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Structure of Forest Sites of the Green Belt of Zhytomyr City
Authors: Iryna Siruk, Yurii Siruk

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Zhytomyr is one of the cities of Ukraine, which has large areas of green belts. Due to the lack of the latest integrated information on the characteristics of green belts around the city, an analysis of the forest fund of three enterprises was carried out, the area of which form the green zone. Based on the analysis of forest management information, it was determined that about 58% of the area of suburban forests belongs to forestry enterprises. Accordingly, the share of land plots in the forest-park part of the urban green belt amounts to 42%. The area of each part was divided into categories, predominant species, age groups, forest types, and the presence of specific features in the plot. Recreational forests are mainly represented by forested areas, the share of which reaches 91% against 89% in the plots of forestry enterprises. By age, stands in recreational forests are slightly older. It was found that the species and typological structure of forests in both zones differs. Forest-growing conditions in the forestry part are richer, which has led to the allocation of more forest types, more diverse species composition, and the predominance of oak stands. In general, more than a third of the areas of hayfields and more than half of the areas of swamps are overgrown with woody and shrubby vegetation in suburban forests, due to the overdrying. The areas of hayfields and bogs were categorised by type and use. Areas with important recreational features include areas with the presence of scenic overlooks, drinking water sources, monuments, landscaping elements, century-old trees, small glades, biotechnical objects, and forest areas that are monuments of landscape art, places of memorable events, places of settlement of rare animals and birds. It was found that the forest zones of Zhytomyr contain significant areas of plots with existing berry-bearing plants (430 ha) and medicinal plants of industrial significance (179 ha). Berry fields are represented only by blueberries and strawberries, the projective coverage of which varies from 5 to 35%. Future studies can be promising to determine the level of recreational use of plots that have valuable features, elements of landscaping, and berry fields