19 4.1 Forest Certification Schemes ............................................................................................19 4.2 Verification of Wood Origin.............................................................................................19 5 Education and Research .........................................................................................20 5.1 Education on the Field of Forestry....................................................................................20 5.2 Research on the Field of Forestry .....................................................................................21 6 Forest Regeneration ................................................................................................22 6.1 Natural and Artificial Regeneration..................................................................................22 6.2 Production of Seeds and Seedling Plants..........................................................................24 7 Silviculture................................................................................................................26 7.1 Seedling Stand Management.............................................................................................26 7.2 Forest Fertilisation and Drainage......................................................................................27 7.3 Intermediate Fellings ........................................................................................................27 8 Nature Conservation................................................................................................30 8.1 Organising Nature Conservation.......................................................................................30 8.2 Nature Conservation Areas ...............................................................................................30 9 Multiple-use of Forests............................................................................................33 9.1 Utilisation of Non-wood Forest Products.......................................................................33 9.2 Berries, Mushrooms and Birch Sap ..................................................................................33 9.3 Medicinal Herbs and Raw-material for Chemical Industry ..............................................34 9.4 Recreational Use of Forests ..............................................................................................35 10 Forest Planning and Inventory .............................................................................36 10.1 Assessment System of Forest Resources ........................................................................36 10.2 Forest Inventory ..............................................................................................................36 10.3 Forest planning................................................................................................................39 10.4 Assessment of the Inventory and Planning Systems.......................................................39 Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 5 11 Forest Utilisation....................................................................................................40 11.1 Allocating the Forest Use Rights ....................................................................................40 11.2 Determining Forest Fees .................................................................................................40 11.3 Allowable Cut and Utilisation of Forest Resources........................................................41 11.4 Monitoring Forest Use ....................................................................................................44 11.5 Allocation and Evaluation of Logging Sites ...................................................................45 11.6 Forestry Plan ...................................................................................................................46 11.7 Planning Wood Procurement ..........................................................................................47 11.8 Timber Harvest and Transportation ................................................................................47 11.8.1 Logging Enterprises.............................................................................................47 11.8.2 Final Fellings and Used Logging Methods..........................................................50 11.8.3 Russian Logging Technology ..............................................................................51 11.8.4 Timber Transportation .........................................................................................54 11.8.5 Challenges for Timber Harvesting.......................................................................55 11.9 Forest Roads....................................................................................................................57 12 Forest Industry.......................................................................................................60 12.1 Russian Forest Industry in General .................................................................................60 12.2 Competitiveness of the Forest Industry ..........................................................................64 12.3 Investments in the Forest Industry ..................................................................................65 12.4 Sawmill Industry.............................................................................................................67 12.5 Wood-based Panel Industry ............................................................................................69 12.5.1 Plywood ...............................................................................................................69 12.5.2 Fibreboard............................................................................................................71 12.5.3 Particle Board ......................................................................................................72 12.6 Chemical Forest Industry ................................................................................................74 12.7 Foreign Trade of the Forest Industry ..............................................................................79 12.7.1 Value of Foreign Trade......................................................................................79 12.7.2 Exports.................................................................................................................80 12.7.3 Imports.................................................................................................................85 References...................................................................................................................86 Statistic annex.............................................................................................................89 ANNEX 1 ......................................................................................................................96 ANNEX 2 ......................................................................................................................98 Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 6 Preface The purpose of this paper is to provide a general view of the current state of the forest sector in Northwest Russia. The paper is a translation of the Finnish guidebook on forestry in Northwest Russia "Luoteis-Venäjän metsätalouden taskutieto", which was published at the Finnish Forest Research Institute in spring 2005. Some small updating and alterations have been made since the publishing of the guidebook in Finnish in 2005, but generaly the paper presents the most current information available at the time of writing the Finnish version. The ongoing renewal pertaining to the forest legislation and administration will lead to changes in the forest sector, which may deviate greatly from the plans predicted at the time of writing this publication. Thus, the courses of the changes are presented here rather briefly. Further information on topical events may be obtained in Finnish on the internet service of Expertise in Russian Forestry project at www.idanmetsatieto.info. Despite the uncertainty caused by the numerous changes concerning the Russian forest sector, this publication aims at providing a reliable and quick source for anyone interested in Russian forests and forest sector. We would like to express our gratitude to the Counsellor on Forestry Affairs at the Embassy of Finland in Moscow, Hannu Kivelä as well as to Professor Timo Karjalainen and researchers of International forestry at the Finnish Forest Research Institute, Joensuu Research Unit, for providing expert assistance and suggestions for improving the contents of this publication. Joensuu, July 2006 Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 7 1 Introduction For years, Russia has been an important collaborator for people operating in the Finnish forest sector and its significance as a partner will not diminish during the coming years. In addition to large-scale enterprises, an ever-increasing number of small and middle-sized companies are contemplating cooperating in the establishment of a production facility in Russia. For making such decisions, information on the current state and future development of the Russian forest sector is needed. In addition, numerous organisations collaborating in the forest sector require information to support their work. Obtaining information on Russia can be difficult and time consuming and additionally, information becomes rapidly outdated. The information service on Russian forestry, “Expertise in Russian Forestry”, was founded to gather scattered information and to convey it to those involved in the Finnish forest sector. This publication aims to provide a comprehensive picture of the current state of the forest sector in Northwest Russia. The greatest ongoing changes in the forest sector in Russia concern the forest legislation and administration. In addition to the amendments to the existing Forest Code, preparations for compiling an entirely new Forest Code are under way. A number of versions of the new proposal for the Forest Code have been announced, and at the time of publication, the latest version has passed the first reading in the Duma. Because the Code will likely be altered as it goes through the law making process, the Code has been presented only briefly in this publication. The reforming of the forest administration has thus far been enforced only in the central administration but it will take years to conduct the amendments on a regional level. Obtaining statistical information in Russia has turned out to be a challenging task. As some of the information pertaining to the forest sector is not accessible through the official channels, there may be contradictions in the data presented. Most of the facts in this publication are based on information verified by the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat), with the most recent being from 2003. Preliminary information on 2004’s statistics has partly been presented also, but this information may be greatly altered as the confirmed statistics are published. At the regional level, corrections may be done to already confirmed information, and thus official information may be divergent. Most of the data concerning forest utilisation has been collected in reports and books published by the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation in 2002 and 2003. Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 8 2 Ownership and Administration of Forests 2.1 Legislation Concerning Forests and Their Utilisation The highest legal document concerning the forests and regulating forest utilisation is the constitution of the Russian Federation. The constitution, among other tasks, ensures every man’s rights and distributes the governance and decision making among the Federation and regions. Phrasing and formulation of the constitution enables various interpretations, which has caused confrontation between the Federation, regions and local authorities when attempting to solve administrative issues. The Forest Code of the Russian Federation (lesnoy kodeks) is the main document governing the protection, management and utilisation of forests. The first forest law of the post-Soviet Russia "Principles of the Forestry Legislation of the Russian Federation" was confirmed in 1993, but was reviewed only four years later in 1997. The Forest Code defines issues concerning the ownership, administration, and leasing of forests as well as financing forestry and compiling forest planning and management, to give a few examples. In the past, all the regions, i.e. the subjects to the Russian Federation (republics, oblasts, krays, etc.), had a right to compile their own regional stipulations as long as they were in line with the federal forest law. However, today, as a consequence of the centralisation of legislation and administration, only the Forest Code is valid, and federal authorities are solely responsible for the management of forest resources. So called former agricultural forests make the only exception, these forests being managed by regional authorities. At the time of writing this publication, the third amendment of Forest Code is under way and it is supposed to be adopted during 2006. The objective of the new Forest Code is to enhance the economic utilisation of forests by promoting investments in forestry related infrastructure and by developing forest utilisation towards long-term leases. In addition to the Forest Code, also Land Code and Federal Law on Environmental Protection regulate operations in the forests. In all, the collection of stipulations concerning the Russian forests comprises of over 300 documents. 2.2 Administration of Forest Resources The forest resources are owned by the Russian Federation, which is primarily responsible for organising forest management, protection and rational utilisation. According to the Forest Code, Land Code and Federal Law on Environmental Protection it is possible to pass forest ownership to a regional administrative body. According to an amendment made to the current Forest Code in the end of December 2005, the administration of forest resources will be transferred to federal subjects in the beginning of 2007, except for some densely populated areas. Currently, the private ownership of forests is not possible. Administratively forest resources are divided into two groups; forest fund (lesnoy fond) and forests that do not belong to the forest fund (Figure 1). Forest fund stands for the land area that, according to the Forest Code, could potentially be covered by forests, excluding forests that belong to armed forces or municipalities. However, all forests regardless of their administrative body are bound by stipulations of the Forest Code according to which their utilisation is regulated. Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 9 Forest resources of the Russian FederationForest resources of the Russian Federation Forest fund, 99.5 %Forest fund, 99.5 % Ministry of Natural Resources 96 % Ministry of Natural Resources 96 % Regional government 3.4 % Regional government 3.4 % Ministry of Defence 0.4 % Ministry of Defence 0.4 % Urban forests 0.1 % Urban forests 0.1 % Forests not included in the forest fund, 0.5 % Forests not included in the forest fund, 0.5 % Ministry of Education 0.03 % Ministry of Education 0.03 % Forest resources of the Russian FederationForest resources of the Russian Federation Forest fund, 99.5 %Forest fund, 99.5 % Ministry of Natural Resources 96 % Ministry of Natural Resources 96 % Regional government 3.4 % Regional government 3.4 % Ministry of Defence 0.4 % Ministry of Defence 0.4 % Urban forests 0.1 % Urban forests 0.1 % Forests not included in the forest fund, 0.5 % Forests not included in the forest fund, 0.5 % Ministry of Education 0.03 % Ministry of Education 0.03 % Figure 1. Administrative division of Russian forest resources (as of 1.1.2005). Forest administration in Russia is the responsibility of the Ministry of Natural Resources and its subordinate Federal Forest Agency with its regional organisations. The subjects of the Federation (republics, oblasts etc.) are obliged to govern the formerly entitled agricultural forests, whereas urban forests are governed by the local administration (cities, municipalities). Organisations accountable for administrating the forests are sovereign when it comes to regulating forest protection, regeneration, management as well as organising forest use. The Ministry of Natural Resources possesses about 94% of the forested land in Northwest Russia, which is slightly less than in Russia on average. Depending on the region this share varies from less than 60% to complete ownership (Figure 2). 2.3 Forest Administration The post-Soviet Russian forestry has gone through several changes and the process is still ongoing. Despite the numerous legislative and administrative reforms, substantive alterations that would update forestry to a market driven system have been slow. Reshaping the forest administration continues as a part of the Federation’s large-scale administration reform. The main principles of the reform are the intensification of administration and diminishing the number of tasks that currently are the state’s responsibility. In forestry, the main goal has been to disassociate the tasks related to the administration and management of the state property and the control of their use. Furthermore, an attempt to renew the division between public and private sectors has been made by assigning forestry related duties to private enterprises. During 2004, necessary amendments concerning legislation and administrative structure were made at the Federal and the regional administrative levels. In 2000, most of the tasks of forest administration became the responsibility of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation. In the past, forests were governed by Federal Forest Agency of the Russian Federation, which was administratively an independent organisation and thus not subordinate to any Ministry. In addition to forest resources, the Ministry of Natural Resources is responsible for monitoring mining activities and water resources as well as environmental issues in general. Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 10 Figure 2. The share of forest land governed by the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) in Northwest Russia in 2003 (information on Kaliningrad region is not included in the map). Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 11 The main tasks of the Ministry of Natural Resources is the drafting of laws and normatives governing utilisation and inspection of natural resources as well as the performance of functions related to the processes of law-making and law-enforcement. The Ministry consists of six departments, with 370 personnel (Figure 3). MinisterMinister Deputy MinisterDeputy Minister Federal Subsoil Resources Management Agency Federal Subsoil Resources Management Agency Federal Service for Inspecting the Utilisation of Natural Resources Federal Service for Inspecting the Utilisation of Natural Resources Federal Subsoil Resources Management Agency Federal Subsoil Resources Management Agency Federal Service for Inspecting the Utilisation of Natural Resources Federal Service for Inspecting the Utilisation of Natural Resources Deputy MinisterDeputy Minister Deputy MinisterDeputy MinisterSecretary of State – Deputy Minister Secretary of State – Deputy Minister Federal Water Resources Agency Federal Water Resources Agency Federal Forest Agency Federal Forest Agency Federal Water Resources Agency Federal Water Resources Agency Federal Forest Agency Federal Forest Agency Department of Economics Department of Economics Department of State Policy on Environment Department of State Policy on EnvironmentLegal Department Legal Department Department of State Policy on Forestry and Water Resources Department of State Policy on Forestry and Water Resources Department of Economics Department of Economics Department of State Policy on Environment Department of State Policy on EnvironmentLegal Department Legal Department Department of State Policy on Forestry and Water Resources Department of State Policy on Forestry and Water Resources Department of International Relations Department of International Relations Department of State Policy on Geology and Mining Department of State Policy on Geology and Mining Department of International Relations Department of International Relations Department of State Policy on Geology and Mining Department of State Policy on Geology and Mining Figure 3. Structure of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation (as of 10.5.2006). The Federal Forest Agency (Federalnoe agentstvo lesnogo khozyaistva) or Rosleskhoz is the executive body in forestry at the federal administration level. It provides services, executes legislation and policies as well as governs the state property, i.e. forest resources. Monitoring and controlling of forests is the responsibility of the Federal Service for Inspecting the Utilisation of Natural Resources (Federalnaya sluzhba po nadzoru v sfere prirodopolzovaniya) or Rosprirodnadzor, which is subordinate to the Ministry of Natural Resources. Additionally the Federal Forest Agency may, within the limits of its competence, introduce statutes and uphold registers. The central administration of the Federal Forest Agency employs 140 state officials. At the regional level, the governance of forest resources is the responsibility of the regional organisations, which are subordinate to the Federal Forest Agency. These organisations are fully authorised bodies of the Federation, which plan and determine the utilisation of forest resources in their regions. At the local level, the administration of forestry is passed on to leskhozes, the elementary organisational units of Russian forest administration. In all, there are 1,759 leskhozes in Russia, whose administrated areas vary from a couple of thousand hectares to over a million hectares. A typical land area of a leskhoz is about 100,000–400,000 hectares. Leskhozes branch off further into land areas known as lesnichestvos (Figure 4). Lesnichestvos are districts that are run by one forest field professional, usually a forest engineer. Typically, one leskhoz comprises of 3–7 lesnichestvos. In addition to the Federation level forest administration, subjects to the Federation as well as municipalities and cities have bodies that are accountable for governing the forests in their area. In the past, they were also responsible for allocating usufructs in their areas. Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 12 Figure 4. Leskhozes of the Republic of Karelia (as in 2002) and lesnichestvos of the Pudozhsky leskhoz. (FEG Ltd) Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 13 Despite the reforms of the 1990s, the composition and functions of leskhozes have remained virtually unaltered ever since the Soviet times. Forest management, protection and monitoring have remained the main tasks of the leskhozes, but as a result of the introduction of the first forest law in 1993, the right to do final fellings was given to forest companies. Furthermore, leskhozes act as a part of the Federal forest administration when forest rental and auctions are being prepared. According to the Forest Code of 1997, leskhozes have a right to perform intermediate fellings, sell this timber and use the proceeds to fund their statutory duties. According to the law, the statutory duties of the leskhozes should be funded from the budgets of the Federation and regions, but frequently the budget funding is insufficient. The current objective is to conduct a forest administration reform at the local level, which would lead to the abolishment of the leskhozes in their current form. According to the plan, leskhozes would be replaced by a so-called interregional-lesnichestvo (mezhrayonnoe lesnichestvo), whose function would be to organise forest management and protection in its area. Enforcement of the Forest Code and other forestry related legislation is planned to be the responsibility of the regional administrative body of the Federal Service for Inspecting the Utilisation of Natural Resources. Decisions on allowing state forestry to participate in business activities have not been made thus far. Instead, establishing a state enterprise that would be responsible for managing all the forests, except the ones leased out, is currently regarded as one option. Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 14 3 Forest Resources 3.1 Russian Forest Resources Russia possesses about 20% of all the world’s forest resources. The total area of Russian forests is 1.2 billion hectares, of which actual forest land is 883 million hectares (Table 1). The volume of growing stock is 82 billion cubic metres and the average annual increment slightly less than one billion cubic metres. In Russia, the mean annual increment (srednyj prirost) is calculated by dividing the volume of stock by its age. In Northwest Russia, the total area of forests is 118 million hectares, of which forest land comprises 76%. The total volume of growing stock is 10 billion cubic metres and its gross annual increment 130 million cubic metres. More than half of the Northwest Russian forest resources are located in the Republic of Komi and the Arkhangelsk region (Figure 5). Russian forest fund is divided into two categories according to land use; Forest Land (lesnye zemli) and Non-Forest Land (nelesnye zemli). Forest Land comprises of all the land area allocated for growing forests, i.e. land area that is covered with forests, non-forested forest land such as clear felling sites, forests destroyed by storms or forest fires, sapling stands and nurseries. Non-Forest Land includes the land area that is not used for growing stock but is otherwise used by forestry, such as land area occupied by peat land, roads, power lines, water bodies or pastures. Table 1. Forest resources of the Russian Federation in 2003. Forests included in forest fund 1) Forests not included in forest fund 2) TOTAL Region Area 3a), 1,000 ha Forestland 4), 1,000 ha Volume, million m³ Area 3b), 1,000 ha Forestland 4), 1,000 ha Volume, million m³ Total volume, million m³ Share of mature and over mature forests, % of the total volume Mean annual increment 5), million m³ Russian Federation 1,173,089 878,138 81,538 5,913 4,838 592 82,130 54 994 Northwest Russia 116,866 89,264 9,992 988 695 102 10,093 59 133 Arkhangelsk region 6) 29,318 22,713 2,488 223 173 34 2,522 69 28 Kaliningrad region 297 263 41 29 22 4 44 14 1 Republic of Karelia 14,833 9,737 940 75 60 6 946 45 14 Republic of Komi 38,891 30,635 2,965 10 10 1 2,966 73 30 Leningrad region 5,595 4,593 790 303 234 35 825 42 14 Murmansk region 9,831 5,372 229 217 92 2 231 62 2 Novgorod region 4,102 3,574 612 11 9 2 614 44 11 Pskov region 2,409 2,112 334 58 49 8 342 27 7 Vologda region 11,590 10,266 1,594 63 48 8 1,602 49 26 (Source: Lesnoy fond Rossii 2003) 1) Lesnoy fond 5) The mean annual increment (obschij srednyj prirost) is calculated 2) Lesa, ne vhodjaschie v lesnoy fond by adding the average annual growth (srednyj prirost) according 3a) Zemli lesnogo fonda to age-classes. 3b) Zemli, ne vhodjaschie v lesnoy fond Srednyj prirost = volume of the stand / age of the stand 4) Lesnye zemli 6) Includes the Nenets Autonomous Area Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 15 2 966 2 522 1 602 946 825 342 231 44 614 0 500 1 000 1 500 2 000 2 500 3 000 3 500 Kaliningrad region Murmansk region Pskov region Novgorod region Leningrad region Republic of Karelia Volodga region Arkhangelsk region Republic of Komi million m3 15 24 27 64 46 44 22 97 27 35 23 32 76 73 54 31 3 15 8 54 36 55 47 72 51 69 Vologda region Pskov region Novgorod region Murmansk region Leningrad region Republic of Komi Republic of Karelia Kaliningrad region Arkhangelsk region Northw est Russia Russian Federation % of the total area Group I Group II Group III Figure 5. Volume of forests in the Northwest Russia in 2003. (Source: Lesnoy fond Rossii 2003) 3.2 Forest Management Groups Russian forests are divided into three management groups according to their usage and importance to ecology and the national economy. Each of the management groups is set with limitations in forest use. The majorities of forests, 69%, is for commercial purposes and thus belong to the management group III. In Northwest Russia, management group III forests comprise 51% of all the forests (Figure 6). Figure 6. Distribution of Russian forests into management groups in 2003. (Source: Lesnoy fond Rossii 2003) I forest management group • Shore zones of rivers and lakes • Shelterbelts by roads and railways • Conservation areas and other forests outside economic use • Clear fellings are partly forbidden • Selection and sanitary fellings are allowed with certain restrictions II forest management group • Forests in densely populated or industrial areas • Volume of annual fellings may not exceed annual increment • Forest regeneration is obligatory after performing fellings III forest management group • The main source of raw material for forest industry • Clear felling areas may not be larger than 50 hectares Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 16 3.3 Tree species According to the established practice in Russia, tree species are divided into three categories: coniferous (khvoinye), soft deciduous (mjahkolistvennye) and hard deciduous (tvjordolistvennye). Dominance of coniferous species is characteristic to the Northwest Russian forests. In the areas governed by the Ministry of Natural Resources, coniferous forests cover 75% of the forest land as well as of the volume of the stock (Figure 7). Vologda, Novgorod and Pskov regions stand out from the other regions of Northwest Russia due to the large share of deciduous species in their forests (Table 2). Figure 7. Tree species composition in the forests governed by the Ministry of Natural Resources in Northwest Russia. Left: of the total volume of growing stock, right: of the total land area. (Source: Lesnoy Fond Rossii 2003) Table 2. Tree species composition of forests managed by the Ministry of Natural Resources in 2003. Dominant tree species Volume of growing stock Pine (Pinus spp.) Spruce (Abies spp.) Larch (Larix spp.) Birch (Betula spp.) Aspen (Populus spp.) Region million m³ Russian Federation 76,060 15,006 10,009 23,108 9,883 3,086 Northwest Russia 8,831 2,537 4,138 33 1,594 407 Arkhangelsk region 2,227 556 1,382 9 246 34 Kaliningrad region 40 7 6 0,04 10 1 Republic of Karelia 940 545 285 0,07 98 10 Republic of Komi 2,948 666 1,765 23 363 97 Leningrad region 622 216 187 0,11 154 58 Murmansk region 229 111 86 0,01 32 0,03 Novgorod region 606 110 113 0,08 249 86 Pskov region 174 73 21 0,02 53 18 Vologda region 1,045 254 292 0,12 390 103 (Source: Lesnoy fond Rossii 2003) Volume Pine 29 % Spruce 46 % Birch 18 % Aspen 5 % Other 2 % Area Pine 31 % Spruce 44 % Birch 20 % Aspen 3 % Other 2 % Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 17 3.4 Development Classes and Age-Class Distribution The Northwest Russian forests are categorised into ten age-classes marked by Roman numerals I–X. Each age-class covers 20 years for coniferous trees (and some deciduous trees such as oak) and 10 years for most of the deciduous trees. Development classes are divided into five classes: young, middle-age, maturing, mature and over-mature stands (Table 3). Table 3. Average age of a stand with regard the development classes Average age of a stand, years Development class Coniferous Deciduous Young 0 - 40 0 - 20 Middle-age 41 - 80 21 - 40 Maturing 81 - 100 41 - 50 Mature 101 - 160 51 - 80 Over-mature > 161 > 81 The rotation periods in Northwest Russian forestry are long. On the same latitudes where rotation period for coniferous forests in Finland is 80–100 years, the Russian period is commonly 120–140 years. In Russia, the rotation period is determined according to biological facts, not according to economical aspects. Although local differences in development-class distribution occur, over half of the Northwest Russian forests belong to the mature or over- mature classes (Figure 8, Table 4). Except for specifically protected forests and forest zones with felling restrictions, all the mature and over-mature forests of all the three management groups that allow final fellings, are counted as exploitable forests (lesa, vozmozhnye dlja ekspluatatsii). Exploitable forests do not include areas where forest utilisation is economically not profitable, such as sparsely wooded forests (less than 40 m³/ha in European parts of Russia and the Urals, less than 50 m³/ha in Asian parts of Russia) and reserve forests (reservnye lesa). Reserve forests refer to remote areas located mostly in North-Siberia and roadless territories, where forestry is not practiced today nor are there aspirations to do so in the near future. Only a part of the Russian forests are considered to be exploitable and with regard all the Russian forests under the administration of the Ministry of Natural Resources, the share is 53%. In Northwest Russia, the share of exploitable forests is 70%, though Murmansk region is an exception where the share is only 40%. Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 18 13 165 9 927 4 131 34 174 6 635 2 149 6 321 4 073 0 5 000 10 000 15 000 20 000 25 000 30 000 35 000 40 000 45 000 Young Middle-age Maturing Mature and over- mature 10 00 h a Deciduous Coniferous Figure 8. Age-class distribution in forests governed by the Ministry of Natural Resources in Northwest Russia in 2003. (Source: Lesnoy fond Rossii 2003) Table 4. Development-class structure and share of exploitable forests in forests managed by the Ministry of Natural Resources in 2003. Exploitable forests Young Middle-age Maturing Mature and over mature Total Total Coniferous Deciduous Region million m³ Russian Federation 3,635 18,323 10,379 42,154 76,060 39,630 28,302 11,185 Northwest Russia 491 1,809 1,055 5,475 8,830 6,384 4,685 1,700 Arkhangelsk region 100 377 135 1,616 2,227 1,611 1,386 225 Kaliningrad region 6 23 6 5 40 32 10 22 Republic of Karelia 126 258 132 424 940 731 649 83 Republic of Komi 104 458 239 2,146 2,948 1,943 1,584 359 Leningrad region 40 152 164 265 622 452 281 170 Murmansk region 18 57 13 141 229 90 81 10 Novgorod region 29 157 154 266 606 479 166 313 Pskov region 13 57 48 56 174 136 70 66 Vologda region 57 269 163 556 1,045 911 457 453 (Source: Lesnoy fond Rossii 2003) Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 19 4 Forest Certification 4.1 Forest Certification Schemes In Russia, two forest certification systems based on voluntary membership are being developed in parallel. In the past, forest administration pursued a system where all forests must be certified, but the programme was abandoned due to its failures in meeting international requirements as well as because of lack of resources. The National Council of Forest Certification in Russia, founded in 2003 by an initiative group under the Ministry of Natural Resources, and the National System of Voluntary Forest Management Certification in Russia, founded in 2000 by the Union of Timber Merchants and Timber Exporters of Russia have been preparing forest certification standards independently from one another. In April 2005, the leaders of the councils signed up an agreement for founding a joint coordination centre. The objective of the centre is to represent Russia in PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes), where each nation may be represented by one organisation only. Establishing a joint representation organisation may hasten the process of completing the forest certification system in Russia as well as the process of getting the standards internationally accepted. The slow progress in the creation of the national certification system has partly been due to the uncertainty regarding the generally approved requirements and standards for voluntary systems, and whether Russian exporters of timber and wooden products will benefit more from certification standards based on FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) or PEFC system. The FSC certification scheme system is being supported by WWF International and Greenpeace in co- operation with local NGO’s from several regions (for example in Komi, Pskov and Krasnoyarsk). Altogether 27 certificates, covering 8.92 million hectares, have been awarded in Russia (situation as of the 1st of June 2006). In each case the certifications process has been conducted by a foreign certification enterprise and in all of them a standard based on FSC’s principles on sustainable forestry has been applied. Certificates have mostly been sought by leskhozes and logging enterprises. 4.2 Verification of Wood Origin The objective of verification is to reliably track the origin of timber throughout the different stages of timber production, transportation and processing. In June 2006, 36 Russian enterprises possess a FSC chain-of-custody certificate and as a result, they are entitled to use the FSC trademark on products that are produced of timber harvested in their certified forests. Additionally Russia has been in close collaboration with both the EU and the World Bank to fight against illegal logging and its associated trade. Co-operation with the EU is mostly linked with the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan that contains a proposal for a voluntary licensing scheme for imported timber by which the chain-of-custody can be verified by the EU. Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 20 5 Education and Research 5.1 Education on the Field of Forestry Vocational education is provided by technical schools of secondary level and other similar institutions (lesotehnicheskaya shkola). This education prepares students for tasks typical of specific occupational titles and pupils graduate as forest workers or logging machine operators, for example. Currently two forest-technical schools are in operation in Northwest Russia; one in Chalna in the Republic of Karelia and the other in Obozersk in Arkhangelsk region (Table 5). Table 5. Educational establishments in Northwest Russia. Obozersk Forest Technical School, Arkhangelsk region Vocational schools Shuisko-Vidansky Forest Technical School, Republic of Karelia Arkhangelsk Forest Technical College, Arkhangelsk region Cherepovets Forest Mechanical Institute, Vologda region Lisino Forest College and Training Leskhoz, Leningrad region Petrozavodsk Forest Technical Institute, Republic of Karelia Uhta Forest College of Industry and Economics, Republic of Komi Velikie Luki Institute of Forestry, Pskov region Intermediate vocational schools Vytegorsky Forest Technical College, Vologda Arkhangelsk State Technical University, Arkhangelsk region Forest Engineering Faculty of the Petrozavodsk State University, Republic of Karelia St. Petersburg Forest Technical Academy, St. Petersburg Syktyvkar Forest Institute, Republic of Komi (branch of FTA in St. Petersburg) Higher education establishments Ukhta State Technical University, Republic of Komi Intermediate occupational institutions (college or tekhnikum) educate technicians majoring in timber harvesting and timber processing technologies, as well as in fields of forestry and management of park woodlands. Additionally, intermediate education is provided by polytechnic institutions. One may apply for an intermediate occupational institution after completing elementary school, vocational school or upper secondary school. Those that pass either the vocational or the upper secondary school may complete the intermediate studies in less time than the ones who have completed elementary school only. Intermediate education prepares for occupational tasks of an expert and in Northwest Russia seven institutions provide forestry related intermediate education under the Ministry of Education and Federal Forest Agency. Highest level education is provided by universities and academies, which educate experts for the needs of both the public and the private sector. Currently a typical title for a university graduate is engineer. However, Russian occupational titles are slowly being changed to correspond with the European titles and the St. Petersburg Forest Technical Academy has been the first forestry field university in Russia to implement Bachelor’s and Master’s degree titles. Further education is provided by vocational schools, centres of continuing education and institutes that have obtained the necessary licence. Further education of employed professionals is the responsibility of the employer. Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 21 5.2 Research on the Field of Forestry Organisations engaged in forest research may be divided into three categories: • Research institutes subordinate to the Ministry of Natural Resources • Research institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences • Universities In Northwest Russia research institutes subordinate to the Ministry of Natural Resources are the Northern Research Institute for Forestry (SevNIILH) in Arkhangelsk and the St. Petersburg Forest Research Institute (SPbNIILH). Research in these institutes is often concentrated on solving certain tangible forest sector related problems according to profiles assigned by the Ministry. The Northern Research Institute for Forestry is the leading applied research institution in European North of Russia and its objective is to enhance the production and utilisation of northern forests by, for example, investigating forest regeneration and intensified forest utilisation. The St. Petersburg Forest Research Institute, on the other hand, is specialised in southern taiga forests and its main fields in research include forest fire suppression, forest land draining and landscape management. The Russian Academy of Sciences has traditionally been the leading institution for conducting basic research in natural sciences. Although only one institute in Northwest Russia, the Forest Research Institute of Karelian Research Centre, concentrates purely on forests, forestry related research is also carried out in other institutions such as the Institute of Biology in the Komi Research Centre, the Northern Institute of Ecological Problems in Industry (IPES) in Apatity and in the Komarov Botanical Institute in St. Petersburg. The Forest Research Institute of Karelian Research Centre is specialised in studying the structure and dynamics of forest ecosystems, tree physiology and forest soil sciences. Economic forestry related research is practiced in the Institute of Economics in the Karelian Research Centre, for example. In recent years, universities’ contribution to research has been minor with the exception of producing theses. Russian universities have traditionally emphasised tuition, instead of research, more than their counterparts in Western Europe and the recent economic hardship has strengthened this trend. Remuneration received from tuition is significantly greater compared to that of research, which makes research work financially unattractive for teachers. Ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian forest research has struggled as a result of severe financial restrictions, which has led to a decay in the physical infrastructure, a decrease in the number of scientists and decline in quantity and quality of research. Currently a reorganisation of research institutes is under way and it may affect the total number of them. Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 22 6 Forest Regeneration 6.1 Natural and Artificial Regeneration Of annually regenerated forest land, 70–80% is done by employing methods to encourage natural regeneration. Natural regeneration may be achieved by retaining undergrowth or second tree storey, leaving seed-trees on the felling site, or by using strip, increment or selection felling. In case no viable undergrowth occupies the felling site, natural regeneration is preceded by soil preparation. Five years after felling or soil preparation, the site is checked for successful regeneration. Both possible undergrowth and all viable saplings that are 2 years of age or older and that have been naturally generated, are taken into consideration in an inventory. In a naturally generated sapling pine stand, the recommended number of saplings is 3 000–4 000 stems per hectare. Areas are considered regenerated if they hold a sufficient amount of viable saplings that fulfil the quality requirements. If the restocking has been found to be inadequate, then the area is degraded to a category of ‘area to be regenerated’. In the areas where generating an economically valuable naturally born seedling stand is not possible, artificial regeneration is performed either by planting or sowing. The amount of planted and sowed sites varies significantly from region to region, but it has never exceeded 30% of the total harvested area, not even during the most intense years of artificial regeneration. Although the results of artificial regeneration are greatly dependent on the natural conditions of the area as well as the methods chosen, a strong correlation between a successful regeneration and the economic state of the zone has also been found. Artificially regenerated sites are inspected by conducting a field inventory in one-year-old and three-year-old seedling stands. During the inventory the land area of the viable seedling stand in comparison to regenerated land area as well as the percentage of living saplings of all planted saplings are being defined. Additionally, well stocked areas are being categorised as regenerated and reasons for possible failure in regeneration are being defined. Two-year-old stands are inspected for their condition and possible need for supplementary planting. In 2002, 890 000 hectares of Russian forest were regenerated naturally or artificially, whereas, during the same year, the land area of clear fellings comprised of 610 000 hectares. In 2003, the regenerated land area was 830 000 hectares (Table 6). In Northwest Russia, one quarter of annually regenerated land area is regenerated by planting or sowing and the remaining three quarters of the area is left to be regenerated naturally (Figure 9). Regional variation, however, is significant and in Leningrad and Pskov regions, for example, the share of artificial regeneration is greater than that of natural regeneration (Table 6). Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 23 248 145 111 110 108 109 72 54 43 47 46 45 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2003 1, 00 0 ha Sowing and planting Natural regeneration Figure 9. Forest regeneration in forests governed by the Ministry of Natural Resources in Northwest Russia in 1994 - 2003. (Source: Ministry of Natural Resources) Table 6. Forest regeneration in 2003. Forest regeneration in total Natural regeneration Artificial regeneration Region 1,000 ha Russian Federation 834 601 233 of which Ministry of Natural Resources 769 563 206 Northwest Russia 154 109 45 Arkhangelsk region 42 34 8 Kaliningrad region 0,7 0 0,7 Republic of Karelia 22 12 10 Republic of Komi 37 35 2 Leningrad region 14 5 9 Murmansk region 3 2 1 Novgorod region 11 6 5 Pskov region 2,5 0,5 2 Vologda region 21 15 6 (Source: Ministry of Natural Resources) During recent years, ever since the decline in annually regenerated land area in the early 1990s, the area of forest regeneration has stayed roughly the same. Although regeneration is currently one of the leskhozes’s duties, the new Forest Code, currently being compiled, would delegate this obligation to the forest users. Although ever since the 1970s the area of forest regeneration has regularly exceeded the area of annual clear fellings, forest regeneration in Russia is problematic. Of the Russian forest land, 12%, i.e. 100 million hectares is treeless and of which over three quarters is deforested regeneration areas that are either waiting to be regenerated or where regeneration has been unsuccessful. In Northwest Russia, the share of treeless forest land is only 2%, i.e. 1.7 million hectares. Currently the greatest obstacle for conducting silvicultural operations and especially forest regeneration is insufficient funding. In the past, the federal subjects were responsible for Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 24 Pine, spruce, larch 99 000 kg Cedar 103 000 kg Oak 370 000 kg Other 131 000 kg financing silvicultural operations, but due to amendments to the Forest Code in early 2005, the funding for silviculture is now to be covered by the federal budget. In 2002, the budget requirement was 4.8 billion roubles of which only 2.4 billion was acquired; 45% of which came from the subjects to the Federation, 1% from the federal budget, 2% from the municipalities and 52% from outside the public sector such as income from intermediate fellings performed by the leskhozes. 6.2 Production of Seeds and Seedling Plants In Russia, collecting seeds is the responsibility of the leskhozes. Annually about 700 tonnes of seeds are collected from over one hundred tree and shrub species (Figure 10). Over 11% of the seeds are collected from permanent plots that include plus trees1, inspected seed orchards and resorts established for preserving genetically rare stands. In 2003, the seed reserves of the main tree species were sufficient to meet the demand for the whole of Russia. Figure 10. Seed collection with regard the tree species in Russia in 2002. (Source: VNIILM) In Russia, seed collection is coordinated by Tsentrlessem, a state owned organisation that prepares seed forecasts, gives instructions on collecting, handling and storing seeds as well as is responsible for the necessary supervision. Throughout Russia, 34 seed stations operate subordinate to Tsentrlessem. In addition, there are five seed breeding centres and 25 leskhozes specialised in seed production. For seedling plant production there are 1 300 permanent nurseries in Russia, but additional temporary nurseries are, if required, established to fulfil the demand of remote and/or vast regeneration sites. The total acreage of the seedling plant nurseries is about 23 000 hectares. The nurseries are either owned by the leskhozes, or they may be independent enterprises, in which case they usually provide material for several leskhozes. Annually in Russia, 1 300–1 500 million tree or shrub seedling plants, of which the majority is pine (Pinus sylvestris), are produced to meet the demand of forest regeneration. Despite the decreasing trend in seedling plant production, the volume has been sufficient for annual plantings (Figure 11). In Northwest Russia the seedling plants are mostly produced in the Republic of Karelia and in the Leningrad and Arkhangelsk regions (Figure 12). 1 A phenotype judged (but not proved by test) to be unusually superior in some quality or quantity, e.g. exceptional growth-rate, desirable growth habit, high wood density, exceptional apparent resistance to disease and insect attack or to other adverse environmental factors. Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 25 Larch 3 % Spruce 39 % Other 9 % Cedar 3 % Birch 2 % Pine 44 % 2 213 2 000 1 588 1 454 1 382 2 357 303 290 255 183 165 168 0 500 1 000 1 500 2 000 2 500 3 000 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2003 m ill io n se ed lin gs Russia Northw est Russia 2 7 11 14 16 24 28 31 36 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Murmansk region Kaliningrad region Republic of Komi Pskov region Vologda region Novgorod region Arkhangelsk region Leningrad region Republic of Karelia m illion seedlings Figure 11. Tree sapling production in 1994 – 2003 (left) and production with regard the tree species in 2002 (right). (Source: Ministry of Natural Resources) Figure 12. Seedling production in Northwest Russia in 2003. (Source: Ministry of Natural Resources) Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 26 797 661 548 583 581 555 102125131110126 154 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1994 1996 1998 2000 2001 2002 1, 00 0 ha Russian Federation Northw est Russia 7 Silviculture The objectives of the silvicultural actions (ukhod za lesom) are to improve forest productivity, manipulate tree species composition and to prevent diseases from spreading. In Russia, silviculture includes intermediate fellings, tending of saplings, forest fertilisation, draining and pre-emptive actions taken towards forest fire prevention. All actions aiming at improving seedling stands or forests belong to the state. 7.1 Seedling Stand Management In 2002, the tending of seedling stands covered about 596 000 hectares of Russian forest land. Of all the tended seedling stands 93% (555 000 hectares) belonged to forests subordinate to the Ministry of Natural Resources (Figure 13). In Russia manual clearing with brush knives and axes is still the most common practice to tend seedling stands and for example in 2002, only 42% of seedling stand management was performed by powered clearing saws. The recommended number of saplings after seedling stand management is, depending on the tree species, 2 500–3 000 stems per hectare. Figure 13. Tending of seedling stands in forests governed by the Ministry of Natural Resources in 1994 - 2002. (Source: Ministry of Natural Resources) Seedling stand management is divided into two parts; cleaning (osvetlenie) and thinning of the sapling stand (prochistka). Cleaning aims at manipulating the tree species composition as well as improving the growing conditions and quality of the main tree species. Cleaning is conducted, depending on the tree species, site factors and natural conditions, before the stand is 5-, 10-, or 20-years of age. Thinning of the sapling stand is performed after the cleaning but before the stand turns 10-, 20- or 40 years of age. Recommended yield in seedling stand management depends on the tree species composition and site factors being at the maximum 25–40% of the original density of the stand. The objectives are to improve the stem form of individual trees by regulating the growing conditions and the stand density as well as to manipulate the tree species composition. Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 27 7.2 Forest Fertilisation and Drainage Although a great deal of research on the impacts of forest fertilisers in forest growth has been conducted in Russia, in practice the utilisation of fertilisers has been relatively limited. According to the national forest inventory, over 3.2 million hectares of Russia’s forest land has been drained. The most intensive period for forest draining was from the 1950s until the 1970s, when draining was mostly conducted in the European parts of Russia and to some extent also in West-Siberia. The most common targets for draining were paludified coniferous forests on the area of intensive forest utilisation, boggy clear-felling sites and surroundings of population centres. The Republic of Karelia has been effective, even when measured on the Russian scale, in draining its forests; 20% of the Russian drained forest land is located in Karelia. Due to the economical distress after the collapse of the Soviet Union, forest draining projects have not received any funding. Any drainage carried out has almost solely been aimed at maintaining the already existing drainage systems and they have been funded mostly by the leskhozes’ own budget. Lack of sufficient funding has lead to a situation where, according to estimates, 900 000 hectares of forest land are threatened again by paludification. Furthermore, forest draining has not been taken into account in the Concept for Future Development of Forestry, and thus the prevailing situation is not expected to improve in the near future. 