In the eastern part of Ukraine, near the border of the steppe zone, Oak forests are fragmented and are distributed in a patchwise manner. During the last 20 years we have been seeing an apparent increase of clear cutting activities in the region. Logging here is mainly performed in natural old-growth stands, because most of plantations haven’t yet reached the rotation age.

There are several groups of animals, impacted by these changes. Bats and diurnal raptors depend on the overall habitat richness, including the presence of nesting trees and diversity of hunting grounds. On a smaller scale, several species of ground snails depend on the presence of dead wood and long term stability of conditions. Because of low mobility they tend to form isolated populations, and forestry activity can lead to local extinctions of these populations. Finally, several species of saproxylic beetles depend on the old growth dying trees. These trees are often cut for sanitary reasons, affecting their populations.

Unbalanced legislation complicates the stable conservation of important forest territories. There are two main tasks on the current stage: to prevent cutting the most valuable forest patches, and to ensure long-term conservation of these territories. Forest cuttings in the region are restricted only in four National Parks. More than 150 of other protected forest territories have logging intensity as active as in the unprotected forests.

After the last changes in forest regulations of Ukraine there are two main ways of protecting the important forest patches from clear cutting:

1) including data about the presence of Red-listed species into the forest taxation data

2) creating protective zones around the nests of rare bird species.

Within this project we will act as independent research group, which will perform field surveys, accumulate data about distribution of rare species and share knowledge about forests in socially active groups of people. In close collaboration with public organizations and initiative groups we will transfer data about localities of rare species to forest taxation organizations with appropriate recommendations to restrict forestry activities on these sites. The other important aspect is shaping of public opinion about forest conservation. Through communications with media, publications in the Internet, social networks, print production, and speaking on educational and popularization platforms, we will tell about the state and main problems of our forests.