Preferential releases of wood to the population as part of the system of forest protection in the south of Western Siberia in the first quarter of the 20th century

The article examines a component of the forest protection policy in Western Siberia. The system of preferential provision of timber for the local population was part of the state policy on the development of forestry in Siberia. This subject is quite topical and has practical importance. It allows to realize fully and evaluate the character and efficiency of state forest protection in the pre-revolutionary period and in the first years of the Soviet power. This article is based on the archive documents many of which have been introduced into scientific practice for the first time. Supplying the people with wood helped to decrease the social tension in the village despite the reduction of revenues in forest exploitation; thus the amounts of free and discounted releases of wood increased during the years of the worsening of the social contradictions and mass demonstrations of peasants. After the revolutionary events of 1917 the volume of timber supplied to certain categories of the population was increased and the most favorable conditions of supply were introduced. In taiga districts, where the shortage of wood was not noticeable, the entire population, not only low income people, were entitled to get wood for free. The transfer of power to the temporary Siberian government resulted in the unification of the regulations on providing wood to the population on a preferential basis throughout the region. The right to receive free wood was granted to families of soldiers who were taken captive, missing, injured or dead, in case they were not granted a pension. The right to purchase wood at a reduced cost was granted to the refugees as well as the residents of rural areas and cities who were in need of timber for a number of reasons. After the final establishment of the Soviet power in Western Siberia in late 1919 the citizens had the right to forest management, with mandatory participation in work on protection and restoration of forests. In the mid-1920s commercial logging by state and cooperative enterprises, with the subsequent supply to the population through a network of timber depots, was developed. Former soldiers of the Red Army who kept house, disabled war veterans and workers, horseless peasants including disabled citizens who were exempted from paying agricultural tax and members of agricultural communes reserved the right to receive wood on a preferential basis. Thus, free and discounted releases of wood for the local population were one of important preventive measures which helped to decrease the topicality of the "forest issue" and prevent mass unauthorized felling of forest. In Western Siberia there was a system of preferential provision of timber for the local population, some components of it could be changed depending on the growth conditions of woods as well as on social and economic peculiarities and the political situation in the country and in the region.

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