Forest Club model projects and sites

A. Cuttings without permits
(they are very often called unsanctioned)

1. Cuttings carried out by local residents for personal needs

This violation occurs for the following two reasons. First, small village residents in many regions are too poor to buy even the smallest amount of timber and firewood they need. The second reason is connected to the low efficiency of the forest service, meaning that it is easier and faster to go into the forest and logs illegally than to get all of the official papers which are necessary. Our own experience in buying of logs in the Moscow and Yaroslavl Regions, and additionally the Regions of Tver, Leningrad, Sakhalinsk and so on, reveal that to legally buy one log, or to get a permit to cut one tree, it is necessary to spend 1 to 5working days. Besides that, the buyer has to get a car to take a forester to the logging site and back, or a vehicle to fetch the log from the site for which the felling ticket has been issued, if the log has already been cut by foresters. It is clear that in the majority of cases it is easiest to go to the nearest forest and cut the necessary amount of timber. The foresters will hardly find out, and the neighbors will not tell anyone, because they themselves are doing the same thing.

No doubt, there is a relatively large group of people unwilling to pay the State for the 'people's' resources. The inefficiency of state controlled channels fosters the development of such attitudes. In such a situation, the forest protection principle that fixes a particular forest plot to one forestry service officer will prove ineffective. A forester, being a man of principle, would become an outcast in his own village and would take more care regarding his own property and the safety of his family than about protection of state forests. No methods of social protection and/or insurance would change the situation. It is often enough that the foresters themselves 'bless' such cuttings and not without profit to themselves.

It is somewhat difficult to assess the volumes of forest cuttings carried out by the local population. Our very rough estimations say that the volumes are equal to some 8 to 10 million m3 of timber annually, which is not registered officially.

2. Cuttings carried out by residents or mobile teams for subsequent sale

This variant is most typical for logging of large-sized especially valuable wood. Accordingly, the scale of such logging is largest in the southern part of the Khabarovsk Kray (region) and the Primorye (ash-tree, oak, korean pine, nut tree, cork tree) and in the Northern Caucasus (oak, beech, chestnut tree). Only the officially registered volumes of such cuttings in Primorye exceed 10,000 m3 every year.

According to our information, only in the Roshchino leskhoz in Primorye the annual volume of unsanctioned cuttings of this type and of valuable tree species is 16 - 22 thousands cubic meters. The deviation from the official figures can apparently be explained by the fact that the Roshchino leskhoz did not register unsanctioned cuttings when they failed to impound illegally logged wood. There are no reasons to say that other leskhozes act in another manner. That is why the actual amount of illegally logged wood is much larger than official figures.

Usually the teams (and in fact, illegal companies) operating via this strategy are very organized and have good connections with the authorities of different levels. Many such teams are 'protected' by criminals or bring a good profit to criminal groups. For example, in June 2000 after a more detailed research in illegal cuttings in the Krasnoarmeysk Region we encountered a large company dealing with forest felling operations illegally. When the company workers were cutting trees, the logging site was guarded by three patrol cars and armed security people were present at the logging site as well.

The results of the investigations conducted from February through June 2000 indicate that at least in some areas, for example, the Krasnoarmeysk district of Primorye, the issue of illegal cuttings is no longer a problem exclusively for the forestry department. Apparently, a greater part of the population, companies and state agencies of the Krasnoarmeysk region, is involved in illegal logging and trade in wood. Now we can speak not only about the illegal trade but also about a whole way of life, which has the illegal sale of wood as its essential component. People in the regional administration say that the part of the population making a decent wage apart from wood logging, is the first to get involved in illegal forest felling activities. The population sees illegal cuttings as a good additional source of money. Probably, in these activities people use equipment of local forestry enterprises and wood logging companies. The management of these enterprises is very often aware of what is going on, but turns a blind eye because if their workers have a supplemental income, management can feel justified for giving smaller salaries (and this, in turn, affects the taxes). There is every reason to believe that large wood logging enterprises also accept and/or buy illegally logged timber from the population (meaning, workers of these enterprises).

The location of illegal forest felling operations gives us reason to believe that the bulk of timber goes finally to the China. Control over timber transporting operations in the district has become a political and financial issue. Over the last two years, a police post on the Novopokrovka - Dalnorechensk road has been organized and removed several times. There is a local anecdote stating that a young police officer asked to be sent to this post because his family was in 'a difficult financial situation'. Local residents say that police officers working at the post in winter, bought cars (an ordinary police officer could not afford a car because of his low salary). During the times the post was missing, the transporting operations were especially active.

