Silver Taiga Completed Forest Certification Training
The training course was conducted for employees of Mondi Syktyvkar and its contractors to meet the company’s request. The agenda of the course was focused on such aspects as reforestation, biodiversity conservation, soil and water protective functions of the forest, assessment and minimization of the environmental impact.
Mondi Syktyvkar is the company performing voluntary forest certification under the schemes of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and PEFC, each year it proves its compliance with the standards based on the results of external audits. During the audits experts pay special attention to the logging procedure and whether it meets the environmental requirements of the standards, that is why the company conducts additional training for the employees involved in logging operations and contractors performing delineation services.
The training under the Planning and Organization of Logging Operations in Line with the National FSC Standard – Environmental and Forest Management Aspects was conducted in the field conditions. Over 170 people, mostly harvesting equipment operators and foremen, as well as delineation experts, improved their skills. All trainees passed a final test upon completion of the course and they will get certificates subsequently. For the period of five months Nikolay Shuktomov, Alexander Borovlyov and Nikolay Shilov from the Silver Taiga Foundation for Sustainable Development have arranged over 12 courses at 6 logging camps. Silver Taiga experts prepared demonstration sites in four Komi districts – Priluzye, Udora, Ust-Kulom, and Kortkeros, were Mondi Syktyvkar leased areas are located. Typical objects were selected for each area, and foremen and operators were explained what they did well, and what they had to improve. The trainees were also provided with workbooks, operation sheets, printed space images and aerial surveys.
Descriptive material prepared by the Foundation’s experts quickened the trainees’ interest
Harvesting equipment operators were most interested in the training course. Studying the examples, they were eager to consider the topics related to minimization of negative environmental impact of logging, especially effect on soil, flora and fauna, discussed and offered problem solutions. Trainers of the course put emphasis to such sites at the demonstration routes where environmental criteria were met to the full, they took efforts to make the trainees remember them and follow the example later on at work.
“The course schedule was tough, and the Foundation’s experts worked hard. So, it is nice to see the result, the course was useful both for the employees of logging operators, who upgraded their qualification, and the Foundation’s staff, because they allowed us to get a comprehensive vision of the way the production processes are organized at different logging areas of the company,” Nikolay Shuktomov, forestry project coordinator of the Silver Taiga Foundation, explained.
In addition, Silver Taiga managed to enlarge its data base by landscape images obtained through aerial survey by a drone in the course of the workshop. Over a thousand and a half of images were taken, now they are to be analyzed and systematized. The aerial survey will allow to assess the situation in the forest comprehensively, to understand what happens during logging operations and observe the cause-and-effect relations.
Aerial survey of a key biotope preserved by loggers in Udora district
Environmental experts state that delineation quality differs in different districts. Most delineation issues were raised in Ust-Kulom district. That is why a special focus was given to the course in Ust-Kulom (in particular, to conduct a drill for delineation specialists), and several demonstration sites were prepared in different forestries.
Landscape borders and key elements are studied at a logging plot
Based on the results of inspection of logging areas during the preparation and implementation phases of the course, a note will be drawn for the Mondi Syktyvkar management to provide the analysis of the status at each area to ensure additional monitoring during the assessment of the company’s environmental footprint.
A group of trainees at the course in Udora district
Photos by N.Shilov, S.Davydov and V.Shuktomov
