Sustainability of Siberia and Far East Russia's forest resource

摘要

The objective of this study is to project the sustainability of Siberia and Far East Russia's forest resource. This projection involves using empirical data to evaluate the impact of increased ecological protection and increased management activities, such as fire prevention, pest management, and regeneration efforts. As a result of these projections, we quantify a biologically sustainable harvesting level. In 1988, there were ail estimated 551.6 million hectares of forested area in Siberia and Far East Russia in the major forest types. Of this total, about 55 percent are nonexploitable forests which are protected from harvesting due to ecological limitations. Exploitable forests contained an estimated total growing-stock volume of 29.8 billion cubic meters and nonexploitable forests contained 30.7 billion cubic meters. Projections based on implementation of selected management actions on exploitable forests show a potential to maintain a sustainable harvest level of almost 260 million cubic meters by 2028, and more than 275 million cubic meters by 2068.