Along with mobile teams illegal cutting is a source of money for 'family teams'. Cuttings of this kind are usually small-scale and loggers take 1-2 logs at a time. There were several times when we saw such cuttings near the village Roshchino of the Krasnoarmeysk Region of Primorye in June 2000.

We often spoke to local residents. They told us that along with the official logging companies buying illegal timber, there are also private citizens who do the same thing. We even learn the name of one such person who supposedly works for the Terneylesstroy company, that is for the Plastun - Olga ports. Discovering his name was not too difficult, since all local people know the name and even this man's schedule very well, as do local administrations. The same results were received after local journalists analyzed the system of trade in illegally logged wood (for example, see the 'Posledniye Izvestia' (Latest Events) newspaper dated July 7, 1999). It's worth noting that none of the illegal wood dealers have ever been brought to justice.

Illegal forest felling operations of this sort very often occur near large timber consumers dealing in cash and careless in their choice of suppliers. Such sites include forest ports in Saint-Petersburg, Vyborg, Luga,etc., as well as some ports in the Far East, some wood-processing and pulp and paper mills (for example in 1997-1998 the Svyatogorsky P&PM, now the situation has changed for the better; in 1999 - the Syassky P&PM (see local newspaper 'Vestnik' dated May 6, 1999 #5)). There is a strong reason to believe that such a scheme is very popular (more popular than outlined by official statistics).

Besides all of the above mentioned, there are unsanctioned cuttings for sale (or for illegal small business - small-volume sawing and producing of traditional wooden houses and so on). Usually such cuttings focus on widely spread tree species (spruce, pine, not very often, birch) that, as we think, don't exceed 500,000m3 a year. Basically, such felling operations are concentrated in certain regions: the Republic of Karelia, the Leningrad, Arkhangelsk (southern and central parts), Novgorod, Tver, Yaroslavl, Ryazan, Vladimir, Moscow and Sakhalinsk Regions, possibly, the Irkutsk Region, southern part of the Krasnoyarsk region and the Republic of Burayatia. Besides demand, there should be some other key conditions for this type of cuttings. At the very least relative transport accessibility of forest is necessary, including those forest plots where all types of felling activities are prohibited, and local residents who own (or, at least, have a possibility to use illegally) appropriate equipment, such as tractors, loaders or trucks equipped with hydro-manipulators.

3. Cuttings carried out by companies near officially developed sites or in the distant areas that are seldom visited by supervision agencies

Some companies start logging wood illegally if they log a large wood volumes legally and have several wood-logging teams within it. The key condition for it is a large number of allotments developed simultaneously and/or an area difficult to access for supervising organizations. Such a situation is especially characteristic for military forestry enterprises that very often do not obey forestry legislation. However, this might happen in the forests belonging to agricultural enterprises and forests of the Federal Forestry Service, as well. The fact is that if a team of loggers was not caught red-handed where they were cutting wood illegally, it is very difficult to prove their connection to illegal cutting. After three or more years (after the term of allocation materials and felling ticket storage in a local unit of the Federal Forestry Service (FFS) is over) asserting proof becomes completely impossible. Such cuttings can be arranged after a direct agreement is reached with representatives of the local unit of the FFS.

Illegal cutting of this type can be easily detected if we compare the allocation materials and felling tickets with space images of the area made a year before and by the time of the check. To detect logging sites and assess their size we can use images with a resolution of 100m and higher (but not higher than 30-35m). The problem is that not a single state supervision body uses space images for these purposes. Moreover, the official authorities, for example the Federal Forestry Service, never arrange any detailed research in this field and believe that such cuttings do not exist at all (and are not even possible) or that their number is insignificant. Independent checks in this field are very difficult to arrange, because all of the necessary papers (allocation material) are stored in leskhozes (local units of the Federal Forestry Service) or in the company that carries on illegal cuttings. These materials are traditionally considered to be secret and become even more closely guarded if there is such an agreement between the leskhoz and the company.

According to the data we have, it does not seem possible to assess volumes of such cuttings. However, in 1998-2000 we found facts proving that such cuttings did exist on the Sakhalin, in the Khabarovsk and Krasnoyarsk regions and in the Republic of Buryatia. In all particular cases we could speak of amounts from some hundred to some thousands of cubic meters of illegally cut timber.

