Justification of the feasibility of creating Scots pine plantations on loamy soils of the Mari El Republic

The relevance of the paper is defined by the need of improving activities in the sphere of forest regeneration and increasing the forest potential from the ecological and resource point of view. The goal of this study is to summarize experience in establishing Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) plantations in the nemoral and subnemoral forest growth conditions of the Mari El Republic. Such plantations can provide a great amount of qualified wood in a shorter time than forest stands of the natural origin. For this paper, we used forest management documents containing the data on the taxation parameters of stands (over 45 thousands of strata) as well as the data of full-scale assessment performed at 15 research sites in the natural stands and Scots pine plantations growing in the fresh oakeries and ramens of the Mari El Republic. It is established that the forest species structure of oakeries and ramens in the Mari El Republic is far from optimal and needs to be radically changed. The highest productivity here is demonstrated by pine stands with the high point of the average annual increase in their stock occurring at the age of 45 to 55 years old and indicating their economic maturity. In order to increase the ecological and resource potential of forests in these forest growth conditions, it is appropriate to establish pure Scots pine plantations that can give the stock of stem wood more than 500 m³×ha^–1 by the age of 45 years old under the optimal conditions of their cultivation. In terms of basic density, their wood is as good as the wood grown in the pine forest conditions and amounts to about 460 kg×m^–3 at this age and achieves the maximum at the age of 90 to 120 years old. In the rich forest growth conditions, many pine trees are capable to live up to 200 years old and avoid any damage by trunk rots.

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