Forest Club model projects and sites

Issue 8-9, Nov. 1998

T…Our names are Alexej and Natalya Shamakovs. Both of us graduated from leskhos-technikum (forestry college) near Vladimir and we have been working in forest for several years.

We want to advise you to make a column in the “Bulletin” for conversation between people working for nature and forest protection in the different regions of the country, for readers ideas of solving the forestry problems, forest restoration, ecology improvement, for experience exchange and reports about negative incidents and so forth.

If discussing the question why forests are managed badly it is easy to answer that all depends of the manager. Let's parallel forestry and household. If there is a housekeeper, who tries to do his best for cleanliness, order and good harvest, if he wishes to succeed, he will succeed. It is to be wished that a forest has a good keeper, the one that will replay the forest thousandfold if he takes something from it.

We enjoyed your article “A visit to a farmer” in the February 97 issue ¹ 1 (3). The farmer manages to use even the waste wood and in this forests dead trees that can be used fore firewood are burned, because it is difficult to reach it with transport. It's bad because the tree has grown and it could be useful, but no one wants to waste his time and money, it is not profitable.

Students of the tekhnikums (colleges) usually learn things that are absolutely different from the real life. I wish that tekhnikums include in their educating programs more practical lessons than theoretical. There are some courses in secondary school teaching the pupils a shopmen of educator profession. But we have never heard about teaching any forestry professions in school.

There are a lot of problems in this forestry system. For example the problem of drinking on the workplace. It is a common habit of foresters to start the workday from drinking alcoholic drunks. Without alcohol they have no enthusiasm to work. And what enthusiasm are we speaking when their salary is about 120 rubles per month.

For improvement of forest conservation and restoration there is a need for legislation directed towards environmental and forest development and the most important moment is that it must be not “paper” laws, it must be active. And there is a need for support. Many leschozes need fire-engines, agrimotors. A lot of problems cannot be solved without financial support. If they learnt to work without any waste and even sawdust could be used than the income of enterprises and salary of the workers would be larger.

A. and N. Shamakovy, Kasimovskij rayon, Ryazan Oblast.