Forest Project

 Children Awarded  for their Civic Responsibility in Helping to Prevent Forest Fires

During last week, students of the village Bichevaya (Khabarovski Krai) were awarded with membership certificates as “Forest Defenders” for participating in public awareness campaigns on forest fire prevention.  School children from Khabarovski Krai were initiated as members of the “Green Arrows” Ecology Club with the support of USAID’s FOREST Project.  As a result, over one hundred children now participate in the program, originating from a group of school math teachers concerned about ecology, the environment, and the affects of forest fires on the region.  Due to the school childrens’ participation, other schools have now begun to form alliances including seven schools of the Lazovski District and another school from Khabarovsk. In the coming weeks, Khabarovsk Krai children will visit 20 schools and day care centers in Vyazemski District to spread the importance of the message of Forest Fire Prevention.  This is considered a serious issue in the Russian Federation as each year roughly 30,000 fires incinerate over two million hectares of forest, an area roughly equivalent to the area of Armenia, with direct monetary damage estimated in the trillions of rubles. Larger fires often burn down human settlements together with the surrounding forest, killing people who do not escape in time as well as many firefighters.  Consequently, USAID’s FOREST Project is assisting the Russian Federation with one of its most serious problems.

Construction completion of a new dry kiln and biomass-boiler system  is the  result of cooperation between Russian and American engineers

FOREST Partner company Ros-DV (Khabarovsk Krai) has just completed construction of a new dry kiln and biomass-boiler system implementing American equipment (Koetter – Indiana, USA). The launch of this new installation is the result of cooperation between Russian and American engineers with ongoing technical assistance provided by FOREST, courtesy of USAID. Ros-DV has installed 3 Koetter dry kilns 100 m3 each, a 660 kW Koetter biomass boiler, and other spare parts for a total purchase of American equipment equivalent to USD 322,230. As a direct result, this new system will allow the company to receive additional annual revenues of USD 200,000 per annum, and utilize 2,500 m3 of wood waste per year. Currently, Ros-DV and FOREST are looking into potentially building a 1.5 MWe biomass cogeneration plant and a biomass boiler and kiln system in the remote settlement site of Sukpai