Background. In forested regions of Russia, hundreds of thousands of hectares of forest are destroyed by wildfires every year. As a result, the success of natural forest regeneration in large-scale fire-affected areas is a relevant issue. In addition, our task was to examine how various forest types respond to wildfire and the regeneration patterns in the region. Purpose. The study was to examine forest restoration in the middle taiga of the West Siberian Plain. Material and methods. This study was carried out in the Nizhnevartovsk district of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug (KhMAO-Yugra). 20 large-scale fire-affected areas were surveyed six years after the wildfires, covering a total area of 105.29 thousand hectares. The data for this study were collected by field surveys of fire-affected areas in pine and stone pine forests, representing the main variants of pre-fire forest growth conditions (groups of forest types). Resalts. The study showed that among conifers, Pinus sylvestris L. regenerates better. In productive pine forest types (lingonberry, green-moss, long-moss), the number of pine seedlings ranges from 11.8 to 23.4 thousand/ha. In extreme dry (lichen) and wet (sphagnum) forest types, pine regeneration is unsatisfactory. Pinus sibirica Du Tour colonizes the burnt areas primarily through the Nucifraga caryocatactes L. and the Eutamias sibiricus Laxmann. This study provided significant insights into the ecological recovery of different forest types. Stone pine regeneration can only be considered successful in green-moss stone pine forests (2.8 thousand/ha). The regeneration of deciduous trees - Betula pubescens Ehrh. and Populus tremula L. is significantly more numerous than conifers in all fire-affected areas (except for lichen types). Its quantity in productive forest types reaches 40 thousand/ha. Conclusion. In general, forest restoration is proceeding successfully in most of the surveyed fire-affected areas; more than 90% of the surveyed area can be considered forest-covered.

Forest ecosystems in the eastern United States are undergoing significant compositional and demographic shift. To understand these changes, we used Forest Inventory & Analysis data (2003 - 2021) to examine landscape-scale trends in the North Carolina Piedmont, focusing on forest type groups, taxonomic family, and species. We assessed metrics such as annual net primary productivity, relative density, and biodiversity, aiming to determine: i) Which forest group types are changing most, ii) Whether these changes extend to lower taxonomic units, and iii) How stability has shifted over time. Our findings reveal an increasing dominance of Pinus species, particularly naturally regenerated loblolly pine (Pinus taeda), accompanied by sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua). This shift corresponds to rising prevalence of pine and oak-pine forest type groups. Notably, while red maple (Acer rubrum) consistently had high seedling densities, its recruitment lagged behind species like sweetgum and yellow-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), defying broader regional trends. These results highlight a clear progression from species-level changes to broader taxonomic families and forest types, emphasizing a shift toward pine in the region. The study underscores the importance of multi-level analyses for capturing ecological trends and advancing understanding of forest dynamics in changing landscapes.

The paper presents the results of a study of the floristic and typological diversity of forests with the participation of Abies nordmanniana in the Teberda National Park (North-West Caucasus). Geobotanical descriptions have been carried out on visually homogeneous sample plots measuring 30×30 m using standard methods adopted in geobotany and forest inventory. When classifying forest vegetation, an ecological and phytocenotic approach has been used. Based on the data from the survey of forest areas of the Teberda National Park, a typological scheme of forests with the participation of Nodmann fir has been compiled, and their geobotanical and inventory characteristics have been carried out. The forests under study are represented by 6 groups of forest types, including 11 forest types. 120 species of vascular plants have been identified, belonging to 98 genera and 50 families. The families with the largest number of species are Asteraceae – 13, Rosaceae – 8, Apiaceae – 7, Lamiaceae and Poaceae – 6 each. The distribution of fir stands, in which Betula litwinowii and Populus tremula are significantly involved, has been revealed – fir forests of the wood sorrel, alchemilla-fern and woodruff-fern types, which is due to both the economic load on the indigenous forests of the Teberda National Park and the proximity of the communities to the upper altitudinal boundary of the forest. The presence of reed-green moss and hazel-forb pine forests in the forest cover, which include a significant participation of fir, confirms that the forests of Karachay-Cherkessia represent a zone in which the coniferous forests of the Western Caucasus smoothly merge into the coniferous forests of the Central Caucasus, characterized by a more continental climate. A comparison of the typological diversity of fir forests in the Teberda National Park and other regions of the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia indicates a decrease in variability with a shift in the “spectrum” towards mixed forests in the Teberda National Park. An assessment of the floristic diversity of the living ground cover of the identified forest types has been carried out using the dominance, Shannon, Simpson, Margalef and Menkhinik indices. The floristic diversity of the ground cover in the communities is high, with the exception of medium- and highly closed areas of woodruff-sorrel and wood sorrel fir forests, where insufficient insolation results in low species richness. In reed-green moss pine forests and reed fir forests, the indices of species diversity take on lower values, which is caused by the dominance of one species (Calamagrostis arundinacea) in the ground cover.

