Lepel Forestry is the leader in the region based on the results of work for 2020

The Vitebsk State Forestry Enterprise (GPKHO) held a final board meeting on the results of work for 2020, which was attended by Vladimir Krech, Deputy Minister of Forestry.

It is gratifying to note that the Lepel Forestry Enterprise was recognised as the best based on the results of work in the past year. This indicates that the enterprise has a clear vision for the future and manages its forest resources competently.

As noted by Andrey Borodich, Director of the State Forestry Institution "Lepel Forestry Enterprise" of the Vitebsk Production Forestry Association, the main activities of the forestry enterprise are forest restoration and afforestation, reproduction and forest protection. This work is carried out on a permanent basis. Last year, forest restoration was carried out on an area of 304 hectares, including planting on an area of 255 hectares. The assigned task for bringing young stands into the category of economically valuable ones has been completed. A total of 223 hectares were introduced, including 141 hectares through forest cultures.

In 2020, 112 kilograms of forest plant seeds were harvested, including 50 kilograms of coniferous seeds. The reserve seed fund consists of: Scots pine - 59 kilograms, European spruce - 239 kilograms. To obtain improved quality spruce seeds in the future, a second-order European spruce seed plantation was established in 2020 on an area of 12.4 hectares. Work is underway in the nursery, where over 3 million planting materials were grown, of which 500 thousand units were sold. The nursery's revenue for 2020 amounted to 63 thousand rubles.

In 2020, 220 thousand cubic meters of wood were harvested from all types of logging. The calculated logging area was utilised 100 percent. In addition, 5.4 thousand cubic meters of coniferous logging area were utilised through early logging. 73 thousand cubic meters of marketable timber were harvested from intermediate use logging, including 41.7 thousand cubic meters of industrial timber. The Lepel Forestry Enterprise is taking measures to increase harvesting volumes, both with its own resources and by engaging services. To increase the yield of industrial timber, it is sorted at all stages of harvesting, from the logging site to the final consumer.

The Lepel Forestry Enterprise exports both sawn timber and products made from low-grade small-sized wood, such as poles

peeled, stakes with a diameter of 4-6 cm. The export share was 71 percent. Of the total volume of harvested timber, the output of marketable timber was 65.5 percent.

The activities of the Lepel Forestry are aimed at continuous production expansion, in-depth processing, renewal of equipment and machinery, resulting in the production of high value-added products. The total volume of investment in fixed assets in 2020 amounted to 2.8 million rubles. The main areas of investment are the acquisition of motor transport, logging equipment, machinery, and the construction and reconstruction of buildings and structures. Currently, the equipment available at the enterprise allows for the necessary volume of timber harvesting and hauling. When selecting machinery and equipment, the Forestry primarily gives preference to domestic analogues of these machines.