Mondi Syktyvkar’s forestry division experts studied development specifics of intact forest massifs during the field workshop Regularities of the Landscape and Environmental Dynamics of the Pristine Taiga Forests held in the Pechoro-Ilych Reserve.

From 18 to 24 June 2017, a group of 9 Mondi Syktyvkar employees were trained at demonstration routes of the Pechoro-Ilych Reserve in the course of the training workshop facilitated by the Silver Taiga Foundation for Sustainable Development.

Since 2015 three groups of Mondi Syktyvkar experts responsible for harvesting planning and preparation, forest road construction, plot delineation and logging operations have visited the reserve. For them, participation in workshops is more than an opportunity to upgrade their qualification, it is a chance to take an exciting journey to the Pechoro-Ilych Biosphere Reserve, with its area included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Very few people ever get a possibility to visit such a unique place; that is why for Mondi Syktyvkar employees such field workshops are considered as a reward for good service.

The group of the workshop participants by the hut at the Gusinoye (Goose) bog at the first demonstration route near the village of Yaksha

The contents of the workshop and its logistics were prepared well, and everything went smoothly. The administration of the Pechoro-Ilych Reserve has been interested in environmental tourism development recently, and it helps in arranging workshops and tours. “That time we were lucky with the weather – it was warm, but there were no mosquitos or other biting insects which often create discomfort for the field trip participants during the season. The spring-like high waters of the Pechora were also an advantage. Owing to that fact it took us less time to travel between different routes than usually”, said the workshop facilitator Yury Pautov, director of the Silver Taiga Foundation.

Mondi Syktyvkar employees could see three landscape areas of the reserve and learn about natural forest dynamics typical for Komi taiga. Each new route showed the development regularities of forest ecosystems and mechanisms of biota adaptation to various natural disturbances like creeping or crowning fires or windfalls. The workshop participants took much interest in Yury Pautov’s stories about the regularities of the centuries-old natural dynamics of virgin taiga forests, and more than that – about the history of Pechora district exploration in 18-20 centuries, about Old Believers having populated those places, about how the reserve was created, and the hard life and work of the reserve inspectors nowadays.

In addition, the participants of the workshop visited a unique Nature Museum of the Pechoro-Ilych Reserve and the moose farm with newly born moose calves, and when travelling across the reserve by boats they saw wild bears, beavers, hares and other taiga inhabitants.

At the moose farm – moose calves feeding

The Pechoro-Ilych State Biosphere Reserve jointly with the Yugyd Va National Park are part of the Komi Republic virgin forests, the first natural site in Russia which was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. It is the biggest European massif of intact forests still functioning following its own laws for thousands years. That is why demonstration routes were developed and described here in 1996-1997, and later a training course for forestry experts was developed based on those routes in order to show the value of pristine forests and demonstrate the regularities of their dynamics in different landscapes.  For the 20 years of the course, foresters and environmentalists from Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Poland, Russia, and, of course, the Komi Republic travelled the routes of the reserve.

Our motor men – the workshop would be impossible without them

Silver Taiga representatives conducted a training workshop on the voluntary forest FSC- certification for the heads of the rural settlements from Syktyvdin district of Komi on June 15.

What is the sustainable forestry and forest use? Why is the forest management certification a way to the sustainable forest management? How do the logging companies follow the social FSC requirements and what depends on the local communities and self-government? All these and other questions were answered to the workshop participants from Sludka, Mandach, Vylgort, Yb, Zelenets, Ozel and Shoshka villages.

There are several dozens of logging companies operating in Syktyvdin district of Komi. Among them are large companies including FSC-certified ones (Mondi Syktyvkar, SevLesPil ltd., North-West Forest Terminal ltd.), non-certified companies and individual entrepreneurs. There are many problems that the local people face because of the logging companies activities. First of all the condition of roads for general use leaves much to be desired as the roads suffer a lot of pressure from the logging trucks.

As it turned out during the workshop not all FSC-certified companies acting in the district fulfil the social requirements of the Standard. For example, only Mondi Syktyvkar inform the local administration about its plans of activities.

The heads of the rural settlements

How do the FSC-certified companies cooperate with the local communities, what are the ways of the local people interests consideration, how are the FSC requirements concerning the indigenous people fulfilled, what is HCVF and how are the social HCVFs defined, do the local people take part in working out of the social partnership agreement with the logging companies – all these issues were discussed during the workshop.

Antonina Kulyasova

Silver Taiga is going to continue such workshops on the FSC-certification social issues for the interested local people in the hope that they contribute to the development of the forest business social responsibility with respect to the local population.