Several years ago, Fulbright Scholar Serhiy Zibtzev of the National Agricultural University in Kyiv spent a year at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies to study forest economics and policy in the US. This visit helped initiate a series of joint activities. One result was Yale cooperation in several studies on the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone where dangerous fuel buildups are occurring. Alternative ways to safely manage these and reduce the risk of large wildfires are urgently needed, since smoke from wildfires releases radioactive materials into the atmosphere. Downwind of this region is Ukraine's capital city, Kyiv.
A second line of cooperation included two lecture and study tours by myself, also a specialist in forestry economics and policy. The first visit (May 2007) coincided with an opportunity to attend the International Union of Forestry Research Organizations meeting in Lviv at the National Forestry University there. The second (March 2008) was as a Fulbright Senior Scholar. During this visit I participated in two conferences, giving a major address at one of them. In several lectures I explored various aspects of forest sustainability.
To get out of the classroom and the city, we took two field trips into the forests of the Ukrainian Carpathians. Ihor Soloviy of the National Forestry University organized the trip and foresters Bohdan Kysil and Serhiy Kokot joined us.
It was an early spring but snow still covered the upper slopes. During Austrian times heavy harvesting and planting took place in the region. Prior to the nationalization of lands in the 1940s, lands belonged to Austrian investors and the Church. Now they are state lands.
Some of the stands are some 120 years old. The region's forests suffer from a generalized decline syndrome affecting most stands aged 40 and more. Partly as a result, windthrow is increasing. The decline's immediate causes are debated; it reflects the effects of a “pest complex” including fungi and bark beetles. Stand maturity and overstocking may be contributing causes. Many scientists agree that the region's climate has shifted in ways less favorable to Norway spruce, the predominant conifer in the region's managed forests. Accelerated salvage efforts are being undertaken. The decline threatens plans to manage these stands to ages as long as 80-100 years.
Low road density in the mountains has prevented active management. Also, large areas of Ukrainian forest were designated for primary functions as scenery and recreation backdrops in Soviet times, and hence were under managed. The District forester, a woman, showed us the salvage cuts she was supervising along the road. We drove in our jeep well out into the mountains to a point where the snow prevented further ascent up a scenic valley.
The region is being discovered by vacationers from the flat, grassy eastern regions of Ukraine who are buying up lots and cabins in these scenic mountains. Also, visitors from neighboring western countries are discovering the regions' charms for hiking, climbing, and skiing. We had lunch at a nice ski resort where right next door a major hotel expansion was being roofed over, to be ready for the 2008-09 ski season. Unlike most U.S. ski areas, this resort can be reached by train from Lviv, This is creating land use concerns and social strains as well as jobs, in a manner reminiscent of our own Rocky Mountains.
These forests, managed by the Lviv Oblast State Forest Committee, have received a Green Certification from the international Forest Stewardship Council. To forestall future declines, and to move toward a forest species composition judged to be more natural, cutting and planting practices are introducing more beech and white fir into the new stands. This is an example of the new emphasis on “back to nature” forestry that is widespread across Europe. In fact the foresters noted in several instances that they were adopting practices, such as certification, to become “more like Europe.”
On the way home we visited Skolivski-Beskydy, a 29,000 hectare park and recreation area where important wildlife re-introductions are under way, including bison. Forest management is under way in suitable portions of the area, triggered partly by the decline that affects the region. These shifts toward more natural forest composition, and the wildlife re-introductions, represent moves toward longterm sustainability. Fully implementing them will occupy the careers of the forestry students who sat through my lectures.
Later that week I gave an informal seminar to all Lviv Oblast officials and university students on world market trends and on marketing certified wood products. There were many questions and lots of discussion.
I am not sure how much useful advice I was able to offer them, but the visits into these scenic mountains gave me a good impression of how the Ukrainian State Forests are managed and how they are attempting to cope with a serious emerging forest health challenge.
