The Boreal Forest of Russia: Logging, Fires, and Data Distribution

(W. Alton Jones Foundation)

Introduction

The forests of Russia are under pressure. Not the pressures of the old, centrally planned economy where directives as to where to cut and how much to cut resulted in enormous waste and rot, but the pressures of a people desperate to find a way to survive in the new economy of today where laws and regulations count for little, and where long term planning seems foolish to most.

The forces at play are enormous. On the southern side of the Amur River is the most populous nation in the world with a newly surging economy. A nation whose depauperate forests were unable to prevent the massive floods of 1998, which killed 3000 and cost $20 billion in damages. And to the north are the largest forests in the world occupied by a nation with one tenth the population of China, which struggles to feed itself, and is unable to maintain the size of its population due to early death, and a lack of desire for children by women who see little in their future.

How will the forests of Russia and the Russian Far East be used?   Is the question environment versus jobs or is that a gross simplification of a complex problem? A prerequisite for knowing the answers to these questions and for actions to either save or utilize the forests of Russia and of the Russian Far East is a better understanding of the former and current extent of the forests. We also need to know what is happening now in those forests, and what are the consequences of improper uses of the forest.

All sides in this struggle need objective information for an enormous region, information that is not directed towards nationalistic or propagandistic ends. Satellite imaging, now better and cheaper than it has been in 15 years, offers us the data for analysis and for educational purposes. It is our task to acquire, and interpret the data and distribute information to those who can use it best. We can identify the fires and the logging and the re-growth, if and when it occurs.

For the two year period we will:

1. Monitor and map forest fires and deforestation in Central Siberia and in the Russian Far East as a continuing contribution to our Global Forest Inventory.
2. Map forest resources focusing on regions already studied where large-scale changes are threatening the functional integrity of the landscape and where threats to endemic species are unusually high. The Russian Far East is the obvious target.
3. Expand our data distribution effort through the production of a CD-ROM that will be distributed freely through various organizations, including the Pacific Environmental Resources Center (PERC), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Taiga Rescue Network (TRN), among other researchers and organizations, and at conferences.

Monitoring forest fires and deforestation

We have made a reduced resolution mosaic of LANDSAT 7 data of 1999 (Figure 1) of the entire Russian Far East and have provided it to several groups and colleagues. In this poster, the fire scars from 1998 are prominent. An educational version of the poster is being prepared by the environmental magazine Zov Taigi through discussions with David Gordon (PERC). This poster will be aimed at Kharbarovsk Kray policy makers to demonstrate how few forests actually exist. This poster will also allow others, and us after its distribution, to choose what satellite data we should acquire for ourselves and for eventual re-distribution. Fortunately, the recent de-commercialization of LANDSAT data allows for greater sharing of the data with fewer restrictions. The data, however, remains costly.

We have analyzed the geographic region of the 5.8 million ha of 1998 fires reported by Kasischke et al. of ERIM and have found that of those fires more than 55% were in larch forests, some 15% were in grasslands, 13% were in Spruce forest and 5% were in previously burned forests (Figure 2).

Figure 3. Fires as determined by ERIM (yellow) and by Minko (red) in the RFE for late 1998. The star marks the location of the Rimbunan-Hijau concession (see Figure 4)

We have also compared the ERIM data with data Russia’s National Forest Fire Center (NFFC) on the fires of the Far East of 1998. Despite the fact that Kasischke et al. of ERIM have been criticized as exaggerating the extent of fires, data provided by NFFC suggest just the opposite – that there were even more fires in 1998 than reported by ERIM (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Yellow are fires determined by ERIM and red are fires from data of Minko for the fall of 1998. Fortunately, our monitoring of low resolution satellite data, with the assistance of Dr. Nikolai Minko of Irkutsk, showed that fires in central Siberia and the Russian Far East were less severe in 1999 than during the disastrous year of 1998. Minko and colleagues from the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics, Space Monitoring Center in Irkutsk supply data to NFFC. He has expressed interest in coming here as a Russian Visiting Forest Ecologist.

Continuing our fire research, we presented a paper on Russian wild land forest fires with a Russian Visiting Forest Ecologist (Alexandra Volokitina) at a symposium in Boise, Idaho (June 1999). Also, a second paper was presented that described the link between GIS, forest fires, and the Kyoto protocol. Another wildfire paper is being presented at the May 2000 Boreal Forest Conference in Edmonton, Alberta this year also with Alexandra Volokitina. Volokitina successfully defended her doctoral thesis in Moscow and Krasnoyarsk this past winter.

