Karasyn’s natural forests are unique both in terms of their origin and their age, species and spatial structure and are a source for the renewal of the intra-species identity of our forests. Pine stands with birch, alder, and oak are of different ages (70–210 years old), threetiered, formed on bogs with peat soils and a groundwater level of 30–50 cm in summer. In the first and second tiers the pine is dominated. Pine and birch are depressed here, but with the warming of the climate and the lowering of groundwater and the drying up of swamps in the summer over the last 20 years, they have started to grow intensively. The average height of pine trees in the designated natural monuments is from 14.8 to 18.3 m, the average diameter is 17–21 cm,and the stock of stands is 206–275 m3/ha. The stands are dense with a significant mass of dead wood. The undergrowth is sparse, the grass cover is dominated by sphagnum mosses and Ledum palustre L. Four small areas of such forests have been set aside to preserve unique natural ecosystems in the swamps. Designed and created on the site of natural forests, four primeval forests monuments:«Okhnychiv natural forests» (29,5 hectares), «Kremenets natural forests» (13,6 hectares), «Zagoriliv natural forests» (47,7 hectares) and «Gadyuchyn natural forests» (62,7 hectares). In addition to the nature conservation value, the natural monuments created and approved by the decision of the Volyn Regional Council are important as a scientific training base for tracking the mechanisms of sustainable existence of natural pine forests, monitoring and developing effective measures for the preservation of rare species of plants and animals of Polissia natural forests.
Author Biography
M. V. Chernіavskyi, National Forestry University of Ukraine, Lviv
Candidate of Agricultural Sciences (Ph.D.), Senior Research Fellow, Associate Professor
