Black Forest and Red Wilderness of Russia

1 BLACK FORESTS & RED-WILDERNESS OF RUSSIA

A chronicle of tumultuous state of affairs of Russian Forestry, thrown topsy-turvy in the hands of cruel Tsars, ravaged by autocratic communist tyrants, wrecked by

collapsing union of Soviet socialist liberal leaders, in the backdrop of openness of glasnost & socio-economic reconstruction of perestroika.

Boreal and temperate forests of Russia are so enormous that these are still seen as infinite, unlimited and endless natural resources. Reckless and indiscriminate exploitation of natural-old-growth-forests had not only been thwarting Russias economic renewal but also permanently degrading the local environment and destabilizing the global-climate. Russian forests sprawling amid Baltic sea and Pacific Ocean, hold 22% of world forests followed by Brazil with 16%, Canada 7% and the US 6%. With an amazing 76 million sq kilometer forest land and an annual growth of 100 million cubic meter, only half of the Russian forests are managed for sustainable development due to lack of clear cut forest policy, lopsided industrial constraints, owing to lack of transport networking and also on account of diffident domestic and international market linkages. Russian landscape embodies 8 natural zones, from extreme cold arctic deserts of permafrost to arctic and alpine tundra, from needle leaf taiga coniferous frozen forests to broadleaved woodlands and steppe grasslands, 20% of which are virgin frontier forests of untouched splendor. Russian forests are impregnated with so much of enormous potential that if used for sustainable development, these will enable Russia to become one the super power of the world in no timeA K Singh

Six times bigger in area than India, Russia is a land of vast expanse imbued with historically high geo-political upheavals and enormous socio-economic diversity. A peculiarly strange country with outlandish idiosyncrasies of Tsars, Tartars and emperors where it was difficult for the central command at Moscow to govern remote and sparsely distributed states. Russia is blessed with bountiful natural resources in coal, natural gas, oil, energy, rich woodlands and on the other hand is wreaked with harsh climate, shorter growing seasons with fickle rainfall and infertile soil giving tillers of the soil far less flexibility in adapting to the vagaries the nature.. Multi-ethnic society of migrants of Poles, Tatars, Ukrainians, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Aziers where elites, for centuries, have engaged in a protracted, laborious process of state-building expanding the Russian empire integrating more than 20 states by issuing various decrees for consolidation of such a

vast stretch of natural resources consigned in remote distance. Till 10th century of Mongols, the forests of Russia served her people in building their houses, chapels,

churches with pine and oak. They heated their rooms with birches and aspen. They lighted their bungalows with birch splinters. They

shod themselves with bast and made household tools of linden tree. They used pelts of fur bearing animals

and honey of the forest bees. Slavic Belarusians, Poles, Ukrainians and Czechs practiced slash and burn cultivation. They were in habit of cutting forests during January and burning trees during March to turn these to ash. Logging under the highly fertile oak soil of steppe grasslands gave

2 way to hay fields and pasture lands close to the cities. Black forests are the wide expanse of oak, birch, aspen of southern Russia in the sharp contrast of black silhouettes of the leafless trees in winter against white snow and red forests of light conifers of pines covered with reddish barks which are famous for their beauty in all seasons of the year giving a red picturesque luminosity and sparkling bronzed brilliance. In the beginning of 2010, estimated forest area of Russia was 1183 million ha, 1143 m ha as forest estate, protected forests 27 m ha which in total amounted to be 75% of the total forest area. Forest lands in Russia also means shrubbery, urban forests and other wooded lands. Russias forests are boreal and temperate forests comprising mainly larch, pine, spruce, fir, cedar, birch and aspen. Sub boreal and nemoral forests of broadleaved oak, beech, elm, lime and maple trees also account for only 2% of the total forest area. Chestnut, walnut, Shrubbery pine and birches encompass 9% of the area. Young growth is scarce 20%, middle age accounts for 30% and mature crop 44%. Most of this so called mature crop of pines, spruce and birches which constitutes almost 50% conifers is found in most inaccessible areas, in remote forests with difficult approach on excessively humid soil. Total standing volume of forests was found to be 85 billion cubic meters in 2010 with a countrywide average growing stock accounting to 105 cubic meters per hectare. Annual increment of growing stock comes out to be 1.27 cubic meter per hectare of lands covered by forest vegetation. Much of the half of the forests of Russia grow on permafrost Siberian region, far east in severe cold climatic conditions which have very low productivity and fragmentary character of the growing stock. Only 45% area is available for economic exploitation, the predominant part of which remains to be in European north, in Urals and along the Trans-Siberian-Railway. Most of the conifer-softwood-forests are quite delicate, fragile and brittle and easily tend towards high mortality, catch easy fires and decay rapidly. Forest mortality

