Analysis of the Ecological and Economic Relationships in the Forest Complex on the Basis of Assessing the Assimilation Service of Forest Capital.

An analysis is made of the ecological and economic relationships between the development of the forest sector of the economy and ways to achieve the desired quality of the forest environment based on assessing the assimilation service of forests to self-restoration after logging, fires, and other negative influences. The relevance of this study is determined by the fact that the issues of assessing the assimilation service of forest capital have not been adequately studied. At the same time, such research is complicated by the need to analyze the relationship between the environmental and economic consequences of logging and forest conservation measures that reduce their negative impact on the forest environment. The methodological approach to assessing these relationships as proposed in this paper implies the category of "external costs" in forest management and its value assessment as a set of environmental costs and damage prevented thanks to forest conservation measures. The results of calculations carried out for the model territories of the Far Eastern border regions have shown that the use of environment-saving selective logging methods increases the cost of logging, which is compensated by lower costs of reforestation and the preservation of the forest environment, thus allowing forests to fully perform socioregulatory services. The study also made it possible to assess the impact of regional forest management systems on the provision and quality of assimilation potential of the model territories. This analysis is necessary for elaborating mechanisms to coordinate the development of the forest complex and conservation activities in the forest regions of the Russian Federation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]