2a-3a. Fellings on the places of officially completed selective fellings, including officially discovered and aborted unsanctioned cuttings

In July 1998, in Pogranichnoye forestry of Smirnykhovski Leskhoz, a team from, in the words of the team leader, OOO Smirnykh Les sampled large spruce trees beyond the limits of its own logging plot, in the area of an abandoned unsanctioned winter felling of another company. New logways were built in the unsanctioned felling area, including in the spawning-protection stripe of the Skvortsovka River. As of the moment of inspection, the total volume of fresh-cut wood exceeded 400 cubic meters (over 220 trunks). The foreman at the logging site attempted to prove that the fresh summer logways and fresh stumps were in fact the results of another team's winter operations. It was apparent that illegal fellings in that area had been underway for a few weeks. All that time, the representatives of the FFS had either not entered the logging site, or their inattention had been handsomely compensated.

This popular method, practiced by locals, companies and departments of the Federal Forest Service (now the Ministry of resources) implies that an unsanctioned cutting is disguised as a completed and accepted felling, or as an unsanctioned cutting performed by another individual or company, already discovered and aborted by the forest protection agents.

Clearly, such violations are exacerbated by the practice of paying the forest loggers which depends on amount was logged and the patrol system of forest protection under which one FFS ranger solely supervises an allocated plot without being monitored by any superior or figure of authority.

In May 2000 in Prymorsky region local residents including workers of wood logging companies considered such practices as usual for most wood logging companies and some leskhozes. In the Krasnoarmeysk region we saw examples of such operations carried out most likely by the local leskhoz (or its workers) and the military.

As far as the volume of illegally logged valuable timber is concerned, in total for Russia it exceeds 600,000 m3. The volumes are not too high, but in cost-value terms they are equal to about 2-3 million m3 of less valuable tree species.

It is worth noting that in many cases small and medium-scale illegal cuttings are very easy to fight, because the places where the timber is cut and where it is sold are either well-known or are very easy to discover.

For example, in early June 2000 a Greenpeace Russian team in the Krasnoarmeysk Region of Promorye with no problems and special tricks had the opportunity to videotape five unsanctioned cuttings on the stages from forest felling to transportation of the illegally cut wood. The foresters (including those from the Roshchino leskhoz) say that they could easily stop illegal forest cuttings but they do not have any time for forest protection because they have to work in other places ('profit-making cuttings'). Moreover, a very popular practice is that foresters are appointed loggers, chokers and so on for the winter period.

Efficiency of other environmental protection agencies and law enforcement bodies cannot sustain any criticism. Judging by what we saw, large illegal companies and teams are well aware of the time and place where mobile police posts are set up. The same problems exist in other regions, too.

Another way to fight illegal cuttings is to introduce a few additional regular paper checks during shipment, as well as confiscation of illegally shipped wood (and vehicles). Even if such paper checks (checkpoints) don't prove 100% efficient, additional bribes that illegal loggers will have to pay at such posts will make a significant part of small-scale illegal wood-logging business unprofitable. The control over small-scale forest felling operations should be accompanied by a stricter control over operations of wood logging companies and exporters. In general, we think that the following should be done to fight unsanctioned forest felling operations:

change the system of forest protection when every forester is responsible for particular part of the territory and start using small but very mobile and well equipped inspector teams operating only in areas situated far from their permanent residences. Such teams should be organized first of all in those areas where forest felling and wood logging operations are especially active;

prohibition of any economic activities by forestry bodies (department of the Federal Forest Service - the Ministry of natural resources) no matter how good their intentions might be;

introduction of additional (redundant) checks of documents for the timber transported on the roads leading to sale places;

introduction of appropriate amendments to the Criminal Code and Administrative Infraction Code to toughen punishment for forestry offenses, as well as transportation and legalization of illegally logged wood;

fully review of the procedure of assessment of actual volumes of wood logged at logging sites; at the present time the volume assessment is based on the Forestry Committee of the Soviet Union Instruction dates back to 1983 and is designed for a socialist 'unprofitable' economy. It is also necessary to introduce new technologies and remote assessment methods;

full review of the existing procedure of routine control over forest felling operations carried on by wood loggers;

enlargement of the powers of other agencies supervising forest management and operations of forestry bodies, this has become especially important after the environmental protection agencies and forestry service bodies were united into one ministry;

to provide open and free-information on forest management to make public control possible; the existing procedure of public access to information about forest management is either very expensive and people simply can't afford it or it lacks any information on how ordinary people can access such important information sources as felling license, allocation materials etc.

to introduce additional customs codes to the following roundwood to be exported from Russia: other spruce timber (except norway spruce); other fir timber; siberian and korean pine timber; walnuts, alders; aspens. Such changes will allow to introduce more precise control on timber export as well as more accurate comparison of logged and exported amounts.

