Development of sustainable forest management and utilization concepts for aspen-dominated forest stands in the Republic of Tatarstan (ASTAT). Work package 3 (WP3): Forest succession and forest development
As a result of large-scale clear-cutting in Russia as a whole and in the Republic of Tatarstan, natural succession has resulted in largely low-yielding forest stands planted primarily with aspen and birch. In Tatarstan, there are around 236,000 hectares of areas planted with aspen (around 21% of the total forest area), with a timber stock of around 41.7 million cubic meters. Aspen wood is currently not used or only used as firewood due to a lack of processing technologies. The project uses interdisciplinary socio-economic and ecological methods to conceptualize the growth dynamics and natural production of the forest stands, as well as to identify options for the production of relevant products from the harvested wood in Tatarstan (ASTAT, URL: https://tu-dresden.de/bu/umwelt/forst/inter/tropen/forschung/laufende-forschungsprojekte/astat-1).
The project consists of five different work packages (WP). The aim of WP3 is to assess possibilities for future, economically desirable forest development and to make recommendations for forestry measures. For this purpose, representative aspen stands are analyzed, the regeneration potential is described, assessed with regard to the participation of economically interesting tree species and the diameter growth of aspen on areas with different types of intervention (thinning) is investigated.