Environmental and Socio-Economic Factors Effect on the Formation of Forests in the Moscow Region

Abstract

Changes in forest management tasks in the Moscow region over 120 years from the end of the XIX century are considered. The analysis of forest exploitation from 1946 to 2018 is given. The principles of forest management have changed conceptually at least three times over the past 120 years. As a result of assigning all the forests of the Moscow region to protective categories, legally imposed restrictive measures have been introduced in forest territories that are largely occupied by artificial plantings, which initially characterized by a simplified structure and reduced thresholds of natural stability. There is an increase in the average age of plantings, the accumulation of standing volume of mature and overmature stands, particularly vulnerable to environmental hazards, the frequency and intensity of which will increase due to projected climate change. Currently, the forests of the Moscow region are losing their protective properties, and their environmental, sanitary, and recreational potential is decreasing. Standing volume of ripe and overmature forests increased 7 times over 50 years before the mass dying off and breakdown of stands related to the 2010 drought, including 25 times in coniferous forests. At the same time, the average age of plantings has almost doubled: from 36 years in 1966 to 62 years in 2016. In the case of mass dying off forests in large areas, forestry is not able to quickly solve the problems that arise. This leads to significant losses of wood, which has time to completely lose its liquidity before it is harvested by sanitary logging, and to large costs for the disposal of this wood. Variants of forest management and reforestation aimed at the formation of sustainable protective forest stands are proposed. The expediency of using natural regeneration in reforestation is proved. On the example of research on stationary objects in the National park "Losiny Ostrov" and “Shchelkovsky” educational and experimental forestry district shows a tendency to a significant increase in the natural renewal of broad-leaved species, primarily linden and Norway maple. In recent decades, complex spruce forests have been replaced by broad-leaved communities in National park "Losiny Ostrov". In General, in "Losiny Ostrov" since 1891, the area of stands with the dominance of linden trees, their age and standing volume are constantly growing. The initial stages of changing spruce forests linden ones are also marked on the territory of the “Shchelkovsky” educational and experimental forestry district. These trends should be taken into account when drawing up long-term forest management plans.