Forestry Establishment, State

(Russian, les-khoz), a forestry station.

In the USSR the forestry establishments are subdivided into forestry sections. The establishments organize the rational and nondepleting use of forests; improve the tree species; raise productivity by improving drainage, felling waste, and reconstructing low-value plantations; and deal with the replanting of the forest and the afforestation of sandy, eroded, and other tracts. They allot forest areas to timber cutters and supervise their proper use, and they protect forests against fire, illegal felling, and theft. The forest establishments are also involved in logging, organizing the production of wooden consumer goods, and ensuring the most complete use of forest by-products (for instance, haymowing, harvesting mushrooms, berries, and herbs). They serve the kolkhozes and other forest holders and supervise proper use of forest resources. The territory of a state forestry establishment usually consists of several thousand hectares in areas with thin forests and hundreds of thousands of hectares in the heavily wooded and sparsely populated areas of the USSR.