Natural Restoration of Norway Maple Stands in the Conditions of the Republic of Tatarstan

Abstract

The article provides an analysis of changes in the areas of Norway maple stands in the forests of the Republic of Tatarstan from 1944 to 2019. According to the accounting data of the forest fund as of 01.01.2020, the area occupied by maple in the Republic of Tatarstan is 29.3 thousand hectares (2.5 % of the forest fund area), including 5.0 thousand hectares of young growth of the 1st and 2nd age class, 21.4 thousand hectares of middle-aged trees, 1.9 thousand hectares of ripening trees and 1.0 thousand hectares of ripe trees. A reliable relationship was revealed between a decrease in the area of maple after extremely low frosts of 1939–1940, 1941–1942 and 1978–1979, and an increase in its area after the drought of 2010. After the drought of 2010, there is a natural replacement of highly productive birch stands with low-quality maple stands, which will lead to a deterioration of the commodity structure of the felling fund of the Republic of Tatarstan. Maple plantations have a mixed composition and farming in them should be aimed at increasing the proportion of species valuable for these conditions – oak and birch.