Residents of Buryatia are thinking about loans for firewood

The prosecutor’s office is checking complaints from residents of the Kabansky district of Buryatia living on the shores of Lake Baikal, who claim that they “may freeze this winter or will have to take out loans” to prepare firewood. Earlier, representatives of the ONF contacted the supervisory agency and reported that forestry enterprises had stopped the practice of allocating plots where residents in previous years could stock up on firewood for a nominal fee under a quota of 20 cubic meters per family. The government of Buryatia refers to environmental legislation that limits timber harvesting in the Central Ecological Zone of Lake Baikal. As an alternative, citizens are encouraged to collect dead wood or buy wood from commercial organizations.

On November 13, the Buryatia Prosecutor’s Office will hold a meeting with residents of the Kabansky district of the republic on the issue of the plight of providing the population with firewood. Earlier, representatives of the All-Russian Popular Front contacted the supervisory authority, the regional department of the ONF told Kommersant.

“Residents of the area contacted us and sent us several videos on the situation,” says Olga Anosova, press secretary of the regional branch of the ONF.

The point is that local forestry enterprises have stopped issuing permits to citizens to collect firewood for their own needs, despite the existing guarantees of regional legislation.

ONF of Buryatia published clippings from video messages from residents of Baikal villages. Citizens, in particular, complain about the “ban on the procurement of firewood”, they argue that the cost of 20 cubic meters of firewood previously harvested independently (taking into account the registration of the necessary permits and overhead costs) previously amounted to 10 thousand rubles, but now purchasing this volume from commercial suppliers are estimated at 90–100 thousand rubles.

“Residents of the city of Babushkin, the villages of Boyarsk, Manturikha, Tankhoi, the villages of Kultushnaya and Vydrino may freeze this winter. Or they will have to take out loans. The forestry department denied them legal plots, limiting people to places where they could collect dead wood and dead wood. Most of it is located in remote places, which in the near future will also become difficult to access due to snow. These volumes will in no way cover the needs of residents. For example, the city of Babushkin alone requires about 3.5 thousand cubic meters. The price of firewood in the region now reaches 4.5 thousand rubles. per cubic meter To purchase legal 20 cubes, including delivery, you need 90 thousand rubles. People don’t have such funds,” the ONF explains.

Republican Forestry Agency (RAF) on page Telegramcommenting on the situation, explains that the forests in the Central Ecological Zone of Lake Baikal belong to specially protected forest areas in which “selective felling is permitted only for the purpose of cutting down dead and damaged forest plantations.”

Officials refer to the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation, the Baikal Interregional Environmental Prosecutor’s Office, the Arbitration Court of Buryatia and the Forest Code of the Russian Federation. “To conclude a contract for the purchase and sale of forest plantations for heating purposes, local residents need to contact the forestry department,” the RALH clarifies. “Next, the forestry enterprise will allocate the cutting area for cutting down forest plantations, which is permitted in accordance with the law, that is, it is not possible to harvest firewood everywhere , there are restrictions on timber harvesting in specially protected natural areas, walnut fishing zones, and specially protected forest areas.” Officials report that “the collection of dead wood on the territory of the CEZ is permitted,” and clarify that the powers of the RAHL “do not include regulation of market prices for firewood.”

“We do not understand why the provisions cited by the agency were not prevented last year and earlier, when people were freely allocated plots for collecting firewood?” – Olga Anosova is perplexed. “The decree of the Government of the Russian Federation “On approval of the list of activities prohibited in the Central Economic Zone of the Baikal Natural Territory” actually contains a clause about timber harvesting. But at the same time, an exception is spelled out: “harvesting wood by citizens for their own needs,” insists Maxim Solovyov, a resident of the city of Babushkin. According to him, in previous years, forestry authorities allocated plots to residents of the Kabansky district, where owners of houses with stove heating could harvest firewood at a quota of 20 cubic meters per family: “People in their plots cut down specially marked trees: old, sick, fallen. This year the practice was abruptly stopped.” “People don’t have the money to heat their houses with firewood at commercial prices; some are even thinking about taking out loans,” added his wife Olga Solovyova.

Vlad Nikiforov, Irkutsk