Forestry Experimental Stations: Russian Proposals of the 1870s

Abstract

The first forestry experimental stations in Europe appeared in the 1860–1870s. Russia also had draft proposals for such stations around this time. Discussions about forestry experimental stations began in the 1870s, soon after the Forestry Society of St. Petersburg was established with the support of the Forestry Department. Leading experts in forestry proposed that two ‘central’ experimental stations (at the Forestry Institute and Petrovskaya Agricultural Academy) should be established and that these should be linked to a further 20 ‘local’ stations. The proposal described in detail the organization of the stations, especially the meteorological department, the model for which was the Bavarian forest-meteorology network created by Ernst Ebermayer. The Russian proposal also contained new ideas on how to study soil moisture dynamics under the forest canopy. Despite productive discussions the network of Russian forestry experimental stations never materialized – probably because of the Russo-Turkish war. The institutionalization of forestry experimentation eventually took place in Russia in the 1890s. This was in response to the 1891–1892 drought and famine, which prompted the organization of the so-called Special Expedition under the supervision of Vasily Dokuchaev.