Mapping forest resources

We focus on regions already studied and in regions where large-scale changes are occurring or are anticipated, and where threats to endemic species are unusually high.

This effort entails the purchase of new hi-resolution satellite data and the analysis of that data. We have purchased seven LANDSAT 7 scenes and two Russian Resurs-01 scenes and are sharing them already with Friends of the Earth-Japan, Sakhalin Environment Watch, Evgeniy Gladyshev, and Nikolai Minko.

We acquired (and shared) new satellite imagery of the Rimbunan Hijau forest concession in central Sikhote Alin (Figure 4). With boundary information of the concession supplied by Friends of the Earth-Japan, we have begun an analysis of the concession and will soon have a baseline to compare against the expected depredations against these forests.

We have begun discussions with the Dale Miquelle, of the Hornocker Wildlife Institute and probably the foremost western Siberian Tiger expert in the world, about how best to use our abilities and resources to, first, protect remaining tiger habitat and second, how to model potential tiger habitat. Miquelle visited Woods Hole in May 10, 2000. Suitable tiger habitat is a function of forest cover and the presence of prey species (primarily elk, deer and boar). Tiger protection is a function, in part, of distance from roads (and accessibility to poachers). It is likely that Gladyshev will work with Miquelle mapping habitat upon his return to Vladivostok from Woods Hole.

Expand our data distribution through the production of a CD-ROM

We have helped to develop an informal consortium in an effort to buy expensive satellite data and to share it. No one organization has the funding in hand to purchase the 40 to 50 Landsat Scene ($25,000 to $30,000) for a complete RFE coverage. No one organization has the computer capacity to make these data available via FTP (15GB) but it is likely that we can find among our RFE-interested colleagues a distributed solution to the problem. We have already had discussions with many researchers interested in the Russian Far East about this. Part of this came through a visit here in Woods Hole by Josh Newall and Eichioro Noguchi of Friends of the Earth - Japan. Others involved in the discussion included David Gordon, Dale Miquelle, Eric Kasischke of the University of Maryland, Ed Backus of EcoTrust, Mike Beltz of the Ecology Center, Dmitry Lisitsyn of Sakhalin Environment Watch and Xanthippe Augerot of the Wild Salmon Center.

Sharing of Landsat and Other Data

A critical mechanism for the distribution of the data that we have been accumulating or producing is via CD-ROM. We are in the process of creating a master CD from which 200 will be made for distribution in Russia. These data will be shared with any group interested in using them and can be freely copied by all.

We have forwarded to Dmitry Varlyguin English language versions of the text to be included with the CD to be distributed. Dr. Valyguin, who has recently completed his Ph.D. at Clark University and has been the recipient of a NASA graduate fellowship, recently completed two years of fieldwork in the great Russian lowlands of Western Siberia. Eight data set descriptions, each about 10 pages long, have been sent to Dr. Varlyguin for translation. This is about half of the anticipated number of data sets (See Appendix D).

Data sets currently planned for distribution via CD-ROM include :  

Primorskiy Kray Forest Classification (1 km resolution   (WHRC)

1990 Forest Map 1:2.5 million scale (WHRC/WCMC)

1973 Forest Map 1:15 million scale (WHRC)

1973 Forest Map 1:2 million scale (Krasnoyarsk only) (WHRC)

Administrative boundaries of Russia (GIS Center, Moscow and/or ESRI)

Forest Stand Carbon Map (WHRC)

Phenology Based Land cover map (WHRC)

Generalized World Forest Cover map

Vegetation Map of USSR 1:4 million scale 1990 (WHRC)

World Vector Shoreline for Former USSR Regions (public domain)

DCW Inland Coastal/Shorelines for Former USSR Regions (Public Domain)

DCW Data at 1:1 million scale (Roads, Admin, Bounds, Utilities, Railroads, Rivers, Populated Areas) (Public domain/ESRI)

Satellite imagery of Former Soviet Union (Vegetation Phenology Data sets--1km, 8km, 16km) (Public domain)

Forest Fire data for 1998 and 1999 (NFFC and NOAA) of the Russian Far East

Publications

Stone, T. A., P. Schlesinger and A. Z. Shwidenko, 1992. [abs.]. "Vegetation Gradients in the Yana River Basin, Yakut A.S.S.R." International Workshop on Classification of Circumpolar Arctic Vegetation, The 22nd Arctic Workshop Program & Abs., INSTAAR, Univ. of Colo., Boulder, March 5-9, 1992.

