The state enterprise "Forests of Ukraine" plans to plant 200 million seedlings in 2024 on log cabins, community lands transferred to the forest fund, and all free areas for reforestation.
The campaign will use the principles of natural forestry, Yuriy Bolokhovets, head of the Forests of Ukraine, said on Facebook.
He emphasized that Ukraine will create high-quality, highly productive forests that are resistant to climate change.
Among the key trends in forestry in 2024, Bolokhovets named:
- doubling the share of seedlings with a closed root system, i.e. up to 20 million. This will increase the viability of trees, allow them to be planted for a longer period and reduce maintenance costs;
"In order to grow high-quality planting material from ZKS, we continue to open new seed selection centers and increase the capacity of existing ones," he emphasized.
- renewal of the forest seed base — areas of the forest with the most genetically perfect seeds, in particular, the creation of 100 hectares of clone plantations;
- departure from monoculture forest – planting of mixed species, for example, a combination of pine, oak, linden, etc. with the addition of fruit and berry trees. This will help increase biodiversity. In addition, a buffer zone of deciduous trees will be created in conifers to reduce the risk of fires;
- 29% of the total planting plan is oak, which will increase the economic component.
Bolokhovets emphasized that seedlings of invasive species in new forests will make up less than 1% in areas where it is really justified, and the rest of the trees will be local species, in particular:
- 60% — coniferous species: pine, spruce, fir, larch;
- 40% — deciduous: common oak, alder, ash, maple, linden, walnut.
Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources has canceled the list of 13 invasive trees that are prohibited from being planted to create and restore forests and field protection strips.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, 108 million woody plants were planted in Ukraine in the spring of 2023 on an area of 15,180 hectares as part of the Green Country program.