increases with adverse impact of external disturbance, influencing growth and deteriorating forest health conditions. Sparsely and moderately wooded forests are found in central Russia, Volga, Ural, north and south Caucasus taking in stride the 70% of Russias population with two thirds of total industrial, agrarian and trade connection which are at the epicenter of domestic forest consumption. Richly wooded forests occupy parts of the northwestern region, Siberian and far eastern federal districts, which are oriented towards external market links.

Sparsely and moderately wooded forests had already been almost fully exploited till 1950s and thereafter harvesting load shifted to richly wooded forests which provided 255 m cub meters of increment per year exceeding the national

forest harvesting threshold which over the years resulted in over mature wood stand, thereby deteriorating the temperate ecology, destroying Russian boreal ecosystem, wide spread menace of pests, diseases, windfalls and frequent occurrences of forest fires. Felling and harvesting the woods reached its peak during post Stalin communist regime between 1960-90 for over more than three decades amazingly beyond imagination, exploiting more than 300 m cubic meter every year on an average from richly wooded forests of north west, from Siberia and from the land of far east, along the network-of-old-water-ways resulting in exhaustion of profitable saw-timber on account of shortage of technologically advanced wood processing tools and techniques those days. Richly wooded forests decreased by half till 1990 thereby considerably reducing forest harvesting by three fold with a dire consequence of transition towards an unregulated market economy. Thereafter forest harvesting decreased by two folds causing tree congestion, pause in thinning and the forest regeneration considerably shrank by four times thereby adversely affecting the natural process of forest

3 succession. Russian forestry constantly continues to experience regressive forest succession. As a result of this, soft leaf deciduous stand persistently grew to an enormous extent of 52%. This was an unprecedented reverse unnatural trend of ecological succession. This necessitated expansion of artificial forest regeneration by both massive tree planting together with young growth thinning and long term annual forest regeneration on a vast expanse of degenerate forest ecosystem which have undergone undesirable reverse trend of ecological forest succession. Over the past three decades neither tree planting appeared to have been undertaken proportionately nor young growth thinning reported to have been taken up showing any considerable improvement.

During 8th to 12th centuries in Viking, Tatar and Slavic Russia, beautiful Spruce forests rising on a hill were termed as Kholm, Pine growing in wet areas were called as Subolot, boggy spruce groves with grass ground cover as Sogra, pines growing in swamps as Roda. Peasants of Russia knew where they get the best building materials, where to get distill tar, where they could hunt hazel grouse, stalk quail, chase wood grouse and other game birds. Forests and wilderness had been natural element of the vast landscape of Russia where Slavs lived by hunting, fishing and food gathering and they worshipped forests, groves, trees, rivers, lakes and springs, and waters. Forests were considered holy as these supplied food and drink. Larger part of the forests were thought to be holy groves and forbidden reserves as zapovednik where hunting and logging were forbidden. Honey gathering from wild bees, to collect furs, picking up berries, plucking mushrooms and fishing was one of the privileges of only prince during later part of the 10th century in Russia which were of extreme importance domestically and in foreign trade, on the black sea market. It was a fact that 20 square kilometers of land could feed 5000 farmers or one hunter. With the passage of time, preservation of cult groves, honey reserves, and hunting grounds came to be regulated with creation of ownership as

land deeds of hayfields, titles of cultivated fields, possession of water ways and surrounding forests at the end of 12th century. Gradually property rights over the forests were strengthened during 15thcentury of Tsar Basil and Evan the Great III in Tsarist Russia, which created an opportunity to transfer forestland as an inheritance through appropriate protective deeds. Protective-deeds were affording cutting rights solely to owners of the forests. In 1485, Prince Ivan the Great III gave Troitski-Sergeyev monastery a

