Peat Reserves

(torfianoi fond), in the USSR, all known and explored peat deposits. Peat reserves are administered by bodies of the corresponding republics, for example, in the RSFSR by the Ministry of Geology of the RSFSR.

The industrial exploitation of peat deposits is organized according to the procedures for land allotment after the bodies that administer the peat resources have made an official decision on the proposed project. Peat enterprises are required annually to return depleted plots of land to the former users in a condition suitable for agriculture, reforestation, or fishing and to leave a protective layer of peat at least 0.15–0.5 m thick, depending on the disposition of the land. Responsibility for the restoration of these lands to a suitable condition rests with the land allocation service.

Procedures established by the legislative bodies of the Union republics give kolkhozes, sovkhozes, and other land users exceptional rights to work peat deposits located within the boundaries of their landholdings for their own agricultural and nonindustrial needs without a lease for mining, which is obligatory in all other cases. The proper use of peat reserves by kolkhozes and sovkhozes is monitored by agricultural bodies.