27 December, Vitebsk /Diana Kurilo - BELTA/. Ecologists are concerned about the drying out of spruce forests in the southern forestry enterprises of the Vitebsk region, as reported to BELTA by the Deputy Head of the State Control Department for the Protection and Use of Land, Forests, Fauna and Flora, Specially Protected Territories, and Waste Management of the Vitebsk Regional Committee for Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, Vasily Kirpichenok. The Orsha, Tolochin, and Bogushevsk forestry enterprises of the Vitebsk State Production Forestry Association (GPPLHO) are most susceptible to a dangerous spruce disease – drying out. Ecologists consider natural factors to be the main cause: hot summers, dry autumns, and low-snow winters in 2010 and 2011 led to a significant decrease in groundwater levels. Due to the specific characteristics of spruce root systems, they could not provide themselves with sufficient moisture, and its prolonged deficiency typically results in the yellowing and shedding of needles. The situation is exacerbated by pests that inhabit the bark of diseased trees, ultimately leading to their death. Natural factors have also negatively affected ash plantations, which are damaged by root rot in the Lepel and Liozno forestry enterprises. As of the beginning of the year, 360.2 hectares of drying spruce forests with a total timber volume of 120 thousand cubic meters were recorded in the Orsha forestry enterprise, and 93.5 hectares with a total volume of 26.4 thousand cubic meters in the Tolochin forestry enterprise. In total, 513.4 hectares of drying spruce forests with a total timber volume of 161.7 thousand cubic meters were recorded for the Vitebsk GPPLHO. The main preventive measure for combating spruce and ash diseases is sanitary logging. Over the past 10 months, 85% of spruce forests by volume have been processed by the GPPLHO. During the same period, 12.1 thousand cubic meters of damaged ash plantations were cleared by clear sanitary logging in the Liozno forestry enterprise, and 5 thousand cubic meters were cleared by selective sanitary logging. The unprocessed volume of damaged ash forests in the Liozno forestry enterprise and the association as a whole amounted to 9.81 thousand cubic meters as of early November.