The work of prof. M.M. Orlov «Forests are water protection, protective and forest parks» – 90 years old

Abstract

The article is devoted to the last fundamental work of the outstanding Russian forester, professor of the Forestry Institute (Leningrad Forestry Engineering Academy) M.M. Orlov «Forests are water protection, protective and forest parks». The work was completed in January 1932, but was never published during the life of the author, or for several 10 years after his death. The article is based on materials kept in the Orlov family: letters, photographs, documents, typewritten copy of the work. The article contains information about the difficult period of the last year of prof. Orlov, when foresters were persecuted, defending the principles of constancy of forest management. Links to the letters of N.P. Anuchin, who tried to influence the publication of the book back in 1932. The chronology of events is shown, concerning the reasons for the non-publication of the book. The first publication took place half a century later, in an abridged version. For the first time in full, the work «Forests are water …» was published in 2019, as part of the multi-volume publication «Proceedings of prof. M.M. Orlov». An extensive review of the literature allowed prof. Orlov to globally present to the reader the importance of forests for humans, to give recommendations on the organization and technique of arranging of forests water protection, protective and forest parks; he proposes his own classification of forests according to the degree of their water protection. The book shows that prof. Orlov intuitively foresaw the course of the further development of forestry. Despite the past 90 years, it does not lose its significance in the 21st century.