Abstract Biodiversity serves as a proxy for numerous ecosystem services that can be realized through forest restoration, benefitting both people and the environment. We investigated the magnitude of biodiversity recovery incompleteness (i.e. the recovery gap) in forest restoration within the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, hereafter referred to as the Atlantic Forest. We conducted a meta‐analysis to analyse how species richness and species abundance of soil microorganisms, invertebrates, and vascular plants, as well as the vegetation structure, recover across major gradients in environmental conditions and human‐caused disturbances. Our study shows that forest restoration in the Atlantic Forest faces a notable biodiversity gap in species richness across both passive and active restoration areas. However, the vegetation structure could potentially reach reference levels within 25–50 years. Forest type influenced the recovery of species abundance in active restoration areas, with dense forests displaying the largest gaps. Likewise, taxonomic group influenced species richness gaps in passive restoration areas, with invertebrates showing the largest gap. Reference forest age and past land use did not significantly affect biodiversity outcomes in either restoration approach. However, biodiversity levels were lower than those of the reference forest at various levels of the moderating factors analysed. Synthesis and applications: The study shows that after 25–50 years, restoration sites develop a vegetation structure similar to that of reference forests, regardless of the restoration approach. Species richness also tends to recover over time, but the rate and pattern of recovery differ between approaches. Passive restoration follows a gradual, long‐term decline in the recovery gap, while active restoration exhibits a less clear trajectory. Past land use is the strongest predictor of biodiversity recovery, particularly for vegetation structure. The restoration age, forest type, and taxonomic group play more moderate roles but explain significant variation within particular categories of each variable. These findings highlight the importance of targeted interventions to enhance restoration outcomes and the need to prioritize efforts based on specific restoration objectives. Our results emphasize the importance of setting realistic, taxon‐specific goals and provide metrics to guide resource allocation based on recovery gaps and timelines.

Freshwater forested wetlands account for ~76% (918 M ha) of the total global wetland extent. However, freshwater forested wetlands are difficult to distinguish from upland forest due to canopy coverage, the abundance of wetland-nonwetland mosaics, seasonal hydropatterns, and fewer readily observable connections to large surface water bodies relative to marshes and other emergent habitats. Therefore, freshwater forested wetland ecosystems are often misclassified as upland forests in carbon accounting models, underestimating soil organic carbon (SOC) storage. This study highlights freshwater forested wetland SOC accounting challenges and presents SOC densities/stocks from a global literature synthesis across different freshwater forested wetland types. We reviewed 374 forested wetland articles, compiling and calculating carbon densities by depth from 90 freshwater forested wetland studies to construct a database of 334 study sites including nine countries. The median (± median absolute deviation) SOC stock was 91.2 ± 46.4 Mg C ha−1 and 235.3 ± 125.6 Mg C ha−1 in the top 30 cm and 100 cm of soil, respectively. The tidal freshwater forested wetland had highest SOC stock (341.6 ± 98.4 Mg C ha−1) in the upper 100 cm soil profile followed by rainforest (285.6 ± 75.8 Mg C ha−1), non-tidal swamps (229.3 ± 120.4 Mg C ha−1), and floodplain forested wetlands (176.6 ± 84 Mg C ha−1). Within the conterminous United States forest type groups, the Tsuga/Picea group had the highest median SOC stocks (353.6 ± 82.9 Mg ha−1) in the top 100 cm of soil followed by Quercus/Pinus (246.6 ± 82.3 Mg ha−1) and Quercus/Liquidambar/Taxodium (207.9 ± 87.7 Mg ha−1) groups, likely driven by variability in litter degradability, wetland hydroperiod, geomorphic positions, and regional climatic factors. This literature synthesis highlights SOC accounting in freshwater forested wetland carbon pools when estimating carbon stocks and fluxes. Results can be used to improve carbon modeling outcomes, as well as inform regional, national, and global management of wetland carbon resources.