Stone T. A., Schlesinger, P., and T. Loveland, 1993 [abs.]. Building a Spatially Referenced Database of Landcover for the Region of the Former Soviet Union. Pecora Symposium, August 1993. Land Information for Space Based Systems, p. 52.

Stone, T. A. and P. Schlesinger, 1994 [abs.] . A Comparison of Satellite-Based and Russian Map-Based Estimates of the Forest Cover of Krasnoyarsk Territory, Siberia. Boreal Forest and Global Change Conference Papers Abstracts, Intl. Boreal Forest Research Assoc., Saskatoon. Sept., 1994. p. 83.

Stone, T. A., R. A. Houghton and P. Schlesinger, 1996. [abs.] Developing a 15-km resolution land cover map of the region of the Former Soviet Union based on low resolution NOAA AVHRR time series data. ESA Annual Meeting 1996, Providence. Supp. to the Bull. of the ESA 77(3): 426.

Schlesinger, P. T. Stone and V. A. Alexeyev, 1997 [abs]. A Spatially Explicit Map of Forest Carbon for Russia: A First Approximation, IBFRA 97, Duluth, Minn.

Bondarev, A. 1997. Age Distribution Patterns in Open Boreal Dahurican Larch Forests of Central Siberia, Forest Ecology and Management. 93:105-214.

Stone, T. A., R. A. Houghton and P. Schlesinger, 1997 [abs.]. A Digital Land Cover Map of the Former Soviet Union Based Upon a Time Series Of 15 km Resolution NOAA AVHRR Data, IBFRA 1997, Duluth.

Stone, T. A., and P. Schlesinger, 1994. Building a Spatially Referenced Database of Landcover for the Region of the Former Soviet Union. Pecora 12 Sympos. Proceedings, Land Information from Space-Based Systems. Sioux Falls, Aug. 1993. pp. 555-558.

Stone, T. A., 1996. A Landcover Map of the Russian Far-East Based on NOAA AVHRR Satellite Data. Unpublished Report to the World Wildlife Fund, Wash., DC, January 1996, 8pp & digital map.

Woodwell, G. M and R. A. Houghton, 1997. The Mystery of the Great Northern Forest. Proceedings of the 7 th Annual Conference of IBFRA, St. Petersburg 1996. pp. 37-44.

Lioubimov, A.V. and T. A. Stone. A Forest Inventory System of the Russian Federation as the Basis for Spatial Accuracy Assessment of Forest Resources and Environmental Sciences. Proceedings, Second International Symposium on Spatial Accuracy in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, Ft. Collins, CO, May 1996.

Janetos, A, C., A. Isaev, V. Sukhihk, V. Zhirin, S. Bartelev, D. Ershov, A. Shatalov, M. Gurskiy, A. Pismenniy, T. Ziemelis, H. Shugart, B. Orlick, T. Murphy, E. Kasischke N. French and T. Stone, 1998.   Boreal Forest Characterization and Sustainability Study - Report on Phase I and II Results. U.S. Russian Joint Comm. on Econ. & Tech. Cooperation Environ. Working Group. 13 pp.

Alexeyev, V. A. & R. Birdsey (eds.) 1998, Carbon in Ecosystems of Forest and Peatlands of Russia, USDA Forest Service, Washington DC.

Lioubimov et al, 1998. State, Utilization, and Possible Future Development of the Leningrad State Forests. European Forest Institute. Joensuu, Finland.

Stone, T. A., R. A. Houghton and P. Schlesinger, 2000. A Digital Land Cover Map of the Former Soviet Union Based Upon a Time Series of 15 km Resolution NOAA AVHRR Data. In Disturbance in Boreal Forest Ecosystems:Human Impacts and Natural Processes, USDA Gen. Tech Report NC-209. International Boreal Forest Research Association 1997, Duluth, Symposium Proceedings. pp. 67-80

Stone, T.A, P. Schlesinger, and V. A. Alexeyev, 2000. A Spatially Explicit Map of Forest Stand Carbon for Russia: A First Approximation. In Disturbance in Boreal Forest Ecosystems: Human Impacts and Natural Processes, USDA Gen. Tech Report NC-209. Intl. Boreal Forest Research Assoc., 1997, Duluth, Sympos. Proceeds. Pp.351-356.

Skudin, V. M. and V. Cherkashin, 1998. Forest Inventory Management in Central Siberia, poster, Society of American Foresters Meeting, Boise Idaho, August 1998.

