Forests in boreal and temperate zones are a major stabilizing component of natural landscapes. Forests protect and regulate the environment, clean both the atmosphere and water, deliver about 5000 different goods to sustain local populations and the national economy, and finally serve as a vitally important prerequisite of human life. Due to its large scale (23% of the global forested area) and a number of important inherent features, Russian forests are a phenomenon of the global commons. Stretching for eleven time zones from west to east and for several thousands of kilometers from north to south, the Russian forest zone comprises diverse ecosystems and landscapes, plants and animals.

There are hundreds of definitions of forests globally. From an ecosystem point of view, a forest is a vegetation type and part of a larger system of trees, shrubs, herbs and other plants (mosses, lichens) including animals and microorganisms which all interrelate in their development and interact with each other and the environment. Technical definitions of a forest are usually based on quantitative indicators describing a stand (a grouping of trees based on some classification system). The Russian definition (which is used everywhere in this CD) defines a forest, or forested area (due to the current Forest Inventory Manual), as territories covered by trees with relative stocking (the indicator which on average correlates with canopy closure) of 0.35 and greater for young forests, and 0.25 and greater for older age categories.

Forests are an important part of the biosphere, and the source of many resources: industrial, food, fodder, and medicinal. As a rather stable dynamic biological system, forests are slowly evolving over time and space in response to environmental changes. At the same time, the forest influences the environment. The forest, as a self-regulating system, tends to reach dynamic equilibrium by exchanging matter and energy with the environment. This process is performed through the mechanisms of natural selection and is accompanied by the evolution of all components of forest biogeocenosis.

Forests are known to substantially impact regional climates. Increasing of forested area by 10% in the steppe region of European Russia has lead to a growth in annual precipitation of 10-15 millimeters (mm) on average. Forests substantially impact the water balance of the territory, regulate runoff, and finally form the hydrological regime of landscapes. The water-regulating role of forests consists of reducing surface runoff while increasing underground runoff. Forest shelterbelts protect soils against erosion and smooth unfavorable climatic impacts. The spiritual, cultural, and aesthetic aspects of the forest are also of great importance.

Forests are a major land use-land cover type in Russia. Forest land (territories identified for forests and forestry) comprise 51.6% of the country’s land. Closed forests (forested areas) cover 776 million ha or 45.4% of the total land area. Of the total forested area, in 2003, 18% of forests were classified as protective forests, 7.6% were destined mostly for ecological services with prohibited or restricted industrial logging, and 69.4% were basically destined for timber extraction (the new Forest Code introduced categories of protective, exploitable and reserved forests). Due to large areas of protective and low productive forests, only 45% of Russian forests are classified as forests available for industrial logging. The absolute majority (~ 95%) of Russian forests are in the boreal zone that defines the prevalence of coniferous species (70%). Major dominant tree species include larch (35% of all forested area), pine (16%), spruce and fir (12.5%) and Stone pine (Russian cedar) – 5.6%. Deciduous broadleaved forests comprise 17%, mostly secondary birch and aspen. Relatively small areas (2.5%) are covered by valuable hard wood deciduous forests dominated by oak, ash-tree, beech etc. The rest (~10%) is mostly represented by dwarf pine and other shrubs, in regions where tall trees are not able to grow due to severe climatic conditions. The growing stock of Russian forests (i.e., the total amount of stem wood of all living trees) was 88.3 billion m3 in 2003.

Major Land Categories and Forest Management Activities in Forest Fund of MNR in 2005

Forests occur in all geographic zones from the sub-Arctic to the subtropics in Russia (Table 1). The major factors that influence the distribution, species composition, structure and productivity of forests are temperature, precipitation, continentality and aridity of climate, land-use/land cover change and natural and human-induced disturbances. The impact of climate is revealed in geographical and altitudinal zonality of forests. Arctic and sub-Arctic deserts are treeless. Relatively small forested areas (about 5 million ha) penetrate the Arctic coast of European Russia and the tundra zone of Siberia and the Far East along river valleys. Forests grow up to 72 deg 30' N (the Khatanga River Basin north of Krasnoyarsky Kray) – this comprises the most northward forested area over the globe. Southward of the tundra, a mixture of low productive forests and treeless territories dominate, and are represented by wetlands and tundras with dwarf vegetation, shrubs, grasses, mosses and lichens. Light coniferous forests, mostly dominated by larch, cover about 145 million ha in the forest tundra zone, along with the sparse and northern taiga. Stand density and productivity of forest increase from north to south.