Recent (2024) photographs of Pepsis elegans Lepeletier (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae: Pepsinae) females searching through plant litter disclosed no clues about its nesting behavior or host spider. However, coupled with geographic site locations, they reveal important habitat information. The various site locations are specifically defined as part of the Eastern Temperate Forests Level I Ecoregion of North America, numerous Level III Ecoregions of the Continental United States, several U. S. Forest Type Groups, and natural habitat designation of mesic open woodland.

Comparing statistical and deep learning approaches for simultaneous prediction of stand-level above- and belowground biomass in tropical forests

The study analyses the vertical and horizontal structure of Pineta composita and Pineta hylocomiosa forest type groups in the centre of the Russian Plain. It was found that the structure in terms of heights and diameters of the first tier of stands is closer to the normal distribution in more ‘boreal’ sites. In more southern pine forests, large deviations from the normal distribution are observed. It was revealed that the closeness of the relationship between diameters and heights of Pinus sylvestris L. is in the range of 0.45 - 0.61. This is explained by the close heights of the preserved trees and the parcellar structure of the upper tier. It is shown that the structure of the second tier depends more on the age structure of the stands. It has been established that at present pine stands in the centre of the Russian Plain are characterised by processes of nemoralisation, which is also associated with climate transformation. As a result, in many cases there is a change of the main species, primarily by shade-tolerant species: Tilia cordata Mill. and Acer platanoides L. The revealed regularities can be used to combine with forest inventory data in order to obtain information on the formation of the lower tiers under the canopy of pine phytocenoses.

Abstract The construction and operation of waterworks has a significant impact on natural ecosystems. The evaluation of their negative impact and the proposal to minimize their impact, as well as the revitalization, especially of large rivers, have been given great importance in recent decades. The main goal of the study is to present impact of Gabčíkovo Waterwork on forest ecosystems after 30 years of damming. Specially evaluated are monitoring sites where changes are observed in the Slovak part of the so-called inland delta, i.e., between old and new riverbed of the Danube. The assessment of changes in terrestrial vegetation on selected monitoring sites was compared with the assessment of parallel measured soil moisture data. At the same time, data from the National Forestry Centre were also used to monitor changes in the state of forest ecosystems in the whole area of interest. When comparing the species composition from state to 2015 and from the period before GW was put into operation (in 1990) an increase was found in the area share of hardwood floodplain forest by 5.77% and the area shares of softwood floodplain forests decreased by 1.71%. Between 1990 and 2015, 68.43% of the territory remained unchanged at the level of forest type groups. A change in habitat conditions towards drier forest types was recorded on 23.61% of the territory.

The concept and current results of setting up the forest monitoring network at the Kostomukshska Strict Nature Reserve (Zapovednik) are presented. It has been demonstrated that pine forests predominate in the reserve’s forest cover (80.4 % of the forested area), followed by spruce (19.1 %) and birch (0.5 %). The ecological spectrum of the reserve’s forests comprises 7 groups of forest types, with the bilberry group prevailing (67 %) both among pine and among spruce stands. In terms of age structure, coniferous stands in the reserve are even-aged, multi-aged and all-aged, representing stages of the post-catastrophic regeneration succession and phases of subclimax and climax community cycles. Analysis of spatial patterns in the distribution of pristine and secondary forests has shown that anthropogenically altered forests are mainly situated in the western part of the reserve, at the border with Finland. The eastern part is a concentration of pristine north-taiga forests with a distinct mosaic of natural age dynamics phases. It was suggested that the forest monitoring network should be based on the landscape typological and spatial-temporal approaches taking into account the sublandscape-level structure of the reserve’s natural territorial complex and the distribution of forests in the study area by the rate of anthropogenic influence, prevalent species, forest types, and age structure types. Permanent sample plots will be established within 3 model areas (sites). For each of the 5 forest types of pine and 2 types of spruce stands, such plots should represent all age groups of even-aged stands (4 sample plots at maximum), and at least one sample plot should be allocated for each type (subtype) of the uneven-aged structure. The preliminary estimate is that, in total, there should be at least 98 permanent sample plots in the forest monitoring network of the Kostomukshskiy Zapovednik. So many units are needed to work out the algorithm for correcting the existing forest compartment characteristics given by the forest inventory in what concerns the age structure and the succession phase of stands. It is foreseen that all the factual material thus amassed will serve as the basis for modeling the scenarios of the natural dynamics of this forest massif and, perhaps, of other objects with similar structure. For citation: Raevsky B.V., Ilinov A.A., Medvedeva M.V., Rudkovskaya O.V. The Natural Dynamics Monitoring System of the Forests in the Kostomukshsky Reserve. Lesnoy Zhurnal = Russian Forestry Journal, 2023, no. 6, pp. 81–101. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.37482/0536-1036-2023-6-81-101

