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Mikhail Sholokhov – Caring for the forest

On the third Sunday of September, according to the tradition, the Day of Forestry and Woodusing Industry Workers is celebrated. In Russia about a quarter of all the forests of planet Earth are currently concentrated. This is a huge wealth of our country, which is preserved not only by the force of people engaged in this field, but also by all concerned people. A major role in this was played by Mikhail Sholokhov.

The fate of the writer and public figure is connected with caring for his native land. His contribution to the preservation of the natural wealth of the Upper Don, and the whole country, is invaluable. Work on the creation of coniferous forests massifs that delayed the onset of loose sand on farms and villages associated with the name of Mikhail Sholokhov. In 1936, with the active participation of the deputy, a mechanized forestry was created in the Veshensky district. The writer followed the affairs of the forest management. As a deputy of the USSR Supreme Soviet he prompted the purchase of equipment and transport and achieved the use of biological products that replaced chemicals in the fight against forest pests. The forest management team thanks to the assistance of the writer made a revolution in forestry. From manual labor in the cultivation of pine seedlings the forest management gradually switched to the complex mechanization of all stages of work.

On the initiative of Sholokhov, the Don Forest Research Experimental Station (DonNILOS) was created in 1949. The writer addressed Joseph Stalin in his letter with a request for its creation. With Sholokhov’s assistance the Vyoshensky forest management was also formed which was engaged in the cultivation of wild animals in the Don forests.

The museum funds contain letters in which Mikhail Sholokhov appeals to the highest authorities with requests for the development of the material and technical base of the Vyoshensky forest management, DonNILOS and Vyoshensky fishing farm.

In 1971, on the initiative of Deputy Sholokhov, the Ministry of Forestry of the RSFSR established a 1000-meter-wide protective zone of the banks of the Don, in which deforestation was                     prohibited. It was necessary to protect the banks from erosion, and meadows - from being trapped in sand. In the same year, a forest of 6.1 thousand hectares surrounding Veshenskaya was declared a green zone of the stanitsa by the decision of the district Council of Deputies. Deforestation is prohibited here.

Mikhail Sholokhov actively participated in the formation of forest legislation. In 1973, together with the Union of Writers and Representatives of the Public, he made proposals in preparing new laws in this area.

In 1974, in accordance with the state plan, without taking into account local characteristics, the coupe of birch-alder forest began. In April 1974 outraged Sholokhov addresses the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR Mikhail Solomentsev with a request for help, "in order to save the remains of forests in the upper regions of the Don". Soon a commission from the Ministry of Forestry arrived in Veshenskaya. The coupe of the birch-alder forest was stopped.

As a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Mikhail Sholokhov spoke about the problems associated with the preservation and increasing of the natural wealth of our country and contributed in every way to their solution.

Currently, part of the lands of the forest fund of Veshensky forestry is included in the area of ??protected natural landscape of the National Sholokhov Museum-Reserve. The object is represented by forests of natural and artificial origin. All forest stands are assigned to protected forest areas of historical and scientific importance, natural monuments, they are a zone of environmental protection and research activities of the Sholokhov Museum-Reserve. Museum staff maintains close contact with forestry workers in this area, continuing an important tradition - the tradition of preserving and increasing the natural resources of the region.

The museum congratulates all forest workers on their professional day!

Tatyana Balak
Oksana Turchina