Sustainable extended reproduction of chernozem forest

Abstract

The problem of sustainable forest reproduction, belonging to the sparsely forested regions, is becoming more acute and urgent every year due to progressive aging and degradation of existing forests. The forest legislation in the Russian Federation is imperfect. Most legal acts do not have clear standards for assessing forest quality at different stages of their cultivation, necessary to control the reproduction of highly productive and sustainable stands of the main forest-forming tree species that successfully perform various useful functions. Accounting and measuring work was performed to assess the current state and trends of forest reproduction of the Chernozem region. The following has been found. Natural oak regeneration under the forest canopy is completely absent in mature and over-mature stands. Only two ways of oak forest reproduction are possible: either natural revegetation by preliminary acorning 1-2 years before the mother plantation cutting, or by artificial reforestation, which requires large financial and labor costs. Regeneration cutting should be restarted in mature and over-mature oak stands. The main reason for poor quality and unsatisfactory condition of closing and closed pine and oak forest stands under the age of 10-20 years is the lack of timely silviculture, leading to their inhibition by deciduous species. Therefore, artificial reforestation should include all types of thinning.