COST Action E 52 - vTI - Bund.de

euroPeaN beech (Fagus sylvatica L.)
ForesTs IN The uKraINe
HRYHORIY KRYNYTSKYY 1 – VASYL PARPAN 2 – ROMAN KUZIV 1
1 Ukrainian National Forestry University, Gen. Chuprynky Str. 103, 905 Lviv, Ukraine
2 Ukrainian Research Institute of Mountain Silviculture
Grushevskogo Str. 31, 9000 Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
absTracT
Information on the distribution of European beech as a forest resource in the Ukraine is presented.
The significance of this tree species is discussed, and information on beech virgin forests is also
presented. The principal felling methods for beech forests are characterized. Fruiting data and natural
reproduction of European beech are outlined. In the Ukraine, European beech occurs naturally only
in the Carpathians (up to 1,400 m above the sea level), Sub-Carpathians and at higher elevations in
the Volyn-Podillya highlands. The area of beech forests is 503,000 ha, of which beech virgin forests
are around 39,000 ha. In the Ukraine beech is characterized by high productivity and an uneven
age structure. The beech stands are generally managed under the shelterwood silvicultural system
(on 90 – 94% of the area) while much less selective fellings are used (less than 5%) and clearcuts
(1.5 – 2%).
Key words: European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.), бук (in Ukrainian), Ukraine, distribution, forest
resources, methods of principal felling systems, fruitage, natural reproduction
euroPeaN beech dIsTrIbuTIoN IN uKraINe
In the Ukraine, European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) occurs naturally only in the Carpathians, Sub-
Carpathians and at higher elevations in the Volyn-Podillya highlands (Fig. 1). The modern border of
the continuous distribution of European beech is almost identical with the border of the Carpathian
sub-mountains. At the north-east of this border, beech has only isolated distribution. The border of
this isolated distribution of European beech follows approximately the line Volodymyr-Volynskyy,
Kremenets, Sataniv, Hermakivka, Kamyanets-Podilskyy (Molotkov 1966). Beyond this borderline,
only individual trees or small groups of European beech are reported close to the village Goryngrad,
situated 40 km east of Rivne (Molotkov 1966), in the Novomalyn forest of the State Enterprise “Ostrog
forestry management” (south of Rivne) (Ivchenko, Voytyuk 19 8), north-east of Kremenetsk
mountains in the Volyn forest of the State Enterprise “Kremenets forestry management” (Melnyk,
Korinko 2005), close to the town Starokostyantynova in the Khmelnytsk area (Melnyk, Korinko
2005, Postrygan 195 , Bilous 1962b), near Kuzminsk in the Vyshnivetske forest of the State
Enterprise “Yarmolynets forestry management”, near Verbovets in the Grytsiv forest (Khmelnytsk
area), close to the village of Stanislavchyk in the Khmelnytsk region and the village of Shenderivka
265