Ukrainian Forests

K n o t s & B o lt s

top: www.lis.ck.uabottom: Lloyd Irland

ihor soloviy

[ M a n y M i l e s A w ay ]

Ukrainian Forests Ukraine’s 26.7 million acres of forestland covers about 15 percent of the country – a sizable holding by Eastern European standards. The Carpathian Mountains and Polissya (a region of swamped woodlands) in the west and north of the country have the most forest, including stands of beautiful pine and larch, but there are pockets of oak and beech dominated deciduous forest throughout the central and southern steppes. Intensive forest exploitation in Eastern Europe began in the eighteenth century, when forests were cleared for timber, as well as for potash and charcoal production. Wood was exported to Germany, France, England, and Poland. The need for new agricultural land, much of it cleared for the sugar beet industry, caused a disastrous reduction of forest area in the nineteenth century. Today, the prevailing tree species are Scot’s pine (Pinus silvestris), European oak (Quercus robur), European beech (Fagus silvatica), Norway spruce (Picea abies), European white birch (Betula pendula), black alder (Alnus glutinosa), European ash (Fraxinus excelsior), European hornbeam (Carpinus betulus), and silver fir (Abies alba). There is a nearly even split between coniferous and hardwoods forests in Ukraine, with pine the most common species (making up 33 percent of the total forested area), and oak and beech together representing roughly another third. As is typical in Europe, a large share (more than 45 percent) of forests are planted, but Ukraine’s Carpathian region also boasts the largest surviving reserves of old-growth forests in Europe in its. The Carpathians are home to more than half of Europe’s population of

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Northern Woodlands / Autumn 2015

bears, wolves, and lynx. The primeval beech forests of the Carpathians are particularly special, and have been inscribed on the World Heritage List. These forests are unique for the research of biological processes in non-disturbed ecosystems and are continuously studied by both Ukrainian and American researchers (including those from the Carbon Dynamics Lab and the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, both at the University of Vermont). Ukraine has a long tradition of forest management, though as one might expect from a country that was under communist rule for much of the twentieth century, most involves the management of state-owned forests. While today the law allows for municipal and private forest ownership, in practice, state ownership predominates. State-owned forests total 9.66 million hectares, while municipal forests represent just 40,000 hectares. The major public owners include the Agency for Forest Resources and the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food. Property restitution was not practiced in Ukraine following the breakup of the U.S.S.R.; this was due to various historical circumstances in the different regions of Ukraine and the public’s fear that sustainable forest management would not be practiced on private forests. Even today, there’s a five-hectare (a bit over 12 acres) limit on the forestland that an individual can own. This, combined with a lack of forestry skills in the private sector, has limited private forest ownership and management. Individuals can lease forest plots for up to 49 years for recreational, educational, and other non-industrial uses. In its role managing the majority of the forests in Ukraine, the State Forest Resource Agency (logo above) is charged with developing and implementing national policies regarding forest management, including the protection,

Left to right: Life in rural communities is tied to the forest environment and forest resources; an old-growth beech forest in the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve; forest restoration work in the Cherkassy Region; a harvesting operation in the Lviv Region.

conservation, and regeneration of forest resources. The state is also charged with managing game animals. In contrast, most of the wood processing facilities are privately owned. About 7.2 billion board feet gets harvested in the Ukraine each year, but much of this wood is exported and processed in European Union countries, Turkey, and China before a considerable amount of that wood is shipped back to manufacturers in the Ukraine. This is not so different than in the northeastern U.S., where pine logs are shipped to Canada only to return as 2x4s. To try to promote domestic wood processing, a law was recently enacted to prevent raw, unprocessed timber from leaving the country. There are still concerns that not all wood will be sold on the domestic market and worries that highquality wood will end up being used for bio-energy or the production of pallets, because these uses are more profitable. If the export ban fails to achieve the intended result, it’s likely some other solution will be tried. Beyond commercial uses, Ukrainian forests are relied upon to play an important environmental role, particularly in terms of protecting soils and water. They also are used to create more favorable microclimate conditions for agriculture (especially in the southern region), as well as for recreation and for cultural heritage conservation. Non-timber forest products, such as mushrooms and berries, are of great importance to local communities and can be collected free of charge. However, recent surveys conducted as part of the international FLEG (Forest Law Enforcement and Governance) program cited problems with harvests

involving both timber and non-timber crops in Ukraine. They noted reduced forest cover from both legal and illegal logging, over harvesting (especially by outsiders coming to the forest to cash-in on lucrative berries and mushrooms), and destructive harvesting techniques that increase short-term harvests but hinder regrowth. They also blamed climate change for reducing forest cover, drying marshes, increasing disease, and for changing the distribution of forest products like mushrooms and cranberries. The war with Russian-backed separatists in the eastern part of the country is leading to the loss of life and property and posing serious threats to the environment. At least 33 protected natural areas in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions have been damaged by the fighting; one fire caused by the conflict damaged nearly 100,000 acres of forest. Despite the massive pressures on the economy and the fragile situation in the eastern part of the country, the conditions for building a successful economy in Ukraine have never been as favorable as they are today. Political and economic reforms designed to eliminate corruption and increase transparency, as well as the association with the European Union, are creating a more favorable climate for investment, including in the forestry sector. Ihor Soloviy Dr. Ihor Soloviy is currently a Fulbright Scholar at the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, University of Vermont, and also associate professor at the Ukrainian National Forestry University.

Northern Woodlands / Autumn 2015

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