Sustainable Forest Management in the Kargopol District of the Arkhangelsk Region:
Review of the Finnish Project Coordinator on the gained experience

General:
The Kargopol Forest Project focused on strategic planning of forestry and utilisation of natural resources. The project consisted of seven components and it was implemented during 1999-2001. The project was financed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland with the sum of EUR 378 000 (FIM 2,25 million).

1. Strategic forestry and natural resources development plan for Kenozero National Park
2. Strategic development plan for the activities of the forest sector in the Kargopol District
3. Development of reforestation systems in the Kargopol District
4. Treatment of young stands and thinnings in the Kargopol District
5. Restoration of cultural landscape in Kenozero National Park
6. Development of non-wood forest products
7. Coordination and dissemination

The Russian partners of the project were Kargopol Forest Management Unit (Leskhoz) under the Committee of Natural Resources of the Arkhangelsk Region and Kenozero National Park. Additionally, Russian specialists from the Northern Forest Research Institute, the Arkhangelsk State Technical University and the regional forest management enterprise participated in the project implementation.

Forest Management Units are in charge of the official control of forest utilisation. At the same time, they are utilising forest resources themselves. According to the Russian forestry officials, forest management units should give up the economic utilisation of forests. However, forest management units can receive only 30 % of their expenses from the federal state budget. The rest of the money must be obtained from harvesting or selling transportation services using their own equipment.

The Arkhangelsk forest officials did not have any earlier experience on the international cooperation. The level of the theoretical knowledge is quite high in Russia but practical development activities are restricted due to inadequate funding. Dissemination of information is a problem. In the development of dissemination the quality and clarity (e.g. the use of graphs and figures) of presentations by the Russian specialists must be emphasised. As a positive experience it can be mentioned that different forestry institutions in the Arkhangelsk Region are able to cooperate with each other. This is demonstrated by active dissemination of gained experience and information to other regional forest management units. The Russian side especially emphasised the usefulness of the establishment of sample plots in harvesting and forest regeneration because these plots are going to serve the development activities in forestry for many years.

Regarding future project planning, the number of beneficiaries of projects supported by the Finnish government could be limited in order to get more sustantial results instead of spreading the resources too thinly.

Strategic planning

The development of a strategic plan for the forest management unit was based on the fact that the federal funding will not increase in the near future. Forest management units need to develop marketing of roundwood and non-wood forest products to generate income. According to the legislation, a forest management unit does not have a right to deal with commerce and therefore they must find local cooperation partners. The directors of forest management units need to analyse the contents of the developed strategic plan, and take necessary measures and make amendments to the plan later, if necessary.

On the basis of the three years’ experience it can be said that marketing of roundwood should be intensified in order to increase stumpage prices. The stumpage price depends on the size of harvesting area, harvesting volume and the average diameter of timber. On the other hand, thinnings have not been carried out because the regional forest industry procures its pulpwood from final fellings. The wood harvested in thinnings could be used as fuelwood. In Finland, there have been different development projects on this issue.

Forest management units have no direct rights to sell large volumes of roundwood for local or export markets. Timber buyers usually make deals with bigger agents who are able to guarantee timely deliveries of adequate quantity and quality. Forest management units should aim to cooperate with local agents if they have no license to commercial activities of their own.

The strategic plan for Kenozero National Park contributed to the creation of a management system, which is based on the objective assessment of current state and utilisation of available resources. On the basis of this assessment, informed decisions can be made concerning nature protection, tourism development, ecological education and the maintenance of cultural heritage. These are typically the main activities of national park management in Russia.

Forest regeneration

Cooperation in forest regeneration began in the Arkhangelsk Region in the Velsk nursery already four years ago. Commercial cooperation has supported the development activities. Nurseries of containerised seedlings have been delivered to Velsk on commercial basis. Two sample plots were planted during the project. One plot was on old final felling area and the other on an area, which had paludified after felling. An additional sample plot of natural regeneration provides reference information for the research arrangements. Planting material has been delivered from six forest management units. Success of forest regeneration will be studied in the sample plots using different forest cultivation methods, vegetation places, tree species, soil treatment and containerised seedlings. The growth experiments started in the Velsk nursery have been producing a basis for the field studies. The most problematic issues compared to the Finnish conditions are the peat preparation and the availability of good fertilizers.

The abundant low-productive broadleaved young stands in the region should be regenerated by coniferous species. Local forest industry is not able to utilise birch pulpwood. The afforestation of these areas requires a remarkable increase in plant production. The establishment of model seed production stands and the development of containerised seedlings could help in this, which is a possible topic for future projects.

Thinnings

Finnish and Russian methods and forest machinery have been compared in the thinnings of sample plots. High productivity of the Finnish machines has been observed. Harvesting machines suitable for the cut-to-length method are under-utilised in the Arkhangelsk Region. As a result of the project, new harvesting methods can be recommended for the other forest management units.

Care should be taken when introducing Finnish thinning instruction in Russia due to the following reasons: (i) the soil structure differs from the Finnish one because the Arkhangelsk Region was not covered by ice during the latest glacial period. Vegetation and site classification cannot be adapted directly. The intensity of harvesting may have to be lower than in the Finnish harvesting models. The lower thinning intensity is required also by the late first thinnings, which are typically carried out when the mean height of stand is already 15 metres.

There is no buyer for pulpwood from thinnings in Russia and small-size timber is normally left standing. However, experimental thinnings will be continued, although presently the forest management units have a restricted right to make thinnings. In the future the harvesting rights are likely to be given only to owners of cutting and rent rights of forests.

There is a need for improving the forest legislation in Russia. Management obligation of young stands should be included in forest rent agreements. Timber from first thinnings could be utilised as fuelwood. Harvesting instructions are to be based on both economic and technical feasibility. In Finland, the frequency of harvesting has decreased and the volume of each harvesting increased over the years, mainly for economic reasons. Nowadays, Russian instructions are commonly not observed, and forest management units receive a large part of their annual income as different sanction and penalty fees.

Non-wood forest products

The utilisation of forest mushrooms can be increased from the current level. The soils in the Arkhangelsk Region are more fertile and therefore mushroom selection is wider than in Finland. In addition to the household utilisation, attention should be paid to the development of domestic and international markets, which would have a positive impact on local economy.

The first step is training of specialists. The first 18 advisers have been trained during the mushroom course. A delivery network could be created in the Arkhangelsk-Kargopol-Vologda region with the support of these trained advisers. Forest management units would work as supporting organisations in training of local entrepreneurs and mushroom trader companies. In future, the planned forestry information centre in the Kargopol District could be a supporting unit in such training.

Equipment deliveries

Equipment deliveries included chain and brush saws, safety clothes, forest trailers, and forest measurement instruments for Kargopol Forest Management Unit and Kenozero National Park. The Russian side would have preferred local purchases. This option was not used because the equipment would have cost the same in Russia. In addition, the Finnish side was interested in delivering Finnish technology for experimental use. The project budget (EUR 74 000) imposed some restrictions on the equipment to be purchased. The equipment is suitable for first and later thinnings using the cut-to-length method. The beneficiaries can make their own conclusions on the productivity and suitability of the equipment in local conditions. Commercial deliveries are hindered by bureaucracy and high customs fees in Russia.

Pasi Poikonen
Indufor Oy

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