Important Forest Areas of the Orel Region

Important Forest Areas are core areas where natural complexes and their biodiversity are preserved. Forests in Orel Oblast are unevenly located. The forest cover is 8%. The following region’s districts, Dmitrovsky, Znamensky, Khotynetsky, and Mtsensky, are the most wooded ones with the forest cover making up 20 to 25%, whereas the lowest forest cover is found in the south-eastern districts Dolzhansky, Kolpnyansky, Livensky, and Pokrovsky, where this indicator barely exceeds 2.5%. The largest forest area has been preserved in the north-western part of the region under study. It belongs to the Orlovskoye Polesye National Park. Broad-leaved forests account for 19 243.42 ha (19.5%), and coniferous/broad-leaved forests account for 79,459.17 ha (80.5%). This study uses the route method, the method of geobotanical descriptions, and grid mapping. Having studied the Orel Oblast areas, we identified 34 Important Forest Areas with the highest diversity of rare and protected plants. There were 8 species listed in the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation, and 58 species listed in the Red Data Book of Orel Oblast.