The major part of the measures given above should prove very effective against most violations in the field of wood logging.

The fact that many regions suffered from unsanctioned logging do not introduce effective measures to control the situation or that such measures have been abandoned due to the pressure of the loggers proves how deep the authorities are involved in the illegal timber trade and how corrupt they actually are. Usually such regions (or the federal authorities under the pressure from such regions) take specific actions not actually designed to stop these cuttings, only to imitate that the government makes significant efforts to stop them. For example, in 1999 licenses for valuable tree species export were introduced (in the Far East these were oak and ash-tree). After that it became impossible to ship and export such timber without an appropriate certificate and license. However, the governmental decision implied a permissive license issue procedure, meaning that every person who applies for a license, should be given such license and that this license should be given on the wood volumes he or she applied for. Formally the authorities were afraid to create obstacles for the development of industry. On May 25, 1999 the Primorye Vice-Governor, Vladimir Stegny, sent a letter to the Russian Federation Ministry of Economy.

The letter said, "From year to year volumes of valuable tree species export from the Primorye to the People's Republic of China and Japan significantly exceed the legal cutting norms. Automatic export licensing without quantitative limits does not give any leverage to influence unfair exporters. In Primorye, for the period of time from February 15 through May 20, 1999 export licenses were issued to 930.9 thousand m3 of valuable wood, when the regional norms for these species for the whole 1999 are only 260,000m3".

In Primorye, about 260 thousand m3 of valuable tree species were permitted to be cut. However, only Primorye companies exported officially (and declared) more than 500 thousand m3 (not including those valid timber exported under customs code 440310900). The problem is that among all valuable tree species in the Far East only oak has its own customs code in the Customs Code List for Foreign Trade Operations (Code for ash was introduced in the end of February 2000). Walnut, cork tree and ash tree together with lime, aspen and alder and other inferior tree species were sold under a single customs code. That's why it is impossible to say precisely how much valuable timber was exported from Primorye and other Russian regions. It is clear, however, that the share of inferior tree species in timber export from the Russian Far East was very small. In 1999 there were several cases when people tried to illegally export valuable tree species (see, for example, the 'Posledniye Izvestia' newspaper and 'Sikhote-Alin' of December 14, 1999). From our experience, we know that for each unsuccessful attempt to illegally sell valuable timber from Russia abroad there are several successful ones. Additionally, we must take into account the fact that the customs does not accurately inspect large consignments of timber actually shipped via sea transport because such inspections are impossible technically. According to estimates of local and regional administrations, in 1999 more than 600,000 m3 of valuable timber were exported only from Primorye, which means that at least 300,000m3 were logged in the region illegally.

Large volumes of the export licenses that exceed the permitted cutting volumes, allow timber exporting companies to legalize illegally logged wood. In fact, when illegally logged wood comes to, for example, the Plastun port or the Dalnerechensk base, it becomes legal being due to already issued licenses.

Pimorye region

Khabarovsk region

Imported by buyer countries

Rosleskhoz	RF SCC	Regional administration	RF SCC	Japan (*)	China
188000	523000	äî 300000	135000	336000	352000

RF SCC - Russian Federation State Customs Committee
*) Only highest quality timber is included

4. Fellings caused by the unauthorized construction of non-forestry facilities

At present, timber is often felled to clear areas for the construction of industrial or commercial facilities (buildings, quarries, etc.), based on the decisions of heads of local or regional administration without issuing required permits, or with no authorization whatsoever. In the majority of cases, the culprits are not penalized, whereas the permits are issued post factum, if at all. Even after a violation has been officially disclosed and a protocol has been drawn up, the illegal construction, in the vast majority of cases, is continued, because "money has already been invested" and the forest destroyed.

Such practices are common across the nation. Each individual case normally includes damages to a small area. The total volume of such cuttings cannot be calculated.