Table 1. Distribution of areas of Russian forests by bioclimatic zones and dominant species, x 10^6 ha, based on data of SFA-1993. Source: IIASA Forestry Program

1 Abbreviation of bio-climatic zones in Table x are: T-tundra, FT-forest tundra, northern and sparse taiga, MT and ST-middle and southern taiga respectively, TF-zone of temperate forests, S-steppe, SD-semi-desert zone. Boundary of zones are given according to the vegetation map edited by Isachenko (1990)
2 UFA and FL are unforested area and forest land, respectively

Forests are the major vegetation type in the taiga zone which is presented by two major taiga sub-zones -  middle taiga with an area of 460 million ha and southern taiga - 130 million ha. Over 75 percent of the total Russian forested area is situated in these two sub-zones. In European Russia, spruce, fir, and pine forests, with considerable areas occupied by secondary birch and aspen forests, dominate on the Al-Fe-humus and texture-differentiated soils. In the Urals and West Siberia, considerable areas are covered by dark coniferous forests of Siberian spruce, stone pine (Siberian cedar) and fir, which have developed on burozems and metamorphic soils. Vast territories of the taiga zone are composed of pine and larch forest. Al-Fe-humus and metamorphic soils prevail in these forests. The mountains of South Siberia and the Far East are occupied by highly productive dark coniferous forests. Forests in the Altai and the Sayan mountains are dominated by Siberian spruce, cedar, pine, and Siberian fir. Spruce and fir forests, mostly composed of Siberian spruce and fir, stretch up to the Far Eastern mountains. These forests are developed on metamorphic soils to the east, up to the Sikhote-Alin and Sakhalin. In the Amur Region and to the south of the Amur River, the unique cedar-broadleaved forests are formed by Korean cedar pine, Ajan spruce, different firs, and broad-leaved tree species like oak, ash, lime-tree etc. which grow on metamorphic and Al-Fe-humus soils. Upper forest belts of mountains from Zabaikal’je to the east and north-east are often occupied by stone birch forests that are replaced by Siberian dwarf-pine elfin woods of higher altitudinal belts, which in turn are replaced by sub-alpine vegetation of herbs and shrubs growing on thin, and as a rule, stony substrates.

Historically, both areas and distribution of Russian forests have changed considerably. From 1700-1900, about 70 million ha were deforested in European Russia; the forested area shrank from 19% to 10% in this part of the country. Over the past 50 years, forested areas in Russia have increased by about 80 million ha. This increase is explained by more complete and accurate forest inventory data, as well as by the boreal forests' great capacity for self-renewal, significant fire suppression during this period, and substantial territories of planted forests (the State Forest Account accounted for 18.8 million ha of planted forests in 2003). At the same time, forest quality worsened considerably, mainly in the regions of intensive logging, when the most productive standing trees of valuable coniferous species were felled and large areas of secondary forests are observed.
Russian forests are prone to numerous natural and human-induced disturbances such as wild fires, insect outbreaks, diseases and industrial pollution (see Section Disturbances). Disturbance is one of the important drivers defining the condition and dynamics of Russian forests. On average, 8-15 million ha of forest land are substantially affected by different types of disturbances annually. On-going climate change is dramatically increasing the threat and damage of such disturbances as fire and insect outbreaks.

Political, social, and economic changes in Russia during the last decades substantially impacted the governance of Russian forests and accelerated a number of negative processes, in particular, illegal logging. However, developments in recent years allow us to conclude that there is evidence of positive development too and some restoration of the Russian forest sector (see Section Forest Management).

Further reading:
Morozov G.F. 1970-1971. Selected Works. Vol.1, 1971, 30 pp. Vol.2, 1971, 30 pp. Lesnaya Promyshlennost', Moscow. [In Russian]
Forests of Russia. Encyclopedia. 1995. Under the general editorship of A.I. Utkin, G.V. Lindenman, V.I. Nekrasov, and A.V.
Simolin. Bol'shaya Rossiayskaya Ensyklopediya. Moscow, 446 pp. [In Russian]
Sukachev V.N. 1964. Forest Biocenology. Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow, 471 pp. [In Russian]
Zhukov A.B. (ed.). 1966-1970. Forests of the USSR. Volume 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow [in Russian]

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