Introduction: What is the Russian taiga?

"Taiga" is the Russian word for forest. The Russian taiga is actually part of the large boreal forest stretch that lies south of the tundra and runs globally though North America and Europe--mainly Alaska, Canada, and Scandinavia. The Russian taiga is the most expansive of these taigas.

The shaded regions represent the boreal forests of the world.
The boreal expanse in Russia is known as the Russian taiga.
Source: http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/taiga.htm

What is the boreal forest?

The boreal forest, also known as the northern coniferous forest, is mainly characterized by evergreen coniferous(cone-bearing) trees as well as a wet, spongy layer of soil atop a layer of permafrost. Shallow ponds and lakes decorate the taiga. Winters are long--lasting roughly 6 months at temperatures below freezing(-54°C to -1°C). The Russian taiga is dominated specifically by pines(Pinus sylvestris). Evergreen trees do not require the hassle of shedding and regrowing leaves as to optimize the opportunity for photosynthesis during warmer temperatures.

Many lakes garnish the Russian taiga.
Source: http://courses.ttu.edu/rusn3304-aqualin/notes/geography.htm

The Russian Taiga in Winter 
Source: http://worldwildlife.org/publications/illegal-logging-in-the-russian-far-east-global-demand-and-taiga-destruction

A Historical Look

People have hunted in the Russian taiga for thousands of years. The animals' rich furs provide material for protection from the harsh cold of the environment. Little impact has arisen from human civilization in these thousands of years until recently. During the Soviet Era, rapid industrialization resulted in over-logging. This caused a dramatic quality decline in available lumber, as the continuous cycle between the destruction of old growth and rise of new growth was interrupted. In 1986, the political reformation movement perestroika resulted in the closure of many wood-processing enterprises. Towns and villages that were dependent on wood harvesting became economically devastated at the sudden loss. Perestroika was quickly followed by the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. In Figure 1 and Figure 2, a sharp decline in timber production can be seen after 1991. In more recent years, timber production has experienced positive growth. However, it is unlikely that the growth levels will ever reach the peak timber production of the Soviet Union.

Figure 1
Source: http://www.forestsmonitor.org/en/reports/548670/549162

Figure 2
Source: http://www.forestsmonitor.org/en/reports/548670/549162

 The condition of the taiga continues to worsen today due to deforestation and illegal logging. Wastes from logging, such as wood chips and branches, continue to stockpile and threaten to provide an alarmingly large amount of fuel for potential forest fires.

Current Human Impacts:

Historically, humans primarily impacted the Russian Taiga through logging and poaching. However, now the most serious humans impacts on the Russian Taiga are logging and climate change. 

Deforestation due to logging has emerged as the greatest anthropogenic threat to the Russian Taiga. Because of loose governmental regulation, timber companies have very little incentive to harvest wood sustainably and clear-cutting, an efficient but extremely harmful method of wood harvesting, is the most commonly-used logging practice. Clear-cutting removes all of the trees from a given area without returning any of the nutrients to the soil, thereby reducing the nutrient quality of the soil. The process of clear-cutting also contributes to erosion. The Russian government imposes only loose regulations on the harvesting of wood and does not prioritize the protection of its boreal forests because it sees logging as a valuable source of revenue. The logging activity in the Russian Taiga is largely driven by the demand for inexpensive wood for furniture manufacturing in China. As shown in the tables below, export for production an industry is the primary (and very lucrative) use of Russian Taiga timber. As a huge furniture manufacturer, China requires a copious supply of timber, and the boreal forests that dominate Russia and even extend into China serve as a convenient nearby timber source. The most concerning problem with the logging activity in the Russian Taiga is the prolific illegal timber theft. According to the World Wildlife Fund, exports of oak exported from Russia in 2010 exceeded the amount of oak authorized for logging by 200 percent, indicating that at least half of the Russian Taiga oak that was exported to China was stolen. In other years, the ratio of oak exported from Russia to oak authorized for legal logging has been as great as 4:1. 

Tables from: http://rainforests.mongabay.com/deforestation/2000/Russian_Federation.htm

Climate change puts the plant and animal species of this extreme forest region at great risk. The Russian Taiga undergoes extreme weather conditions (the average year-round temperature typically hovers around minus 50 degrees Celsius and the region experiences extremely long winters with very short summers), and the plant and animal species have developed highly specialized adaptations to match the current temperatures and environment. These specialized adaptations put them at risk in the face of habitat changes due to climate change. For instance, the Amur tiger has developed an extremely thick fur coat in adaptation to the low temperatures, so it is not prepared to take on increasing temperatures.  Already, a warming climate has caused the Russian Taiga to change in composition from mainly needle-shedding larch trees to evergreen conifers. 

