Prospects for the use of wood moisture meters in the inspection of illegal logging sites of forest plantations

Introduction: the article, based on the judicial and investigative practice of Russia, analyses the problem of establishing at the scene of the incident a category of cut tree: dry or living. The authors propose an option to overcome the problem by using a special device such as a hygrometer (wood moisture meter). Based on the idea of the authors, several experiments have been carried out, on the basis of which it has been established that if the conditions described in the article are met, it is possible to draw a probable conclusion about the category of cut tree. Materials and Methods: the regulatory framework of the study is included by the Constitution of the Russian Federation, criminal and criminal procedure legislation, and other normative legal acts regulating relations in the field of forest management, as well as materials of investigative and judicial practice. The methodological basis of the study is the dialectical method of knowledge, as well as a set of popular and private scientific methods based on it: system-structural, statistical, logical, empirical methods. Results of the Study: allowed clarifying the types of wood categories, revealing the content and practical significance of wood moisture meters as a measuring device, and determining by physical and weight methods the effect of the moisture meter on wood depending on weather conditions. Findings and Conclusion: the possibilities of using moisture meters of wood as a measuring device at the site of inspection of illegal logging of forest plantations were analysed, the reasons for which deviations in the accuracy of the results occurred were studied.