The paper focuses on the dynamic processes occurring in indigenous spruce phytocenoses developing on the territory of one of the large reserves of spontaneous dark coniferous taiga in the European North – the Pechoro-Ilychsky Reserve. The aim of the study was to assess the size structure dynamics of the forest stands and the undergrowth, as well as changes in their vital status in naturally developing spruce stands of the green moss and long-stem moss groups of forest types in the foothills of the Northern Urals (the basin of the upper reaches of the Pechora River). The spruce stands, mixed in composition and complex in structure, form a cyclic uneven-aged type of structure. For the middle taiga indigenous spruce forests, based on the assessment of inequality in the woody plants’ sizes distribution, the results of the long-term structure monitoring of the forest stands and the undergrowth on four permanent sample plots were analysed. In forest stands of different types, a similar dynamics of tree differentiation by trunk volume and undergrowth by trunk height was observed. There is a significant accumulation of small woody plants individuals, with a smooth, evenly fading distribution of their numbers in the direction of size increase. Under the canopy of forest stands there is a continuous regrowth process. According to the data of stationary observations of the vitality and damage degree of trees and undergrowth of spruce forests, based on a visual assessment of a woody plant state according to the characteristics of the crown, a slightly weakened condition of both the upper tree layers of the phytocenosis and the lower – undergrowth was revealed. Spruce stands are at the stage of initial weakening or are already weakened, the undergrowth is predominantly healthy.

Particulate matter (PM) is a critical air pollutant, responsible for an array of ailments leading to premature mortality worldwide. Nature-based solutions for mitigation of PM and especially role of forests in mitigating PM from an ecosystem perspective are less explored. Forests provide a natural pollution abatement strategy by providing a surface area for the deposition of PM. Depending on their structure and composition, forests have varying capacities for PM adsorption, which is again less explored. Hence, in the present study, we evaluate the removal capacity of PM by the forest-type groups of India. Deposition flux and total PM removal across sixteen forest types were estimated based on the 2019 dataset of PM using Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2) data. Externality values and PM removal costs by industrial equipment were used for associating an economic value to the air pollution abatement service by forests. The total PM2.5 removal by forests in 2019 was estimated to be 1361.28 tons and PM10 was estimated to be 303,658.27 tons. Deposition of PM was found to be high in littoral and swamp forests, tropical semi-evergreen forests, tropical moist deciduous forests, and sub-tropical pine forests. Tropical dry deciduous forests had the highest net weight % removal of PM with 39% removal for PM2.5 and 39% removal for PM10. The air pollution abatement service by forests for PM removal was 188 M US dollars (USD) with externality-based removal service by forests of 2009 M USD. The net PM removed by all forests of India was estimated to be approximately worth ₹ 470-648 Crore (59-81 million dollars) for PM2.5 and worth ₹56,746-1,22,617 Crore (7093-15,327 million dollars) for PM10 based on valuation using value transfer method. The study concludes that forests can be a significant contributor to PM reduction at a global level. Especially for India's National Clean Air Programme and further research and policy considerations, the findings would be extremely useful.