protective deed in which cutting of the trees was forbidden to the public. Ivan III prohibited logging in the forests of Zosimiski and other monasteries. In June 1550, new legal code of Tsar Evan-IV the Terrible didnt deal with violation of forest use, logging, hunting, honey gathering

and fishing. Tsar Aleksei Mikhilovich in 1649, the father of Peter I started giving forest ownership as landlord forests, royal family forests and state preserves. Protective deeds prohibited not only logging in the Russian forests but also trade, once deed stated, .dont cut the forests, dont collect the hay, dont chase the rabbits, dont catch the fish, dont pick a single berry and dont poach the game. He who doesnt listen, will be deprived of his boat and nets and will pay a one ruble fine. Favorite pastime of Tsar was hunting in designated reserves to protect his hunting grounds, like Moose Island. Efforts were made to protect waterfowls, swans, ducks, forest fowls, grouse, birds of prey, falcons, hawks, eagle and beaver. When Tsar learned about logging, road building, honey gathering and hunting in forest reserves of Dubinsky he decreed, no one is to enter the reserve border forests. If anyone begins to steal or go there, they will be punished by death. Fortification lines of Abatis were the Lines of logged wooden defense fortification during 16th to 17th centuries on southern frontiers

4 of Russia which were used to be built and maintained against the invasion of Tatars as strong points for offensive action which consisted of barriers made of felled trees supplemented by stumps and cut markers on trees with towers, block houses, palisades and drawbridges. The forests through which the abatis passed were designated as preserves, and it was prohibited by law to fell trees without government permission. Peter I during 1725 used abatis as defense structure during the war with Charles XII of Sweden. Wooden-Fortification of Abatis lost their strategic importance only in the late 18th century when Russias border moved far to the south. Now forests were started to be used for commercial timber, for coal, potash, for logging, shipbuilding, boat making and rights of the owners were curtailed. During Peters reign, over 200 decrees were issued to deal with rational forest use, preservation and reforestation of vast forests pursuant to wide and extensive survey and wood processing where planks needed to be cut with saw rather than axe. During 1703 AD, Peter I Tsar of Russia decreed survey of all forests along rivers, lakes and water bodies with large inventory of oak, elm, ash, larch and pines and other trees of more than 18 inch thick. Naval admiralty was given control of vast swathes of forests for shipbuilding and dockyard fabrication with a rule preventing the tree cutting in swamps and dry areas. During this period hundreds of German forest rangers were assigned to manage the enormous tracts of pinewoods, spruce lumbers and oak forests for shipbuilding and for construction of flotilla of maritime fleets. Large contingent of forests of St Petersburg, Moscow, Kazan, Voronezh, Ryazan, Bryansk, Smolensk and Novgorod came to be protected by the force of German masters from such heavily populated cities having a large forest areas that had to be conserved against cutting violations. First time Peter I the Tsar of Russia laid the foundation of forest management during earlier

part of the eighteenth century. By 1741 AD Empress Elizabeth Petrovna commanded restoration of unlimited freedom of ownership and arbitrary rule over forests as decreed by her father the Peter I. Decree of 1782 gave private forest owners complete freedom to use, appropriate, sell parcels of the forests to the greatest advantage of private people. Therefore history of forest protection ended where public forests were managed by governments which steered unbridled destruction of private forests by their owners. All

public forests of Russia were divided into three categories of long-boled-forests, dark-hard-woodlands and soft-white-trunks. And Red-conifers where seed- trees were contained to promote natural reforestation. Long-boled-tree-forests and red forests of about 20% were exempt from local

use for state requirement with compulsory digging of trenches on the borders to protect them from destruction, from fire. Logging was restricted subject to the sanction of decree of Tsar or the senate

however private forest holdings

kept on logging the forests indiscriminately. Use of science was emphasized first time by Tsar Paul I in his decrees in 1798 which taxed timber production in public-forests, making forests profitable without endangering the livelihood of the people, calling for sustainable use of forests, so as to ensure future abundance of forests bringing healthy relationship between harvesting and reforestation. He directed regulated sale of state timber requiring fees by stumpage, fixing timber-board length and forbidding the sale of timber abroad. Forests of Russia were used to support manufacture of salt, for shipbuilding, for use of monastery, city-forests and forests for horse breeding. State forests were worked for timber transportation, controlling forest fires, prohibiting

