OREANDA-NEWS Laws on free picking twigs of dead wood in forests and reforestation will come into force in Russia from January 1, 2019. This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Natural Resources.

At the end of March 2018, the State Duma adopted a bill that allows citizens to collect fallen trees in the forests - dry trees or their parts lying on the ground, without a permit for this. Previously, the collection of fallen trees was considered illegal logging. In order to legally collect dead wood, it was necessary to obtain the permission of local authorities, which could take up to 120 days.

"This Federal law comes into force on January 1, 2019. According to part 1 of article 11 of the Forest code of the Russian Federation, citizens have the right to freely and free of charge stay in the forests and for their own needs to harvest and collect wild fruits, berries, nuts, mushrooms, other suitable for eating forest resources (food forest resources), as well as non-wood forest resources," said in the press service of the Ministry of Natural Resources.

Earlier the head of Federal Agency of forestry (Rosleskhoz) Ivan Valentine noted that permission to collect fallen trees can improve environmental conditions in forests. "If this law is adopted and will affect the establishment of order in the forest, good cleaning of windfall, windbreak and dead trees, we will only be grateful to the citizens," he said.

From the first day of the New Year, the Federal law No. 212-FZ  also comes into force, the Ministry of natural resources added.

In accordance with the law, persons using forests in accordance with articles 43-46 of the Forest code (performance of works on geological exploration, development of mineral deposits, construction and operation of linear facilities and hydraulic structures), as well as persons who have applied for a change in the purpose of the forest area, are obliged to create the so-called "compensation" forests.