На примере Уральского учебно-опытного лесхоза (УУОЛ) Уральского государственного лесотехнического университета (УГЛТУ) предпринята попытка анализа лесного фонда по группам типов леса и лесным формациям. Выполненная работа позволяет объективно оценить лесорастительные условия УГЛТУ, интенсивность смены пород и наличие коренных и производных типов леса, а также возрастную структуру древостоев. Работа выполнена с использованием ГИС-технологий и банка данных лесоустроительных материалов. Полученные данные позволят на научной основе подобрать участки для создания научных и опытно-производственных объектов по изучению лесоводственной эффективности различных видов рубок спелых и перестойных насаждений, а также рубок ухода. Анализ полученных данных не только сократит расходы на создание опытных объектов, но и будет способствовать совершенствованию противопожарного устройства, а также повышению продуктивности лесов. Последнее особенно важно, если учесть, что УУОЛ УГЛТУ является базовым подразделением, нацеленным на совершенствование подготовки высококвалифицированных специалистов для лесного комплекса. On the example of the Ural educational and experimental forestry (URSF) of the Ural state forest engineering university on aftempt was made to analyze the forest fund by groups of forest types and forest formations. The work performed makes it possible to objectively assess the forest conditions of the university the intensity of breed change, the presence of indigenous and derived forest types as the age structure of forest stands. The work was carried out ising GIS-technologies and data bank of forest management materials. The data obtained will allow on a scientifi c basis to select sites for the creation of scientifi c and experimentally production objects for forestry effectiveness studying of various types of cuttings in mature in mature and overmature stands as well as for thinning. The analysis of the data obtained will not only reduce the cost of creating experimental facilities, but will also improve the fi re-fi ghting device, as well as increasing the productivity of forests. The latter is especially important considering that UEET of the USFEU is a basic subavision aimed at improving the training of highly qualifi ed specialists for the forest complex.

On the example of the northern taiga pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) forests of the western Kola peninsula (67°30′–68°10′ N, 33°57′–34°21′ W) the vitality structure of the middle-aged forest stands was studied in the communities within the lichen, lichen-green moss and green moss groups of forest types (12 permanent sample plots). It has been established that the studied forest stands are characterized by a numerical predominance of moderately and severely weakened trees (total share of 55–70%), and of moderately weakened and healthy trees in terms of trunk volume (total share of 50–75%). The significant factors found to contribute into the formation of the middle-aged pine forest stands’ vitality structure are their density, the sum of the basal areas and the forest type. The density of the forest stand is the main contributor to the nature of the trees’ vitality differentiation. Three main types of pine vitality spectra were identified, differing in the value of the stand vitality index.

Forests are the most important carbon reservoirs on land, and forest carbon sinks can effectively reduce atmospheric CO2 concentrations and mitigate climate change. In recent years, various satellites have been launched that provide opportunities for identifying forest types with low cost and high time efficiency. Using multi-temporal remote sensing images and combining them with vegetation indices takes into account the vegetation growth pattern and substantially improves the identification accuracy, but it has high requirements for imaging, such as registration, multiple times, etc. Sometimes, it is difficult to satisfy, the plateau area is severely limited by the influence of clouds and rain, and Gaofen (GF) data require more control points for orthophoto correction. The study area was chosen to be Huize County, situated in Qujing City of Yunnan Province, China. The analysis was using the GF and Landsat images. According to deep learning and remote sensing image feature extraction methods, the semantic segmentation method of F-Pix2Pix was proposed, and the domain adaptation method according to transfer learning effectively solved the class imbalance in needleleaf/broadleaf forest identification. The results showed that (1) this method had the best performance and a higher accuracy than the existing products, 21.48% in non-forest/forest and 29.44% in needleleaf/broadleaf forest for MIoU improvement. (2) Applying transfer learning domain adaptation to semantic segmentation showed significant benefits, and this approach utilized satellite images of different resolutions to solve the class imbalance problem. (3) It can be used for long-term monitoring of multiple images and has strong generalization. The identification of needleleaf and broadleaf forests combined with the actual geographical characteristics of the forest provides a foundation for the accurate estimation of regional carbon sources/sinks.

Data on floodplain, small-leaved, and dark coniferous forests in the Zhetysu Alatau is presented. Floodplain forests are located in the valleys of the Horgos, Usek, and Borohudzir rivers, where trees and shrubs are abundant along with grass and meadow vegetation, often covering the floodplain and displacing herbaceous communities. Species such as Salix, Populus macrocarpa, and Ulmus pumila are found, as well as shrub thickets of Hippophae rhamnoides, Rosa beggeriana, R. alberti, Rhamnus cathartica, Lonicera tatarica, Berberis heteropoda, and B. iliensis. The small-leaved forests consist mainly of Malus sieversii and include six groups of apple orchard types: mixed-grass, poplar, aspen, hawthorn, maple, and shrub. Associated tree species include Malus niedzwetzkyana, Crataegus songarica, Acer tataricum subsp. semenovii, Populus tremula, and P. macrocarpa. The dark coniferous forests consist mainly of Picea schrenkiana and include seven groups of forest types: fir, aspen, poplar, shrub, arch, mixed-grass, and moss. Species such as Abies sibirica, Populus tremula, Juniperus sabina var. balkanensis, J. communis var. saxatilis, various shrubs, mixed-grass, and moss associations are also found. Rare and endangered species are identified include Malus sieversii, M. niedzwetzkyana, Berberis iliensis, Fritillaria pallidiflora, Tulipa kolpakowskiana, Aquilegia vitalii, Paeonia anomala, and P. tenuifolia.

