Larch Forests

forests growing in the northern hemisphere that consist primarily of larch trees. Outside of the USSR, larch forests are found in Canada and in some small tracts in China and in the countries of Western Europe. The largest forests of this type are in the USSR—in Eastern Siberia, the Urals, the mountains of Southern Siberia, and the Far East. Larch forests most often consist of Siberian and dahurian larches. They are light forests and usually do not include species of other types of trees. The forests yield 600–700 cu m of lumber per hectare (sometimes as much as 1,900 cu m per hectare). In the mountains of northeastern and eastern Siberia the lumber yield is less; however, the larch forests in these regions play an important role in soil conservation and water storage.