The fight against illegal logging in the European North of Russia in the end of the 18th - first half of the 19th century (on the materials of the Vologda province)

Abstract

The article examines illegal logging in the Vologda province at the end of the XVIII - first half of the XIX century on a wide range of archival materials. Particular attention is paid to the activities initiated by the state to combat this phenomenon, and the activities of local officials that contributed to its prosperity. In the European North of Russia, both unauthorized logging, organized by peasants for their own needs, and illegal logging by industrialists under the patronage of local officials, had a significant scope. It is shown that the formation of forest protection legislation continued throughout the entire period, but, despite all attempts to improve the rules for the use of forests, it was hardly possible to create a management system and effective supervision, excluding the possibility of abuse, even by the middle of the 19th century.