Historical creations aspects and functioning features of field protective forest plantations in the steppe zone of Ukraine

Field protective forest plantings of the steppe zone of Ukraine are one of the most important links in the system of protective forest plantations on arable lands. The presence of well-functioning field protective forest belts is a fundamental condition for efficient agricultural production in the steppe regions of Ukraine. The paper presents the facts about the expediency of creating protective forest belts as an important measure to support the agricultural potential of the steppe zone of Ukraine. The current state of forest belts is analyzed and historical literature information on the creation and prospects of development of protective afforestation in the steppe of Ukraine is presented. The legal aspect of the mode of operation of field protective plantations is highlighted. Given the low forest cover of a large area of Ukraine, the difficult and ambiguous situation of afforestation of forest-deficient areas of the country, the creation of new and preservation of existing protective forest belts in the steppe zone of Ukraine is an extremely important task today. The problem of ensuring the effective functioning of field protective plantations in the conditions of ecological inconsistency of forest vegetation conditions for the existence of woody vegetation in Dnipropetrovsk region, in the zone of weeds-fescue-feathergrass steppes is acute. Against the background of a number of well-known indisputable facts about the positive impact of forest belts on the soil and climatic properties of steppe landscapes, the condition of most existing protective plantations today is unsatisfactory, and some of them – critical. Almost everywhere in Ukraine, in conditions of high plowed lands and the absence of forest strips or their neglected condition, there is a rapid destruction of the upper fertile layer of soil. This leads to soil degradation, reduced yields and causes great economic damage to the country. Mass uncontrolled logging, destruction of protective forest belts, their irrational use and lack of proper care are a critical problem of national scale and may soon turn into an environmental disaster. An acute modern problem in the existence and functioning of forest belts is the solution of the legal regime of field protective tree strips and the introduction of appropriate legislative state regulation. An equally painful problem for field protection strips today is the lack of reliable information about their real condition. Therefore, obtaining a general idea of the current state and dynamics of field protection strips is possible only if they conduct a detailed comprehensive study and conduct a thorough inventory. For successful planning and implementation of measures to increase the forest cover of forest-deficient regions with difficult forest vegetation conditions and create an effective system of protective forest belts should take into account the history and many years of experience in creating forest plantations in the steppe of Ukraine.