About the field works of ecologists

Silver Taiga Foundation ecologists finalized another week of field works on the territory of the Noshul local forestry unit (Priluzje district). This time they were conducted at the headwaters of the river Kolyu – tributary of the Sedka. Deputy Director of the Foundation Yury Pautov tells about these activities – one of a number of summer field works of the Silver Taiga Foundation specialists.

 – Yury Anatolyevich, what are the field works, conducted on the territory of the Priluzje forestry unit, related to? What tasks do you fulfill?

– This is one of the field trips within the framework of the project aimed at creation of a cartographic basis for forestry landscape planning. Traditionally, forestry planning in Russia is performed on the basis of the forest inventory materials, but they quickly lose their relevance and do not reflect the current condition of the forests. For example, today an average age of the forest inventory information in Komi is 15 years. However, changes happen every year: windfalls, fires, illegal logging, etc. Existing cartographic base reflects neither these changes nor many ecologically important objects requiring attention during the forest management. Besides, forest inventory materials do not show the relief of the territory based on which an adequate choice of technology, timeframes and intensity of the activities planned to be fulfilled in the forest is made. It means that there is no such ecological and landscape basis for forest planning, which can meet the requirements of sustainable development.

Field works are required in order to compare satellite images data with the facts observed afield and develop an algorithm, which will allow to see vulnerable landscapes directly on then satellite images. It’s important to understand what is visible from the space, how to interpret this information, and how to use it during the forestry planning on this territory. Of course, it’s impossible to walk all the forest territory through and, actually, it’s not needed. We are working with two pilot areas – these are the territories of the Noshulsky and Ust-Nemsky local forestry units (Priluzye and Ust-Kulom districts). Meanwhile, collection of the field data and comparison of the received information with satellite images is going on.

– Which information is important in this case?

– This is the data about different types of forest, forest massifs of high conservation value, places important for conservation of biodiversity, habitats of rare species, types of natural forest dynamics, soils damage sensitivity. This is the information about boggy areas, numerous waterways, because today small waterways are almost not taken into consideration during the forest use planning…And so on. Besides, it’s important to mark forest areas of high social value. This information is getting more and more relevant for the certified territories, which currently occupy the area of about 2,5 mln. ha in Komi.

– Probably, forest areas of high social value are not always obvious. Here additional work is required – questioning of the local residents in order to identify the places of traditional forest use, important for the local population places rich in mushrooms and berries, cultural and historical objects, leisure areas…

– Yes, but it’s possible to see many things without special questionings. For example, old maps are very helpful. For instance, during the field works in Priluzje we used the map from the 40s of the past century, on which the settlements not existing any more are shown. Accordingly, it’s easy to assume that there is a cemetery and other objects memorial for the natives located nearby.

– Yury Anatolyevich, where do you get satellite images for this work?

– Basically, we use publicly available satellite images with rare exceptions when we have to acquire them.

 – What is the expected result of the project? 

– The project task – to objectively present ecosystem and landscape characteristics of the republican forest territories – is very extensive and its fulfillment will take a considerable amount of time. For the second year we are working on the pilot area in the Priluzje district, then we’ll continue similar field works in the Ust-Kulom district. After collection and inventory check of information, as well as comparison of the filed data with satellite images data we will develop an algorithm of work with this information. Those informational “layers”, which can help us to advance faster, will be extended to other forest territories, ideally, to all commercial forest of the republic. Goals and objectives of the project are not simple, but relevance of this work is evident, which is a good stimulus.

The interview was conducted by Valentina Semyashkina
Translated by Irina Sokolova