Volokitina A. V., T. A. Stone, P. Schlesinger, and M. A. Sofronov, 2000. Medium-Scale Vegetation Fuel Mapping in the Lake Baikal Basin. Joint Fire Science Conf. & Workshop Crossing the Millennium: Integrating Spatial Tech. & Ecol. Principles for a New Age of Fire Management, 1999, Boise, Idaho. Vol. 1. pp. 249-253.

Volokitina A.V., T.A. Stone and M.A. Sofronov. 2002. An assessment of the amount of biomass consumed from wildand fires based on vegetation fuel maps. In Shaw C.H. & Apps M.J., Eds: The Role of Boreal Forests and Forestry in the Global Carbon Budget, Proceedings of the IBFRA 2000 Conference, May 8-12, 2000, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Canadian Forest Service. pp. 273-284.

Internet

We have placed on our WWW FTP site a large and highly detailed map of Russian land cover, which was digitized here. This map has been downloaded many times to sites around the world. Other parts of our WWW site related to a recent publication on forest carbon of the Former Soviet Union has received hundreds of visitors from all over the world.

Relevant Presentations and Meetings Attended (last 18 months)

NASA LBA Secondary Forest Workshop, Florida State University, February 25-26, 1999.

Third NASA Land Cover and Land Use Change Science Team Meeting, Airlie House, Warrenton, Virginia, May 18-21, 1999. (Stone)

Joint Fire Science Conf. & Workshop Crossing the Millennium: Integrating Spatial Tech. & Ecological Principles for a New Age of Fire Management, June 1999, Boise Idaho. Two presentations, one invited and one contributed paper. Several Russian foresters attended.

Peter Schlesinger; travel to Kharbarovsk, Russian Far East, July 28-29, 1999 for the Sosnovka Conference supported by the W. A. Jones Foundation.

At the end of July 1999, Peter Schlesinger traveled to Khabarovsk to a meeting of Russian forest conservation groups from every region of eastern Russia and Japan to discuss current activities, group goals, and to learn from one another’s progress and strategies. A manifesto describing this effort was written to call for appropriate policy changes. The document was written in an attempt to highlight the problem of forest resource extraction in Eastern Russia and subsequent destruction by illicit harvesting, forest fires, new roads, mining, unsuitably-located agriculture, and the silting of streams.

Groups represented at the meeting included: Pacific Environment and Resources Center, ISAR-Far East, Siberia Hotspots Program/Friends of the Earth-Japan, Wildlife Foundation (Khabarovsk), Far Eastern Scientific Research Institute for Forest Management (Khabarovsk), Institute for Water and Ecological Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Khabarovsk), Youth Ecological Group "Kedr," Komsomolsk-on-Amur (Khabarovsk), Primorsky Center for the Defense of Wild Nature "Zov Taigai " (Vladivostok), Primorsky Center for Forest Conservation, Institute for Sustainable Natural Resource Use (Vladivostok), Sakhalin Environment Watch, Committee for Protection of the Environment of Sakhalin Region, Amur Branch of the Socio-Ecological Union , Amur Region Forest Service, Center for Environmental Education "Eyge" (Yakutsk), Dauria Public Ecological Center (Chita), Buryat Regional Union for Baikal (Ulan-Ude).

Despite solid efforts at the meeting to exchange addresses and suggestions for cooperation and collaboration with Russian groups, follow-up has been restricted to discussions with the exception of the poster production effort with Zov Taigai. From this group, three members of the Buryat Regional Union for Baikal applied for the current Visiting Scholar position and their applications remain in our pool for the fall of 2000. Also, Sakhalin Environment Watch is interested in pursuing collaborative remote sensing efforts to measure existing forest and illicit steep-slope logging.

A report from this meeting, Saving the Taiga: Strategies for Forest Protection in Siberia and the Russian Far East , The Sosnovka Conference Proceedings has been written by David Gordon of PERC.   Peter Schlesinger participated in this meeting and made contributions to the document. Schlesinger and Stone both reviewed the preliminary document and made many suggestions before its finale release.

Harnessing Remote Sensing to Accomplish Full Carbon Accounting, Intl. Inst. for Applied Systems Analysis. Laxenburg, Austria, Dec. 9-11, 1999. Several Russian foresters attended, all from Russian federal agencies.

First International Steering Committee meeting, Global Forest Watch, World Resources Inst., Washington DC, March 2000 (Stone). Three Russians attended including Greenpeace-Russia.

©Woods Hole Research Center, 2007