Reforming the system of forest management and forest protection ofthe Russian Empire in the 1820s-1830s

There was a gradual normative and organizational work of the new system of forest administration, forest management and forest protection; and attempts were also made to the formation of rational forestry, based on the latest achievements of science during the first quarter of the 18th century. The regulation "On the new in the forest part" was adopted in 1826. It determined the division of forests in forest districts and forestries, rights and responsibilities of forest officials at various levels, the administration procedure, etc. Forest administration in the provinces came under the authority of state chambers, wherefore the staffing of the offices in forestry at chambers was made. The number of forest officers of all ranks, as well as their salaries, increased. The concept "forester" was introduced for the first time in the text of the normative act. It remains in the forestry lexicon to the present time. German titles of all posts of forest officials were replaced by Russian ones. Forest departments of the state chambers were responsible for oversight of all forests of the province, except those that were under the control of other departments; the protection and cultivation of forests; the division of forests into districts, forestries, forest areas and distances, the internal division into quarters, cutting areas and timber groves; the introduction of proper forest management, the recruitment of forest officers. Protection of the most valuable forests, including state-owned and custom-made groves, was the responsibility of forest rangers and guards. This forest service was constant, though small in number. Low-value forest cottages, both state and peasant, were under the protection of the temporary (irregular) forest service: forest rangers and fire chiefs, they were selected in peasant societies. The "Regulation on constant guard for the Forest Department of the Ministry of Finance" was adopted on the initiative of the Minister of Finance, Count E.F. Kankrin in 1832. This regulation established the principle of professionalism of the lower forest service. The formation of a family forest service was based on the principle of military settlements: execution of professional duties in places of permanent residence. The law set twenty years of the forest service, during which the guards were exempted from the payment of state taxes, execution of county duties, repair duties and recruiting from the military post. With the formation of a permanent forest service, the protection of state forest passed into their hands and the local peasant society was freed from the need to elect forest rangers. Thus, as a result of reforming the forest sector in Russia, local forestry management of state forests was run by state chambers. Individual departments and agencies with the right to own or use forests established their system of forest management. At the same time an unmanageable system of forest guard was formed.

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