From 2027, Carpathian forestry enterprises will be required to completely abandon clear‑cutting. The SFE “Forests of Ukraine” is already actively preparing for this.

We are implementing close‑to‑nature silviculture, meaning we will replace clear‑cutting with transformation cuts. The forest canopy will be maintained continuously—only a portion of the trees will be removed, rather than the entire stand.

Experiments with transformation cuts have been conducted by Ukrainian researchers since the 2000s, and the results on the experimental plots are impressive. At the Morshynskyi Research and Production Station, where scientists have been working since 2008, improved light conditions have increased the average annual wood increment per hectare from 5 m³ to 12 m³.

The transition to selective harvesting technologies primarily requires the retraining of personnel.

The training programme launched by the SFE “Forests of Ukraine” for the foresters of the Branch “Karpatskyi Forest Office” has been organised in cooperation with the National Forestry University of Ukraine in Lviv.

Lectures and practical instruction are delivered by the distinguished Ukrainian scholar Professor Hryhorii Tomkovych Krynytskyi and his colleagues.

The first three groups of foresters from the Branch “Karpatskyi Forest Office” have already completed the courses and passed their exams. In total, over 200 foresters are slated for this upskilling.

The programme includes familiarization with the outcomes of converting even‑aged stands into mixed, uneven‑aged stands, as well as hands‑on training in selecting trees for transformation cuts.

By the end of the course, foresters will be able to: plan and designate transformation cuts in a stand, conduct a detailed plot description, select individual trees for felling.They will learn to convert even‑aged (both pure and mixed) stands into uneven‑aged, predominantly mixed stands.