Forest Club model projects and sites

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In 1999 Russia exported about 29 million m3 of raw timber, and in round wood Russia exports more than a half of timber logged both legally and with violations of the existing legislation. Considerable income from the forest export stimulates forest felling both legal and illegal. The majority of companies buying wood from Russia either don't take interest in or prefer not to think about the origin of timber they buy, because they think that it really matters only in Russia Abroad all timber, even stolen, becomes legally clean. That's why it doesn't seem possible to solve the problem of illegal forest felling operations until both buyers and sellers of forest products close the illegally logged timber from entering the market.

• Cuttings carried out by local residents for personal needs
• Cuttings carried out by residents or mobile teams for subsequent sale
• Cuttings carried out by companies near officially developed sites or in the distant areas that are seldom visited by supervision agencies
• Fellings on the places of officially completed selective fellings, including officially discovered and aborted unsanctioned cuttings
• Fellings caused by the unauthorized construction of non-forestry facilities

B. 'Licensed' But Illegal Forest Felling Operations

• Issuing permits for felling in areas where felling is prohibited or not envisioned in current legislation
• Issuing logging permits with violations of the existing procedure for permit issuing, or without the assessment of the real logging capacity without violations of current legislation
• Entering deliberate amendments into forest management documentation, formally allowing cuttings otherwise prohibited
• Intentional mistakes of Forest Inventory
• Forest cuttings carried out with abuse of the existing legislation

Conclusion
Illustrations

Acknowledgments:
The Author thanks
Anatoly Lebedev,
Sergey Tsyplenkov,
Alexey Yaroshenko,
Heather Hawkins
Roman Vazhenkov
for invaluable help in preparation of this matireal.