Observations of forest in Tatarstan from space reduced by half

Shooting from space has become cheaper

The changes taking place in the forestry of Tatarstan will be observed from space — the Center for Digital Transformation of Tatarstan is ready to pay 3,2 million rubles for the provision of services for monitoring forest changes based on satellite images.

The forest fund of Tatarstan will be monitored for 18 months from the moment of signing the state contract. Thirty-one forest districts — from Agryzsky to Lubyansky, which covers the entire territory of the forest fund of the Republic of Tatarstan — will be under close attention. The authorities are interested in five types of forest modifications, which should be monitored according to the special schedule:

• Logging — at least twice a month;
• Quarry — monthly during the snow-free period;
• Fumes (remains after a forest fire) — monthly during the snowless period;
• Forest pathology (foci of pests and diseases of the forest) — monthly during the snowless period;
• Windfall (uprooting of trees with roots due to the wind) — at least twice a month during the snowless period.

All photos from space must be presented in the form of images of medium spatial resolution and meet special requirements. But at the same time, the use of satellite images that are freely available is allowed as initial data for monitoring and detecting forest changes.

One of the criteria for the participants is the availability of executed contracts in 2019-2020 for the provision of services for monitoring the forest fund using remote sensing data, in particular space surveys.

A similar tender was already announced in September 2019 — then the services were estimated at 6 million rubles with similar requirements, and the contractor was the ANO VO Innopolis University. That is, in two years, these services have almost doubled in price.

There is the restriction, but there are more fires

Hot weather persists in Tatarstan, which is why the Hydrometeorological Centre has announced a storm warning on May 11 due to the high fire hazard of the forests of Tatarstan of class IV and has been extending it weekly since then. According to forecasters, it will remain at least until August 16.

Additionally, on August 2, the authorities imposed restrictions on the presence of people and vehicles in the forests. It will be valid for 21 days on the entire territory of the forest fund within the borders of Agryz, Aznakaevs, Aksubaevsk, Alkeevsk, Almetyevsk, Arsk, Bavly, Bilyarsk, Bolgar, Bugulma, Buinsk, Yelabuga, Zainsk, Zelenodolsk and other districts. In order to prevent fires, roads in the forests have been blocked with barriers, forest patrol has been strengthened, and temporary posts have been set up in places of mass visits of people on weekends and holidays, etc.

Despite all the restrictions, there are more fires: according to the ministry of forestry of Tatarstan, as of August 6, 936 thermal points were registered in the republic, which is 379 more compared to the same period last year.