Forest fire occurrence and silvicultural-economic prerequisites for protection improvement in forest regions of Krasnoyarsk Krai

• Published in: Сибирский лесной журнал
• Main Authors: V. V. Furyaev, P. A. Tsvetkov, I. V. Furyaev, L. P. Zlobina
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; Russian
• Published: Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch Publishing House 2017
• Subjects: forest regions; forest fire occurrence; protection; fire affects; Western and Central Siberia; Forestry; SD1-669.5; Krasnoyarsk Krai; taiga; Tundra; Siberia
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.15372/SJFS20170505; https://doaj.org/article/0cb967cd8d114a428252f7590c231193

The territory of the Krasnoyarsk Krai is substantially diverse in terms of climatic, silvicultural and economic conditions owing to its sufficient spread from the North to the South. These differences were to some extent taken into account when the forest fund of the Krasnoyarsk Krai was divided into seven forest regions: forest tundra of Central Siberia, highland taiga of Central Siberia, plain taiga of West Siberia, Angara region, subtaiga forest steppe of Central Siberia, Altai-Sayanskiy highland, Altai-Sayanskiy highland forest steppe. The regions show different levels of fire occurrence and different fire effects that require different levels of protection from forest fires. Optimization of the protection is based on activities that combine prevention and timely detection of fires depending on development of forest regions and intensity of forest management. The main focus of the paper is on possibility or inadvisability of prescribed fires, fire-use fires (fires that started naturally but were then managed for their beneficial effects) and the system of activities increasing fire resistance of the most valuable forests. It is justified that taking into account the effects of forest fires, selective protection of forests is expedient in forest-tundra Middle Siberia and highland taiga of Middle Siberia regions. The whole area of plain taiga of West Siberia region should be subject to protection but with various levels of intensity in different parts of it. The forest fund of Angara, subtaiga forest steppe of Middle Siberia, Altai-Sayanskiy highland, Altai-Sayanskiy highland forest steppe regions should be protected on the whole area. Application of prescribed fires is relevant in the subzone of South taiga, in the forest steppe zone as well as in the submontane and lowland taiga belts. Fire-use fires are admissible on limited areas in the subzones of Middle and North taiga.