7.3 Intermediate Fellings In Russian forestry a division between final fellings (glavnye rubki) and intermediate fellings (promezhutochnye rubki) is made and the latter includes tending of seedling stands. Depending on the age of the stand and the objectives of the forest management, intermediate fellings are categorised as follows: Seedling stand management (osvetlenie i prochistka): See chapter 7.1. Thinning of young stands (prorezhivanie): The objective is to create optimal conditions for the growth of the best trees in a stand. Underdeveloped trees and deciduous trees that interfere with the development of valuable coniferous individuals are removed. Thinning of young stands is carried out in coniferous and mixed forests of the central taiga when the stand is 20–40 years of age and in the northern taiga forests when the stand is 31–50 years old. The recommended maximum yield, which depends on the tree species composition and site factors, is 25–40% of the stand density. Thinning of maturing stands (prokhodnaya rubka): The objective is to choose the individual trees that are to be grown until the final felling, and by doing this create the best possible conditions for their development. In coniferous and deciduous forests thinnings may be performed as late as 20 years or 10 years prior to final felling, respectively. The recommended maximum yield is 25–30% of the stand density. Sanitary fellings (sanitarnaya rubka): The objective is to remove trees infected by fungi or affected by insects. Sanitary fellings are also performed in forests damaged by storms or snow. In stands over 40-years of age, sanitary fellings may be performed only if felling exceeds 25% of the stock volume and sanitary felling may not be combined with any other type of felling during the next 2–3 years. Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 28 Renewal thinning (rubka obnovleniya): The objective is to rejuvenate the stand and to improve its sanitary condition while maintaining and emphasising its function as giving shelter and protection, especially to water sheds. Renewal thinnings are performed in middle-age, mature and over-mature forests where final fellings are not allowed. The main emphasis is in removing over-matured, damaged and infected trees. The recommended maximum yield depends on various factors such as the tree species composition as well as the density and age structure of the stand. Among water-body shelterbelt forests the yield in renewal thinnings varies between 20–35% of the density. Reformation felling (rubka pereformirovaniya): The objective is to radically alter the composition of tree species in the stand. Reformation felling is used when transforming deciduous forests with coniferous undergrowth or other tree storey to coniferous forests. In 2002, final fellings and intermediate fellings were performed on an area equal to two million hectares (Table 7). Intermediate fellings are mostly conducted in group I and II forests, where limitations are set for forest utilisation. Intermediate fellings, excluding seedling stand management, comprise 45% of the land area and 18% of the volume of all the fellings performed in Russia. In Northwest Russia, the figures are 23% and 9%, respectively. During the past ten years, the annual average yield from intermediate fellings has remained at the same level; in 2003, 27 million cubic metres in the whole of Russia and four million cubic metres in Northwest Russia (Figure 14). Thinnings comprise about one third of all the intermediate fellings (Figure 15) and their profitability varies between regions. Table 7. Final and intermediate fellings in Russia in 2002. Russian Federation Northwest Russia 1,000 ha Final fellings 743 233 Seedling stand management 596 108 Thinning of young and maturing stands 247 36 Sanitary fellings 273 16 Renewal and reformation fellings 112 17 (Source: Ministry of Natural Resources) Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 29 1.0 0.5 1.9 8.8 6.8 6.8 0 2 4 6 8 10 Renew al and reformation fellings Sanitary fellings Thinning of young and maturing stands m illion m ³ Russia Northw est Russia 21 23 22 23 23 25 27 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 1994 1996 1998 2000 2001 2002 2003 m ill io n m ³ Figure 14. Trends in removals from intermediate fellings in Russia in 1994 - 2003. (Source: Ministry of Natural Resources) Figure 15. Intermediate fellings in Russia in 2002. (Source: Ministry of Natural Resources) Traditionally intermediate fellings have been performed by the leskhozes, which, according to the Forest Code, are not allowed to conduct final fellings. Income acquired from the intermediate fellings is an important addition to the funding the leskhozes receive from the Federation. During recent years, the interest towards thinnings has increased among the logging companies as well, and as Scandinavian technology is becoming ever more common, the logging machinery gradually improves the efficiency of the thinning process. However, not only technical aspects but also the lack of adequate domestic market and high harvesting costs in comparison with final fellings has hindered performing commercial thinnings. Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 30 8 Nature Conservation 8.1 Organising Nature Conservation Conservation areas play an important role in nature protection in Russia. In the early 1900s, the development of a nature conservation scheme was started and currently its core is specifically protected areas (osobo okhranyayemye prirodnye territorii). According to Russian terminology, protected areas are in a natural state and they have special features from the standpoint of nature conservation. Such features are, for example, protection of forest site types, protection of forests that belong to different protection categories, water protection zones, areas protecting drinking water, wild animal protection areas and erosion prevention. In accordance with the structure of the Russian Federation, legislation concerning the establishment and management of nature conservation areas is distributed on two levels of the administrative structure. The Federation and regions are jointly responsible for taking care of environmental issues and nature conservation. Thus, legislation concerning nature conservation may be prescribed not only by the Federation but also by regions. However, regional stipulations must be in harmony with the federal legislation. In Russia, information on threatened fauna and flora as well as their habitats is collected in so- called Red books where the protection level of listed species and their habitats is scientifically justified. Red books are usually published jointly by research institutes and the regional administration. The Red book becomes a legal document in Federal administration right after it has been approved by the administration of the region in question. After the Red book has been approved, the recommendations mentioned in the Red book for protecting threatened species and their habitats, must be taken into consideration by the authorities that plan land use. Red books have been published ever since Soviet times in the 1970s. 8.2 Nature Conservation Areas In the beginning of 2003, Russia had 230 federal nature conservation areas covering 2.6% of the total land area. When all the regional and local level conservation areas are taken into account the number of conservation areas is over 15,000 and their share of the total land area 11%. The most significant of the Russian nature conservation areas are nature reserves and national parks. Nature reserves have a long tradition in Russia and they are the most strictly protected nature conservation areas. The nature reserve network has been developed for over 80 years and currently it comprises of 100 nature reserves. National parks, however, are a relatively new phenomenon in Russia and the first of them was established fairly recently, in 1983. The protection areas of Northwest Russia are presented in Table 8. Nature conservation areas may be categorised according to their administrative bodies as federal, regional or local level protection areas. The federal statute on specially protected conservation areas is as follows: Nature reserves (gosudarstvennye prirodnye zapovedniki): Nature reserves are completely outside commercial utilisation. The objectives are to protect original ecosystems and genetic diversity of flora and fauna that is typical to the area or is otherwise rare. Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 31 National parks (natsionalnye parki): National parks are territories with ecological, historical or aesthetic values. They are established to serve the purposes of nature protection, education, research, culture and regulated tourism. With regard to utilising natural resources, national parks are restricted with various limitations. Nature parks (prirodnye parki): Nature parks are provincial equivalents of national parks. They are territories that are intended for educational or recreational purposes or preserving nature values, and that embody ecological or aesthetic features or precious landscape. Wildlife reserves (gosudarstvennye prirodnye zakazniki): Federal wildlife reserves are valuable land or water areas where human interference has been restricted in order to protect an ecosystem, a natural habitat or a specific plant or animal species. Wildlife reserves are divided into categories such as game protection areas, geological areas and plant protection areas. Natural monuments (pamyatniki prirody): Natural monuments are unique and irreplaceable objects of either biotic or abiotic nature (e.g. a landscape), that deserve to be protected due to their scientific, cultural or historical importance. Arboretums and botanical gardens (dendrologicheskie parki i botanicheskie sady) Land areas with remedying and health promoting qualities (lechebno-ozdorovitelnye mestnosti i kurorty): Soil resources or mineral water springs that are believed to have health promoting features are included in this category. Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 32 Table 8. Conservation areas in Northwest Russia. Conservation area Location Year of founding Area, 1,000 ha NATURE RESERVES (zapavednik) Darvinsky Vologda region, Jaroslavsk region 1945 113 Kandalakshsky Murmansk region, Republic of Karelia 1932 71 Kivach Republic of Karelia 1931 11 Kostomukshsky Republic of Karelia 1983 48 Laplandsky Murmansk region 1930 278 Nenetsky Nenets Autonomous Area 1997 313 Nizhne-Svirsky Leningrad region 1980 42 Pasvik Murmansk region 1992 15 Pechoro-Ilychsky Republic of Komi 1930 721 Pinezhsky Arkhangelsk region 1974 52 Polistovsky Pskov region 1994 38 Rdeysky Novgorod region 1994 37 NATIONAL PARKS Kenozersky Arkhangelsk region 1991 140 Kurshskaya Kosa Kaliningrad region 1987 7 Paanajarvi Republic of Karelia 1992 105 Russky Sever Vologda region 1992 166 Sebezhsky Pskov region 1996 50 Valdaisky Novgorod region 1990 159 Vodlozersky Arkhangelsk region, Republic of Karelia 1991 468 Yugyd Va Republic of Komi 1994 1,892 STATE WILDLIFE RESERVES (zakaznik) Franz Joseph land Arkhangelsk region 1994 4,200 Kanozersky Murmansk region 1989 66 Kizhsky Republic of Karelia 1989 50 Swamp ”Mshinskoe boloto” Leningrad region 1982 61 Murmansky Tundrovy Murmansk region 1988 295 Nenetsky Nenets Autonomous Area 1985 309 Olonetsky Republic of Karelia 1986 27 Remdovsky Pskov region 1985 65 Siysky Arkhangelsk region 1988 43 Tulomsky Murmansk region 1987 34 (Source: Protected Areas in Russia, 2003) Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 33 9 Multiple-use of Forests 9.1 Utilisation of Non-wood Forest Products The Forest Code of the Russian Federation ensures every Russian citizen a free access to forests. Citizens are allowed to collect, excluding threatened species, wild fruit, berries, nuts, mushrooms, herbal remedies and resin for personal consumption. The Forest Code also guarantees a right to hunt and fish, but to practice these activities one must obtain the necessary permits. In Russia, the multiple-use of forests has a significant role and an essential part play the non-wood forest products (hereafter NWFP’s) such as nutritional and medicinal plants, raw- material for chemical industry (tanning agents, dying pigments), fodder and honey. In Russia collecting, researching, utilising and industrial processing of useful plants is more popular than in the Western countries. In the Kostroma region, for example, breeding experiments for cranberries (Vaccinium oxycoccos) and lingonberries (Vaccinium vitis-idaea) have been conducted for over 20 years. The most productive varieties have been registered and research is being done concerning their industrial cultivation. The core research institute in this field is the All-Russia Institute for Silviculture and Mechanisation (VNIILM) and in addition to conducting research on productivity; it studies also the domestic and international demand for collected products. Furthermore, VNIILM compiles maps on NWFP’s. During the period 1967– 1990, in order to enhance collecting NWFP’s, the leskhozes were entitled to acquire money from collecting and processing NWFP’s and use the revenue for their own purposes. As a result, an increase in volumes of annually collected and processed berries was seen in, for example, Vologda region and to some extent, in Arkhangelsk and Murmansk regions. Mushrooms, on the other hand, were collected most in the Republic of Komi. During recent years, the situation with regard the leskhozes has changed dramatically (Table 9) as the volumes of collected and processed products have decreased due to lack of financial resources, high interest rates, transportation tariffs and consumers’ poor buying capacity. Table 9. Collection and processing of non-wood forest products in Russian leskhozes. 1993 2002 tonnes Berries 2,442 223 Mushrooms 383 38 Nuts 244 23 Birch sap 4,360 255 Medicinal herbs and raw material for chemical industry 982 428 (Source: Ministry of Natural Resources) 9.2 Berries, Mushrooms and Birch Sap Although collecting berries and mushrooms for personal consumption and for sale is common, most of the annual crop is left in the forests. The total weight of the crop of most common berries; cranberry, lingonberry and blueberry are estimated to be over 7 million tonnes and mushrooms’ 4 million tonnes (Table 10). According to Russian experts, the exploitable yield of berries and mushrooms is about 50% of the total crop, of which, according to estimations, only 10–40%, depending on the area, is collected. Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 34 Table 10. Gross yield of non-wood forest products in 2002. Russian Federation Northwest Russia 1,000 tonnes Berries 8,840 924 Lingon berry 3,010 163 Blue berry 2,619 346 Cranberry 1,600 308 Bog blueberry 1,014 41 Cloudberry 454 49 Raspberry 144 16 Mushrooms 4,325 497 Nuts 3,593 0,8 Birch sap 875,505 118,540 (Source: Ministry of Natural Resources) For many Russians, wild berries and mushrooms are a significant supplement to their diet and, especially during the winter time, an important source of vitamins. Furthermore, at present, offering NWFP’s for sale is an important source of additional income. However, hardly any statistics are available on products collected for private consumption or direct sale. In addition to unofficial trade between private citizens, competition between enterprises selling NWFP’s occur also. During the peak season, numerous small and medium sized enterprises come up with trading points, where products from gatherers are bought and sold. However, there is no centralised purchasing system and thus the gatherers themselves take care of bringing their products to market. The volume of NWFP’s in the market is dependent on the crop yield and thus varies annually; naturally the gatherers first satisfy their own consumption needs. In addition to enterprises that collect berries and mushrooms, there are also enterprises that process and preserve the pickings. Such enterprises have a developed infrastructure and regular suppliers. Their high quality products are either sold domestically or exported. However, the majority of the enterprises operates without established network and focus on trading without processing the products, or processing is done on a small-scale. Semi-finished products are produced in only a few enterprises, instead collected products are mostly sold directly to the food supply, alcohol and medicine producers that process the products further. A number of foreign enterprises operate in Russia buying products for export. Collecting birch sap is common in Russia. In addition to private consumption, sap is sold in industrially packed containers and further used as raw material for producing various drinks. Furthermore, sap is used as raw material by the cosmetic industry. 9.3 Medicinal Herbs and Raw-material for Chemical Industry In Russia, over 600 plant species with medicinal significance are known. In allopathic medicine, 150 medicinal plants are used and registered in the governmental registration system. Of all the collected medicinal raw material as much as 70% are natural plants. The most important are currants (Ribes spp), raspberry (Rubus idaeus), buckthorn (Hippophaë rhamnoides) and rosehip (Rosa spp). The utilisation of medicinal plants is common in Russia (in comparison to Finland, for example) and public health service recommends medicine made of them as a supplement to synthetically produced drugs. Many of the plants used in traditional medicine grow in forests and therefore 65 conservation areas (zakazniki), where all the actions that might damage the Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 35 plant population are forbidden, have been established. In addition, regional registers on endangered species have been compiled. The raw material collected in Russian forests for utilisation by the chemical industry is mostly tanning agents and dying pigments. In addition, pine forests are a source of resin, which is used in producing rosin and turpentine chemically. In the past, collecting resin was done on an industrial scale and thus forest areas were assigned for this purpose, however today the significance of resin collection has diminished. Resin is drawn from the stems of trees 5–15 years before felling. 9.4 Recreational Use of Forests The recreational use of forests is mentioned in the Forest Code as one form of forest utilisation and it is being taken into consideration when forests are categorised into management groups. Forests surrounding cities and parks, for example, belong to group I, which is the most restricted of the forest management groups concerning forest utilisation. Recreational zones may be adjacent to nature conservation areas and various natural environments. Traditionally, the recreational use of nature has been through the workers’ holiday camps as well as children’s and teenagers’ resorts. Nowadays nature tourism is arranged by commercial agencies and it is closely related to services provided by nature conservation areas. The Republic of Karelia is one of the first regions in Russia where developing nature tourism is becoming a part of regional economy. Successful examples are the national parks of Paanajarvi and Vodlajarvi as well as Kostomukshsky nature reserve, where trekking trips and canoeing expeditions are arranged. An interest towards so-called ecological nature camps is also increasing. However, the amount of visitors in parks and reserves is restricted. Regarding the demand, the options for mass tourism in nature resorts are limited. The demand for nature tourism in Northwest and North Russia has increased but the services and infrastructure have not kept pace with this demand. Furthermore, prices of the services are high compared to citizens’ income level. In addition to traditional nature tourism, numerous Russian and foreign enterprises arrange fishing and hunting trips for wealthy customers. Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 36 10 Forest Planning and Inventory 10.1 Assessment System of Forest Resources The assessment of the condition of the forests is based on the Forest State Account, Forest Resource Register, observation of forests, forest inventory and various surveys (Figure 16). Ever since 2002, the forest inventory based Forest State Account (uchet lesnogo fonda) has been conducted annually, prior to this the interval was five years. The Forest Resource Register (lesnoy kadastr) contains information such as the ecological and economical state of forests. Surveillance of the condition of forests includes monitoring: forest resources, forest sites, forest fires, areas contaminated by industry, radioactive material, etc. The outcome of the inventory and planning is a forest management plan for a certain area and is thus the foundation for all the operations done in the forest. Conducting forest inventory and compiling forest management plans are the responsibility of the federal forest inventory and planning enterprises (gosudarstvennoe lesoustroitelnoe predpriyatie) that are financed and monitored by the Federal Forest Agency. 