Thanks to the technique of applying biohumus when planting saplings the ecologists intend to restore 50.9 hectares of Stankevych pine forest in the Crimea which burned last year during a 10-day fire, with 12.5 hectares destroyed by ground fire and 31.4 hectares by crowning fire. Total losses then amounted to UAH 111,000. This is what the project coordinator and expert in developing and implementing environmental projects Olena MORDOVINA told us:
“Originally, we planned to plant ordinary pine-trees on the scorched terrain, but in this case we will occupy the only habitat where the Stankevych pine can grow, Cape Aiya.
“Our technique of planting saplings is unique with the result that the Ford Co. has shown interest in it and extended a $3,000 grant for this experiment. In case of success, our expertise can be used in countries afflicted with forest fires. Our major positive is that we save time on restoring forests.”
“The restoration of forests is a very important and urgent issue and scientists have dealt with it, without exaggeration, since the times of the pharaohs. For wooden structures inside the pyramids builders used yew from Ukraine by floating logs across the Black Sea. Cut trees were replaced with new saplings, but with time this business declined.
“Russian Tsar Peter I gave a new impetus to reforestation when he embarked on large-scale shipbuilding, with new forests being planted to make up for cut trees. At present, there are two scientific schools in Moscow headed by Academicians Vinogradov and Sukachev which not only plant trees on fire sites but also on sand, polluted areas, and depleted land.
“Despite quite a large number of books written on the topic, planting new forests on fire sites is only beginning in Ukraine. With books focusing primarily on restoring forests on areas deforested through cutting, planting trees on scorched land is a new endeavor. Until recently, it took five years for the plants to begin to grow on fire sites, with scholars writing research papers and dissertations which merely summarized the practice. The only available source on the subject were papers by scholars from Sihote- Alin (Siberia) who were engaged in restoring forests as soon as the fire was extinguished while other waited for five years to begin reforestation because of pyroherbicides forming in soil after fires that stop any new plants from growing on fire sites.
“This led us to use the technique of locally applying biohumus in soil which does not let pyroherbicides to kill young saplings and hampers the growth of other vegetation around the saplings. As a result, new trees can grow uninhibited by nearby trees or brush, with the fire site now actually helping to restore the forest.
“In our project, the funding needed for cleansing the fire site, about 50,000 hryvnias, was made available by the local administration, while our share of work was to gather seeds and implement our innovative ideas. As the slopes where pine-trees grow are rather steep, between 28 and 45 degrees, no machinery could be used for clearing the fire site and planting saplings and we had to do it by hand. Any further care of the saplings will be done by hand also.”
Currently, all the activities of head of the Sevastopol section of the All-Ukrainian Environmental League Liudmyla MARCHUKOVA are centered on gathering seeds. To get one kilo of seeds you have to gather 25 kilograms of cones, with 90 kilos of seed needed for the project. The volunteers, 46 schoolchildren who are members of the Sevastopol Environmental Volunteer Section, have so far gathered 23.5 kilograms of seed. In the pine section of the Sevastopol State Forestry Farm that contributed much to restoring forests destroyed by fires, the Stankevych pine-tree including, there are 3000 two-year old saplings of the Stakevych pine.
Soon we will know the results of seed gathering campaign, and in the fall we can start planting pines, with another two or three years before we can see any changes.
FROM THE DAY
The Cape Aiya landscape reserve occupies the area of 1,340 hectares. It was created by the government of the Ukrainian SSR on December 16, 1982 to preserve the unique landscape and vegetable and animal genetic fund in the contact zone of the main ridge of the Crimean Mountains and the Black Sea on the Southern coast of the peninsula. The reserve’s flora includes 500 species, with 28 species registered in the Red Book of Ukraine, 19 rare for the Crimea, and 10 native species. Also there are many kinds of orchids there. The reserve is home to many endangered and native plants, rare animals, and unique landscape. Most of the Stankevych pine grow there, alongside with such rare plants as pistachio-trees, madroca, juniper, yellow asphodel, yellow poppy, pyramidal anakamptis, Komper’s komperia, etc. The Stankevych pine, a subspecies of the Sudak pine and native to the Crimea, grows only in two areas, the Cape Aiya Reserve and in Stary Krym. The pine is extremely picturesque and has an open-work crown, fine bark, does not require much water, loves heat, and is able to grow on stony steep slopes. Since its roots produce phytocides inhibiting other plants, the areas where the pine grows have no grass. Only fluffy oaks can survive in the vicinity of the Stankevych pines. Being a tree that loves light, its density per one hectare does not exceed 10,000 trees.
