One of the main riches of the Korosten region is its flora with a great variety of natural species (several hundred). These are representatives of horsetails – mace-shaped horsetail, spiny horsetail, which are found in coniferous forests, horsetails – forest horsetail and field horsetail, which grow in mixed and deciduous forests, on clearings, in bushes; these and ferns – common eagle and male shield, grow in mixed and deciduous forests; these are also gymnosperms – Scots pine and spruce; these are angiosperms and flowering plants, of which there are about 400 species in the Korosten region – from watercress in ponds to oaks in forests.
There are three main types of natural complexes in our area: forests, meadows, swamps.
Forests in the Korosten Oblast today occupy an area of approximately 525 square meters. km, which is almost 30% of the territory of the district. The forest cover rate is high, higher than the average in Ukraine. The forests near the district are fairly evenly distributed.
The forest is not only a source of wood for economic activity, it is the main element of the green cover of the Earth, has a positive effect on the regime of rivers, lakes, reservoirs, springs, protects the soil from wind and water erosion, improves the atmosphere, is sanitary and hygienic, balneological and est a factor of influence on a person. Forests consist of trees, shrubs, grass, lichens, microorganisms, their composition in forests depends on soil, water and climatic conditions, on the mutual influence of plants on each other. The forest creates its own microclimate, its own circulation of substances, characteristic living conditions of animals, organisms, and fungi.
The forests of the district are divided into two main groups. The first includes forest plantations around the city of Korosten – the so-called green zone, as well as forest strips along rivers, buffer strips, protective strips along railways and highways, park zones of some settlements of the district. These forests perform the function of improving the environment, protecting people’s health, preserving the gene pool of plants, and protecting the climatic, soil, and hydrological conditions of the environment. Their economic activity is prohibited, only selective felling of overripe specimens and sanitary felling are allowed. The second group is operational scaffolding, they make up more than 99% of the total area. All types of felling are carried out in these forests.
The area of forests in the region is increasing mainly naturally. In recent years, many fields located near forests have been taken out of economic use and gradually overgrown with trees. But you can cite an example of purposeful reforestation, as, for example, in the Ushomyr Forestry, where every year no less forest is planted than is cut down.
The average age of forest plantations in the district is approximately 70 years, 40% are young trees. The basic nurseries of planting material are Shershnevskyi and Ushomyrskyi.
The forests of the Korosten region are very diverse in species composition: more than 15 types of woody vegetation and more than 30 types of shrubby plants. Scots pine is the most common – more than 60%, among other conifers, spruce is somewhat common (for example, near the village of Subino). The vegetation cover of the lower tier of forests is uneven. So near the village. Only lichens grow on sandy ridges under pine trees in Sarnovychi. There are mossy pine forests in the Shershnevsky forest, and blueberry forests in the Krasnohirsky forest. In the pine forests of Korostenshchyna, there is also such a rare understory cover as heather thickets, which creates an extremely dense, continuous cover, preventing the development of other plants in these areas. An example can be a section of the forest of the Berestovets Forestry along the road 1.5 km from the village. Subin Significant areas of pine forests are also covered with the relict evergreen club-like planum, the stems of which spread over the ground for several meters, mosses (near the village of Barda) or fern-like ones.
15% of the hard-leaved tree species in the territory of the Korostenskyi district, among them oak is the most common, and birch prevails among soft-leaved trees. Among the mixed forests, pine-oak (near Ushomir), pine-alder-oak (Santarka), pine-birch forests prevail. Aspen is also often found in these forests, hornbeam (Subine) and linden (Bardy) are rare. In the mixed forests of the Korostensky district, the undergrowth of gorse, hazel, rowan, cherry, and viburnum is very well developed. The ground cover of mixed forests is extremely diverse – about 200 plant species. The most common of them are bilberry, oleander, lily of the valley, cupena, lingonberry, sedge, sedge, honeydew, and narrow-leaved thin leg.
There are not many purely deciduous forests in the Korosten district, among them mainly birch (Klocheve, Nemyrivka, Berestovets).
According to the fertility of the forest soils of our territory, they are divided into forests (about 12%), sub-forests (about 45%), and piles (about 43%).
According to the nature of the water regime in the Korosten district, fresh and wet forests prevail. The real beauty and pride of the Korosten region’s forests is a wide variety of mushrooms and berries. The most revered mushroom among local residents is, of course, the porcini mushroom, which is found in several forms in our area: boletus, oak, birch and fir forms, that is, those that grow in oak, birch and fir groves. This is the case the real king of mushrooms, because there are individual specimens weighing more than 1 kg. White mushrooms grow in several stages. The autumn period is the most productive and with the best quality mushrooms. White mushrooms grow well on sandy, sandy and loamy soils. At an optimal average daily temperature of +15 ° +18 °, the porcini mushroom grows in a day, and in the autumn period at an average daily temperature of +8 ° +10 ° it grows for 5-6 days.
Valuable and especially beautiful are podosinovyki (“reddew”), which grow in aspen and birch groves covered with grassy vegetation and heather. They grow in two periods – in June-July and especially well in August-September. A very common mushroom is the gorse mushroom (“dragonfly”), which grows from June to November, as well as several types of wild mushrooms, chanterelles, real chanterelles, common buttercups, gray and green rowan mushrooms. To a lesser extent, the population of our region collects such edible mushrooms as: boletus, porcini mushrooms, champignons, champignons, although, for example, porcini mushrooms and porcini mushrooms are not inferior even to porcini mushrooms in terms of edible properties.
Many plants grow in the forests of the region, which are valuable medicinal raw materials – pine, birch, alder, oak, hawthorn, gorse, mountain ash, viburnum, heather, rose hip, blueberry, raspberry, club-shaped plantain, horsetail, lily of the valley, cupena.
Forest lands are of great importance in the development of beekeeping. For animal husbandry, the forest provides branch fodder, vitamin flour. The forest is the raw material base for the furniture, pulp and paper, chemical and building materials industries.
Meadow complexes in their natural state are increasingly rare in the Korosten district. They remained partly in river valleys, around swamps, on forest edges and forest glades. Dry meadows have formed on the heights, which, due to the lack of moisture, have rare grass stands of medium height. Wet meadows have formed on flat areas of watersheds, and in river valleys – swampy or flooded, because during spring or summer floods, they are completely flooded with water. The meadow vegetation of the Korosten district is extremely diverse, but the most common plants are sedge, European sedge, marsh sedge, yellow sedum, bitter pepper, tar, grass clove, creeping and meadow clover, common sedge, dandelion, and others.