Abatis:wooden field fortification

5 thinning, preventing selling trees for logs and preserving linden trees and marketing of state timber abroad. During the period of Czar Nicholas-I, so as to organize the forest agency along military lines, a nation wide Russian-Forest-Corps was formed in 1839 positioning few generals on provincial level, several colonels, few more lieutenant colonels, more of majors, and many captains, sergeant majors in the field totaling 726 staff for preserving the forests from destruction, maximizing profits thereby taking up forestation wherever needed in consonance with management plans. With the abolition of serfdom in 1861, the health of forests of Russia seriously worsened as free serf-labor disappeared, abandoning agronomic practices gradually with the appearance of large-scale peasant owning of forest parcels. Forestry was used to contain percolating sands along rivers, canals, reservoirs and coastal areas, protecting pastures from snowdrifts, conserving water way banks from erosion or damage from ice-flows, seeding forests on hills, slopes and protecting them from avalanches and rapid streams. Nevertheless, sustained yield timber forestry never had so far been practiced with focus on age classes, growing stock and annual increment. Special expedition led by Dokucheyev in 1892 began to survey entire water resources in entire steppes of Russia exploring headwaters of the largest Russian rivers and survey of northern forests began. Second Congress of Foresters held in Petrograd in 1917 led to the nationalization of all the forests abolishing the private ownership of land and all the small forests were transferred to the use of the communities controlled by Soviet Union signed by Vladimir Lenin on 5th April 1918 stating that forestry requires very much a technical expertise for huge barren areas, in the interest of the people which must immediately be reforested. All forests needed to be surveyed along entire Russia, required to be well described, managed and used, no forests will be owned by town, counties, regions and provinces but these forests are part of national

fund and can not be divided among citizens or various enterprises.

Nazi forester Hermann Goring initiated a sweeping national afforestation in 1934 with focus on regenerating ecologically sound mixed forests by use of German silvicultural technique of Dauerwald which thrived massive ecological expansion of pine woods cover in Germany despite industrial development and the rigors of war.

Benito Mussolinis national forest militia of black shirted paramilitary troupe assisted in technical work of restoration of forest and succeeded in large scale reforestation in Italy. Mao Zedongs though highly

spirited Chinese leader in his program of Great Leap Forward 1958-60 and Cultural Revolution 1966-69 followed large scale afforestation embarking on Great-Green-Wall of more

than four thousand kilometer in length with aim of doubling the forest cover of the China.

Soviet effort of 1920-48 of Great Stalin Plan for Transformation of Nature was the worlds first state sponsored ambitious plan of greening Russia of afforestation of more than 6 million hectares an area larger than that of all the forests of western Europe greening windbreaks along the rivers of the southern Russia and along the perimeters of the collective farms. Joseph Stalins ambitious Green Plan of Afforestation would have halted the desiccating central Asian winds, cool and dampen the climate of southern Russia would have eliminated the periodic droughts that had afflicted the steppe for decades. This newly afforested steppe for laying upon eight enormous shelterbelts would extend across 16 provinces, 204 districts over an area equal to that of Britain, France, Italy, Belgium and Netherland combined. If such forest line is arranged in a single belt thirty meter across, that would circle the earth fifty times. Stalin in an effort to generate support for the project at a time of

6 troublesome agricultural plight, disseminated newsreel and booklets demonstrating the Russian children eating fruits and berries growing in the shelterbelts and strolling through desert landscape turning into oases in Russian dry steppes. A highly ambitious plan for planting shelterbelts, introduction of grassland crop rotation, construction of ponds, reservoirs to ensure high crop yields in steppe in response to widespread 1946 drought and subsequent 1947 famine which led to estimated deaths of more than 1 million people, came to a standstill after the demise of Joseph Stalin in 1953 as the whole project was hijacked by pseudo-scientific leadership of Trofim Lysenko a despotic patron of Stalin. Plan was abandoned after five years, project was stalled and the ecological condition of the steppe remained unaltered.

Collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 liquidated Ministry of Forest Industry, and Ministry of Wood Paper and Timber extending over 94% of forest area and thereafter Federal Forest Service of Russia emerged to re organize, privatize, and sale of forests through stock offerings which led to creation of Rosleskhoz in 1994. New forest legislation defined the forest term, Forest-Fund and principle of sustainability of natural resources was achieved through division of authority among federal, regional and local forest agencies. Russian Forest Code affirmed the underlying principles of sustainable development of economy and improvement of the environment, rational use of forest resources, forest harvesting and wood processing. Even after so much of reorganization and improvement of the forestry policy in Russia, inconsistency and shortsightedness remained the central element of myopic outlook resulting in the sacrifice of immense wealth of natural forest

resources and enormous diversity of wilderness. Russia could not evolve long term consistent, accountable and transparent forest policy for enunciation of better forestry practices, for effective marketing of wood processing, for improved pulp and paper manufacturing for transparent import and export and related wild life, and forest industrial activities. Illegal logging to the tune of 35 m cub

meter is rampant along China and European borders even today, illicit wood trade amounts to 30 billion rubles every year now. Russia accounts for 20 percent of global forests, but its share in the global trade of

forest products does not exceed 4 percent. The actual potential of Russian Forest is considerably under utilized and under estimated by the countrys political leadership. Present forest policy of increasing contribution of forests for socio-economic development, ensuring ecological safety and stability in meeting public demands are quite narrow, constricted and limited which are not in tune with global market of competition. Forestry sector is not the priority of Russian national economy. Round wood and sawn wood make up over 54 percent of its exports. Forests of Russia occupy over half of the land of the country, but share of the forestry in the GDP is only 1.3 percent whether it is industrial production, or generation of employment or revenue which means actual potential of forestry remains unused, opportunity offered by forestry sector are under estimated and vision is quite imprudent and indiscreet. Total growing stock of Russian Forests in 2010 amounted to 83 billion cubic meters which may increase by 5% due to increase in afforestation, global warming, nitrogen percolation and underuse of permissible cuts. Net annual increment of 1016 million cubic meters per year may enhance by 10% and Russian boreal forests total carbon stock of 50 billions tons in 2010 may increase by 5% if the

7 Russian Rosleskhoz the Federal Forest Service finds better options for objective systematic calculations of the economically allowable cut with a goal of sustainability, developing strategy by designing economic mechanism and realizing practical productive forestry which otherwise had been absolutely unheeded, neglected and ignored. There is an immense potential of round wood production with advanced wood processing technique for wooden housing industry opening southern steppe and northern taiga for extensive road networking thereby increasing logging growth with each passing year. Sawn wood production in housing construction if reaches 1 square meter per capita shall advance the industrial and civil construction by leaps and bound. There is an immense scope for plywood, particleboard, fiber-board, pulp wood and paper board, paper sheet, bio-mass-wood-energy production both in domestic and international market. For which large scale commercial investment, decentralized style of functioning, prudent allocation of natural resources to the wood-based-industries, paper-and-pulpwood-business shall be required to reverse the unsustainable trend of logging from the old growth forests and large scale illicit removals across the Chinese and Scandinavian borders of Russia.

Instead of focusing on strategic control of fragmented union of Soviet on southwestern countries for territorial expansion like medieval Tsarist rule, needlessly sponsoring again beleaguered policy of autocracy and despotism imposing nosedived repressive communist regime over large populace, thereby encouraging crony capitalism which is concentrating billionaires in Moscow cropping up not only from illegal trade of huge forestry resources, and also across the European border huge illicit timber transport, current Russian political leadership must emphasize on reinforcement of its tremendous potential of forestry which may fetch more than 20% growth in terms of GDP with long term systematic sustainable natural resource development. It has an immense prospects to make Russia one of the super power in the world in no time.

A K Singh is the member of Indian Forest Service working in the Ministry of Forest, Ecology and Environment of the Government of Karnataka Views portrayed here are personal which are

expressed in the wake of references cited hereinafter. Contact: 9481180956. [email protected]

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