Structure of pine stands in the area of amber production at the North-Eastern part of the West Polissya

Abstract

The economic activities of the Klesiv State Forestry Enterprise are guided by the theoretical foundations of the integrated use of natural resources, which are concentrated on the territory of the forest fund. Forest ecosystems are a source of wood and non-forest forest resources, a factor forest soil protector against erosion and a climate-regulating. At the same time, amber is being mined on the territory of forestry enterprise. Such an intervention in the forest ecosystem will be reflected subsequently at the wood stock structure, and the process of its accumulation by trees. The aim of the study is to update the forest biometry indicators of pine stands in the forest fund forestry areas, which are characterized by the composition and structure that were destroyed as a result of amber mining and further analysis of the structure of wood stock. The object of the study is pure and mixed pine stands on lands that are not disturbed by amber mining, in humid “subir” in the forest fund of the Klesiv State Forestry Enterprise. The subject of the study is the stock structure of the mentioned object. Due to the active extraction of amber, not only the structure of stands, but also soil conditions, soil moisture and other components (forest plants, hydrological conditions, terrain) are significantly disturbed. The extraction of minerals by using of powerful water pumps leads to a significant disturbance of the terrain, the formation of significant abysses, intra-soil voids, which creates significant threats for forestry activities. Primary information about the object was obtained by the method of enumeration biometry. Structural analysis uses data on the distribution of the number of trees of a forest element beyond the thickness steps and size and quality categories as well as measured in three to five height trees for each thickness step. An inventory of the territory of the forest fund of the enterprise revealed seventeen sections identical for the composition and structure of stands destroyed by the amber mining. The middle-aged and ripe pine stands are clean or with a small admixture (up to 1-3 units) of birch, oak, aspen and alder. Pine stands are characterized by significant fluctuations in the index of bonitet class (from IV to Ic) and relative completeness (from 0.2 to 0.7). The stock within the forest element is divided into ten equal parts. The variability of a part of the stock of common pine, distributed beyond equal parts, is established. It was revealed that there are five types of pine stock distribution beyond equal parts of the stand. The type of distribution of the part of the pine stock is determined by the tree species, age group and t index of trunk diameter variation. The difference in the part of the stock between groups of objects for the tenth equal part is 10-12%, for the ninth - 4%, for other structural components - 1-3%. Structural analysis confirms the importance of silvicultural activities (timely felling, the intensity of tree sampling, the method of selecting trees for felling) on the distribution of pine stocks over equal parts of the forest stand. The amber mining in forest areas is an additional negative factor that must be taken into account when restoring forest stands, and developing a felling system for the formation and rehabilitation of stands in areas after the amber mining. An important task in the reproduction of highly productive stands in areas after amber extraction is to ensure the proper stands composition, timely cutting care in order to preserve the characteristic climatic impurities and timely removal from the plantations of birch trees hanging in the bush.

Keywords

• forest structure
• stock
• equal parts
• pine
• variability