Ecological Analysis of the Current State of Forest Resources in Forest Steppe of Ukraine

Forests perform essential ecological functions - water protection, sanitation, health, recreation, and aesthetics. The research aimed to substantiate the ecological and economic importance of forest resources in the Kyiv region and analyse their rational use and protection. The article shows that the Kyiv region belongs to the regions with an average level of forest cover – 592.8 thousand hectares or 22.2%. The level of forest cover is uneven in the area of the Kyiv Forest zone. It is 44%, and in the area of the Forest-Steppe, it is much lower and decreases from north to south. The use of forest resources in the Kyiv region in 2019 amounted to harvesting liquid wood of 999.5 thousand m2, and deforestation was carried out on 75.5 thousand hectares. The region’s volume of forestry works and services amounted to 8,9 million dollars, and the wood stock makes 90805,9 thousand m2. Emphasis is placed on the importance of protecting the Red Book species of plants and fungi that grow in the forests of the Kyiv region. Examples of harmful economic activity in the areas belonging to the nature reserve fund and large-scale fires in April 2020, which covered more than 3.5 thousand hectares of forests in the region and caused damage to forest fauna and flora. The studied region’s positive environmental and economic factors have been admitted by planting trees on an area of 2151 hectares and sowing seeds of forest species on an area of 67 hectares in 2020.