Because of its importance to both carbon storage and biodiversity, old forest has regained currency as a focus of forest management and policy. However, absence of a systematic approach to classifying stages of forest development across all forest types precludes our understanding of the current distribution of the mature and old-growth forest estate. Here, we propose functional definitions of mature and old-growth forests consistent with theories of forest stand development and evaluate the implications for assessing their spatial distribution nationwide. Using plot data from a national forest inventory and assuming space-for-time substitution, we modeled forest carbon accumulation over time using saturating, non-linear growth models. We define the onset of old-growth characteristics as occurring at the age when the density of total forest carbon stored in live and dead biomass reaches 95% of the empirically derived maximum, and the mature forest stage as occurring between the peak average carbon increment and the age of onset of old growth. We fit models within unique forest type-groups and, where possible, accounted for differences in site productivity. Population-level estimates of the mature and old-growth forest estate were calculated using sample design-based estimators. Across forest type-groups, the age at onset of old growth varied from 34 to 577 years, and the onset of mature forest conditions ranged between 16 and 313 years. Within forest type-groups, the effect of site quality on the age at onset of mature and old-growth forest varied but generally supported our hypothesis that high site quality accelerates forest development and increases forest carbon storage in old forests. We classified 6.3% of current forested lands in the United States as old growth and almost one-third as mature. Of the current old-growth forest estate, approximately 46% is found on federal public lands, and 11% is currently in congressional reserves. We posit that continued improvements to modeling the dynamic process of forest development and integration with structural definitions of old growth will be needed to ensure targets for old-growth retention and development are achieved.

Active economic development of the Lower Angara zone requires the creation of a scientific basis for long-term monitoring of the state of natural ecosystems. The paper gives an assessment of the diversity of vegetation cover in the zone of potential influence of the Nizhneboguchanskaya HPP. An analysis of its typological structure on a landscape-ecological basis is given. The results of the DCA ordination and the interpretation of the leading axes of variation demonstrated the presence of four distinct groups of forest types that form ecological series according to the leading factors - the richness and hydrothermal regimes of soils. The dendrogram of forest types in the study area reflects the floristic integrity of the identified groups of forest types and the floristic relationships between them.

An assessment of the sustainability of family forests in the U.S.A.

The article presents information on the biological resources of the bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum (L.) Kuhn) in the coniferous forests of the Altai Krai. Bracken fern is one of the most widespread ferns in the Altai Krai. It often dominates in grass cover in both deciduous and coniferous forests. The author gives a morphological description of the plant, characterizes the features of growth and development, considers the influence of environmental factors (temperature, humidity, lighting, anthropogenic activity) on the distribution and abundance of this species. The article provides data on biological productivity of bracken fern in different natural zones of Russia. The regularities of changes in the biological productivity of the bracken fern were revealed depending on the habitat conditions. In the Altai Krai, commercial harvesting of bracken fern is carried out in various types of forests. Long-term exploitation of the same lands leads to a decrease of resources and disruption of the natural populations’ structure. To study the current state of populations and identify the biological and commercial stocks of bracken, we examined coniferous forests (fir and pine forests) in the zones of mass harvesting of bracken - in the Priobsky Bor area and in the Salair ridge zone. In the study area, 68 key sites in various groups of forest types were established by random sampling. At each site, geobotanical descriptions of the forest community were carried out, the number of fronds, the density of standing, the projective cover and the average weight of one frond were determined. The data obtained are extrapolated to the entire study area. Studies show an extremely uneven distribution of bracken fern in forest types and individual regions. During the research period, the biological, economic and operational stocks of bracken fern were determined and recommendations were given on the amount of annual harvest in various types of forests.