Some 78 percent of Russian’s 764 million hectares of forested land is in Siberia and the Far East with the remaining 22 percent in European Russia.
Forested land in Siberia represents nearly 19 percent of the world’s forested area and possibly 25 percent of the word’s forest volume.
In the past Siberia was not considered an important timber because it is an extremely cold region where trees grow slowly, so regeneration of the cut down forest will take several centuries.
The Siberian winters are notorious for its length and severity, Minimum temperature of -90 °F (-68° C) have been recorded.
The major vegetation zones spread east-west-tundra in the north; swampy taiga forest over most Siberia; forests steppe and steppe in the southwest and in the intermontane basins in the South.
Siberia is divided into three major ecological and economic regions, West Siberia, East Siberia and the Far East. The percentage of forest cover is 53%, 57% and 45% of the total area, respectively.
Siberian forests are shape by complex interactions of climate, forest fires, insect outbreaks, and humans.
Conifers are the dominant species group throughout Siberia. Pine is the main species in West Siberian forest landscapes, but larch (Larix sibirica) dominates in other region.
Larch is cold tolerant and grows well on permafrost. Because of the permafrost soils, the root system extend out laterally in thin organic rich soils over the frozen ground and this may account for the more open condition of the forest.
Siberia world largest forest