10.2 Forest Inventory Forest inventory serves the following purposes: • Collecting information on forests and their condition • Creating and renewing information systems on forest resources • Ascertaining the quality of silvicultural operations • Documentation of forest inventory and the Forest State Account as well as production of forest maps • Determining the volume of exploitable forest resources • Compiling forestry plans for forest leaseholders • Controlling illegal fellings Figure 16. Russian system for the assessment of forest resources. (Source: Sevzaplesproekt) Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 37 Several methods are used for inventorying the forest. Remote sensing methods, which are based on image interpretation done in an office, are used only in inventorying reserve and inaccessible forests. This method, based on aerial and satellite photographs, is widely used in the northern parts of Russia, Siberia and Far-East where forest areas are homogenous. All the other methods, which were developed in the 1980s and 1990s, are combinations of remote sensing techniques and field inventory and are currently widely used in forest inventory. Methods based on satellite and aerial photographs were developed for inventorying young and mature stands, respectively. This method enables an analysis in comparison with previous satellite or aerial photography based inventory. Most often, the inventory is started by marking out the stands with the help of aerial photographs. After this, the acquired information is supplemented by on-field ocular estimation. 60% of the Russian forest resources have been inventoried on-field, whereas the remaining area has been inventoried by using less precise methods such as the aerial or satellite photographs only or by ocular inventory taken from the air, a method popular in the 1950s and 1960s. These simple methods have traditionally been used in remote and inaccessible areas that have no significant commercial value. Annually, over 37 million hectares of forests are inventoried in Russia as a whole. Data on forest inventories are kept in the leskhozes and enterprises conducting the inventories. The leskhozes are able to update the inventory data, which is stored in databases, digital maps and on paper (Figure 17). In principal, all the inventory data produced after 1998 may be found in digital format. Figure 17. Digital forest inventory map placed on a satellite image. (Arkhangelsk Branch of the Northern State Forest Inventory and Planning Enterprise) Every administrative unit in forestry (usually a leskhoz) is inventoried once every 10–12 or 15– 20 years depending on its inventory category. The smallest forest management unit is a tree stand (vydel), which is comprised of homogenous forest with regard stand structure, age, density and other essential indicators. Stands form planning compartments (kvartal), which are rectangular and the length of the longer side varies from 0.5–4.0 kilometres. Borders of the planning compartments do not usually follow the borders of the stands and therefore a stand can belong to two or more planning compartments. The kvartals are segregated from one another by Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 38 lines running usually from north to south and from east to west. In remote areas, lines are marked by a marking hammer and no boundary lines are cut open. In order to be able to ascertain each kvartal, a pole with a number is erected in the crossing points of kvartal lines. The boundary lines of the kvartals serve as transportation routes and make mapping easier. The kvartals are parts of lesnichestvos that form the leskhozes. The most important indicators that are determined in the forest inventory are stand volume, age, site factors, basal area, mean stem diameter, mean height, number of stems per hectare as well as absolute and relative density of the stand. Except for the relative density (otnositelnaya polnota), which is the basal area of the stand in proportion to the basal area of an ideal stand (density 1.0), the Russian indicators correlate well with the system used in Finland. When calculating the stand density, all the living stems over 6.1 centimetres in diameter at breast height are included. There are three inventory classes according to the required accuracy in inventories (Table 11). The first class comprises mostly of the group I forests as well as group II forests in the regions of intensive forest utilisation. The rest of the group II forests and protection zone forests where forest utilisation is less intensive belong to the second class. The third class comprises of group III forests and tundra forests. Table 11. Inventory classes. I Class II Class III Class Mean size of stand 3 - 6 ha 7 - 15 ha 16 - 35 ha 0.5 x 0.5 km 1.0 x 1.0 km 2.0 x 2.0 km 1.0 x 0.5 km 1.0 x 2.0 km 4.0 x 2.0 km Size of kvartal 1.0 x 1.0 km According to previous studies, the currently used inventory methods in Russia underestimate the volume of growing stock in mature and over-mature forests by between 5–15%. On the other hand, the methods that were used in the past in the northern regions have overestimated the volume of stock by 30–50%. During recent years, the standard error on the aforementioned areas has decreased due to method development, being currently about 3%. The forest maps based on aerial and satellite photographs (maps over tree stands and forest areas as well as thematic maps and forest inventory maps) are drawn from the basis of topographical maps, whose scales are 1:10 000–1:100 000 depending on the availability of the maps. Usually the aerial photographs are taken a year before the actual field inventory and, depending on the intended accuracy of the inventory, the photographing is conducted in scale 1:15 000, 1:25 000, 1:40 000 or 1:50 000 by using either monochrome or colour film. Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 39 10.3 Forest planning Based on information acquired from forest inventories, the forest planning organisation compiles a 10–20 year plan (lesoustroitelnyi proekt) for each administrative unit in forestry such as leskhoz, national park, etc. According to the present Forest Code, the forest management plan is required for all the forestry related actions and their funding, without which all forest utilisation is forbidden. Forest management plan includes sections such as: • Description of the current condition of growing stock • List of needed silvicultural measures • Action plan for executing silvicultural operations • Thematic maps The leskhozes execute the compiled plans and update their information in GIS-system whenever silvicultural measures are undertaken, fellings have taken place or natural disasters like forest fires occur. Federal forest inventory and planning enterprises monitor the execution of the plan and the quality of the actions taken by carrying out inspection visits in the leskhozes. Inventorying Russian forests and compiling forest management plans is the responsibility of thirteen state owned forest inventory and planning enterprises and their regional subdivisions. Nine of the enterprises operate in the European parts of Russia. The enterprises are funded by the Federal Forest Agency, which also defines their duties. Forest planning enterprises most often operate in more than one administrative region (oblast, republic); for example the Northwest Russian planning enterprise operates in the Leningrad, Novgorod, Pskov and Murmansk regions. During the past five years, the Northwest Russian planning enterprise has inventoried about 3 million hectares per annum. 10.4 Assessment of the Inventory and Planning Systems In 1997, the methods of National Forest State Account were improved as a result of reviewing the Forest Code. Despite the reviewing, criticism has been expressed especially regarding the method of implementation as both the forest inventory and the forest planning are the responsibility of the state owned enterprises, whereas no organisation is overseeing the quality of their work. According to some estimates, most of the recently compiled forest management plans do not fulfil the quality requirements. The effects of post inventory occurring natural processes, such as growth or tree mortality is not taken into account in the inventory. Neither is map archives utilised sufficiently. Due to the aforementioned reasons, it has been envisioned that the traditional forest management plan would not remain as the only document directing the forestry related actions. It is likely that, as the forest leasing periods get longer, forest users will need more accurate and customer orientated forest planning thus creating a market for new forest planning enterprises. Forest inventory and planning enterprises in Northwest Russia: Arkhangelsk Branch of the Northern Forest Inventory and Planning Enterprise (Arkhangelskaya ekspeditsiya), in Arkhangelsk Karelian Forest Inventory and Planning Enterprise (Karellesproekt), in Petrozavodsk Northwest Russian Forest Inventory and Planning Enterprise (Sevzaplesproekt), in St. Petersburg Northern Forest Inventory and Planning Enterprise (Sevlesproekt), in Vologda Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 30 http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2006/mwp030.htm 40 11 Forest Utilisation 11.1 Allocating the Forest Use Rights The right to utilise forest land may be given to a private person, physical or juridical, by the organisation responsible for administrating forest resources (federal or regional administration). Currently, the length of the leasing period is up to 99 years. Forest utilisation may be categorised in short-term use rights (less than 1 year) and leasing. According to the current Forest Code, the rights to utilise forest land are allocated through competition. Currently approximately half of leases are made for long-term. Short-term use rights refer to felling permits, which are issued through auctions. Short-term use rights and short-term leases are merely rights to perform logging, thus not binding the forest users to any silvicultural actions. The forest user has a right to harvest the forests according to the felling plan. In a case of misuse, the Federal Service for Inspecting the Utilisation of Natural Resources that monitors the forest management has a right to commence a process for cancelling the use rights or lease. According to the new Forest Code, currently being formulated, the main form of forest use would be long-term leasing (10-99 years) and the leaseholders would be obliged to perform silvicultural duties such as forest regeneration. With regard to foreign enterprises, the new Forest Code will likely set limitations concerning the length of leasing periods. 11.2 Determining Forest Fees Since spring 2005, setting forest fees (lesnye podaty) for stumpage sale timber has been the right of the Federal Forest Agency. In the past, forest fees (stumpage prices) were determined by the subjects’ authorities according to minimum fees set by the Federation. Russia is divided into 86 forest fee zones, as setting one uniform stumpage price covering the whole of Russia is an impossible task due to variations in climate conditions, regional economy and forest management practices. In determining the forest fees, an effort has been made to take into account the regional conditions of forest management, the demand and supply for timber products as well as the profitability of forestry. In addition to these factors, the tree species composition, timber quality and transportation distance affect the formulation of the stumpage price. Forest fees are used as a basis for determining the rent for leased forest land, initial prices in auctions and when selling timber for public utility associations such as educational institutions or for privat