Environmental and genetic assessment of spruce trees properties of different ecotypesin the conditions of Vologda region

The improvement of quality of forest territories, improvement of properties of the wood, cultivation of wood of the necessary quality are major problems of modern forest complex of 21 century. Vologda region is one of the forested regions of Russia, where the high paces of development of a timber industry complex are maintained. Forest industry in its contribution to the economy of the region occupies leading position, only ferrous metallurgy and chemical industry are behind. The timber and paper products from Vologda region are exported to more than 50 countries of the world. The main consumers of timber are European Union countries: Finland, Estonia, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands, United Kingdom, France, Denmark, Belgium, Poland, Lithuania, and Czech Republic. Wood requirements of our region, neighboring territories and other countries had been covered for many decades due to the intensive exploitation of forests. At present, Vologda region increasing production volumes is a leader in wood felling and processing. Intensive forest exploitation has deteriorated the quality and species of wood and reduced the share of valuable coniferous plantations. It is possible to solve these problems due to growing economically valuable species of wood in the logged areas. The analysis of pine and spruce species in Vologda region proves that it is reasonable to grow spruce species in the southern taiga subzone in order to produce pulp wood. This will increase the pulpwood productivity of forest plantations and efficiency of timber production in the region. The high-quality wood can be received at creation of target forest cultures. The signs of the qualitative wood are genetic selection of the best trees differing in high rates of growth and quality.