In recent years, the Taiga has also seen an increase in the intensity of its wildfires, which occur during the brief summers that the ecosystem experiences. Scientists attribute the increasing intensity of the fires to both changing temperatures from climate change and copious forest litter build up due to human protection. Instead of small, brief forest fires, the Russian Taiga has begun to see fires that are more extensive and intense. Fire is a natural part of the Russian Taiga ecosystem, but now scientists are concerned that the more intense fires may burn too much of the forest litter of the Russian Taiga, thereby releasing considerable amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and giving the Taiga a positive net carbon impact. Historically, the scientists have viewed the Taiga as a net carbon sink because the extensive forest takes in so much carbon every year. The new intense wildfires have turned the Taiga’s “net carbon sink” status into a debate. Other scientists have disagreed with the concern that the Taiga will contribute to a thicker atmosphere, arguing that burning the forest litter would facilitate new growth that would then absorb carbon dioxide, thereby generating a net loss of carbon. Whether they hypothesize that the Taiga will have a positive or negative net carbon impact, scientists on both sides of the debate consider the Russian Taiga a noteworthy factor in the future of climate change. 

 Image from: taigabiomeproject.weebly.com

What Can Be Done to Improve or Maintain Positive Human Impacts: 

Deforestation from unsustainable and illegal logging poses the greatest threat to the Russian Taiga. The Russian government needs to allocate more of its resources towards logging regulation in its boreal forests, for Russian forest regulators currently lack the necessary funding to effectively regulate logging activity. As Nikolay Shmatkov, the World Wildlife Fund Russia Forest Policy Projects Coordinator, has stated, the Russian government has only “minimal resources in place to detect and prosecute illegal logging.” In its laws too, the Russian government needs to tighten its loose restrictions on unsustainable logging. The Russian government does not prioritize the protection of its boreal forests and allows unsustainable logging practices, but a hugely impactful first step it can take is to eliminate illegal logging that is both almost always unsustainably performed and also deprives the Russian government of profit off of the stolen timber. Much of the timber harvested from the Russian Taiga is transported across the border into China, where it is turned into inexpensive furniture and flooring that is then sold on the U.S. and European markets. In particular, furniture and flooring companies should seek out FSC-certified wood if they are purchasing Russian oak, ash, elm, or linden. If FSC-certified timber is unavailable, companies should establish rigorous and reliable traceability confirmation systems. Consumers in the U.S. and Europe can also play a powerful role in protecting the Russian Taiga by demanding sustainably harvested wood and choosing FSC-certified wood. If consumers cannot determine that the wood has been sustainably harvested, they should avoid wood originating from the Russian Far East altogether because of the high chance that it was unsustainably harvested. 


Image from: www.pubnaz.edu

Future Prospects:

As stated previously and depicted in Figures 1 and 2, timber production has experienced recent positive growth. However, the growth rate is not as rapid as that of the Soviet Era. Despite this, speculation exists in that the actual timber production may prove to exceed that of previous years due to the illegal logging that is unaccounted for in statistics. Russia’s loose legal enforcement on such logging allows for such practices to exist. Previously mentioned, about half of the exported timber is illegally logged. Recently, there has been a southward shift in timber production due to transportation costs to China as well as the growing Asian markets. Over-logging from the Soviet Era has left a lasting effect on the Russian taiga, in which old growth forest is rare. As seen in Figure 3, old growth experienced a decrease from 7.1 billion cubic meters in 1961, to 5.5 billion cubic meters in 2000. The continued destruction of old growth forest due to clear-cutting is detrimental to a balanced cycle of old growth and new growth. The composition of the forest alters as the absence of old growth gives way for less productive shrubs. The excessive logging in the Russian taiga, both legally and illegally, will continue unless Russia strengthens its regulations. In the meantime, the Russian taiga will continue to disappear and threaten biodiversity and soil, air, and water quality.

Source: http://www.forestsmonitor.org/en/reports/548670/549162

Resource Links:

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Illegal logging in the Russian Far East: global demand and taiga destruction.

Smirnov, D.Y. (ed.) Kabanets, A.G., Milakovsky, B.J., Lepeshkin, E.A., Sychikov, D.V. 2013. WWF,

Moscow. 39 p.

World Wildlife Fund (2001). "East Siberian taiga". WildWorld Ecoregion Profile. National Geographic Society. Archived from the original on 2010-03-08.

"East Siberian taiga". Terrestrial Ecoregions. World Wildlife Fund.

 "radford:Taiga climate". Radford.edu. Retrieved 2011-02-21.

 "Russian boreal forests undergoing vegetation change, study shows". Sciencedaily.com. 2011-03-25.doi:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2011.02417.x. Retrieved 2012-01-14.