Activities fotr timely removal of growing unwanted tree and shrub vegetation (TSV) for the maintenance of transport linear infrastructure facilities in proper condition in accordance with the requirements of a number of regulatory documents have been organized. Taking into account previously revealed insufficient study of the issue of determining the possible effectiveness of the use of certain technological processes for TSV removal in various natural and industrial conditions, the purpose of the study was to determine the values of capital investments for the formation of machine systems, mechanisms and equipment for the implementation of technological processes for removing unwanted tree and shrub vegetation from territories of linear infrastructure objects (LIO). A system of machines, mechanisms and equipment of various technical levels and price categories was proposed to implement the research goal of removing TSV from the territories of LIO. The system corresponds to modern concepts and trends in the development of technology in the field of logging and forestry. With the help of mathematical apparatus proposed in the article, the author has obtained intervals and amounts of capital investments for the formation of machine systems for the most characteristic technological processes for removing TSV. The term "plateau of capital investments for the formation of machine systems" has been proposed and recommendations for production on an economically justified comparison of a number of technological processes in order to identifying opportunities to replace them have been made.

When planning the construction of a forest road and choosing its rational position on the ground, engineer is constantly faced with the need to take into account the features of the relief, climate, physical and geographical processes and phenomena, surface and underground waters, soil, vegetation, and human economic activity, as factors determining the first first of all, the cost of the construction of a forest road. A correlation analysis carried out for all the arguments has made it possible to establish the most important characteristics of the components of the geographic environment that affect the complexity of constructing a timber road by cost type. The state of theoretical research in the field of construction of departmental motorways has been thoroughly reviewed and analyzed. The analysis made it possible to outline the goals, objectives and general methodology for determining the cost of building roads, depending on the type of work, as well as varying degrees of complexity of road construction, the value of natural resources, and the specific qualities of the territory in the area of the road. The presented results and dependencies may be the basis for determining the basic cost of road construction

The results of an 18-year monitoring of the growth of European larch (Larixdecidua Mill.) in the zone of influence of the Moscow Ring Road (MKAD), one of the largest highways in the European part of Russia with a load of about 9 thousand cars per hour, are presented. The studies have been carried out on three trial plots located at 15, 35 and 100 m (control) from the highway. The morphometric parameters of European larch were determined 4, 8 and 18 years after planting four-year-old seedlings. Significant inhibition of European larch growth near the MKAD was revealed by height, trunk diameter, and crown parameters. The largest negative impact of the MKAD on its growth was manifested in the first 4 years after the creation of forest crops. The area of influence of the motorway on larch stands is about 40 m. Dendrochronological analysis of larch wood has showed that the total annual growth in the control section is significantly higher than in the area near the highway. Moreover, the growth of early wood in the area near the Moscow Ring Road is on average 23% higher than in the control one, the growth of late wood in the control area exceeds the growth in the area near the Moscow Ring Road by 34%. An analysis of the radial increment of European larch wood has showed that the growth of early wood is most closely related to the total amount of rainfall in May, June and July (correlation coefficient r = 0.33), of late wood to the amount of heat in August and September (r = - 0.44)

The forests of the North are characterized by frequent exposure to ground fires. The study of wood qualities at the burnt areas for its rational use is relevant. The aim of the study was to study the calorific value of Scots pine after a ground fire. The studies were conducted in the Permilovsk, Unsk and Obozersk forest districts of the Arkhangelsk region from 2016-2018. The fire duration in the studied areas was 3-8 years. The calorific value of pine wood in an absolutely dry state was determined using an ABK-1V automated bomb calorimeter. The calorific value of pine wood of post-pyrogenic stands averages from 21,389 J/g to 22,452 J/g. In post-pyrogenic stands, the calorific value of pine soundwood is significantly higher (1331 J/g) compared to sapwood. In pine trees that have dried up after a ground fire and in viable trees that are susceptible to 1-2 stages of decay, the calorific value of wood is at the level of healthy trees. It is 21,182 — 22,590 J/g and 21,521 — 22,394 J/g, respectively. However, sapwood for this category of trees has lower values of 19,648 — 19,873 J/g. The average calorific value of pine wood in plantations not damaged by fires is lower by 658 — 1,721 J/g in comparison with post-pyrogenic ones. For the first time, data on the calorific value of post-pyrogenic wood of trees of different status categories were obtained for the north of the Arkhangelsk region. The calorific value of post-pyrogenic pine wood of different categories of state is characterized by increased values. It allows it to be used as raw material for biofuel.

The determination of organic matter reserves by forest phytocenoses is important in assessing biological produc-tivity of deciduous plantations formed at felling. As a rule, phytomass of the stand and soil cover is given when assess-ing forest productivity. This indicator is rarely determined for the undergrowth. The deciduous phytocenoses of the middle taiga, formed at the cutting of spruce of myrtillus type, have been studied. The undergrowth of the studied phy-tocenoses is represented by six species of woody plants: Salix caprea L., Sorbus aucuparia L., Rosa acicularis Lindl. and Lonicera pallasii Ledeb. Besides the mentioned species, Salix pentandra L. and S. philicifolia L are found in birch and spruce young growths. The method of “model trees” using allometric equations and the method of the “middle tree” for estimating the mass of individual species were used to determine the undergrowth phytomass. The specifics of the undergrowth phytomass dynamics in the studied after-cutting phytocenoses is associated with the overgrowing of felling by forest-forming and undergrowth species at the same time. It subsequently leads to competition between them. According to the studies in birch and spruce young forests, the undergrowth phytomass of decreased from 8.8 to 4.7 t/ha over 10 years; in aspen-birch stands - from 4.0 to 3.8. Throughout the entire studied period, fractions, accumulating organic matter (trunks and branches) for a long time, prevail in the undergrowth phytomass. The mass of leaves is 6-8% of the total undergrowth phytomass. The dynamics of the accumulation of organic matter by undergrowth is determined by biological characteristics of the species that form it, their abundance, natural thinning, and succession stage of the secondary stands.

When caring for forest crops, it is necessary to prune the branches. Cutting of top branches is carried out in nurseries, removal of shrubs - on clearings, the formation of crowns - in forest shelterbelts. It is difficult for the operator to simultaneously control several hydraulic cylinders and maintain the required position of the working body. It becomes possible to automate the process of pruning branches with the development of digital means of visual and automatic
 control. It is necessary to determine the control actions on the hydraulic cylinders of the branch cutter to automate the work of the operator. Modern technological equipment is designed in computer-aided design (CAD) systems. It enables using a numerical method to conduct a computer experiment on a simulation model. The design of the cutter in Solidworks have
 been made. A simulation model has been compiled. The simulation model takes into account geometric, kinematic and inertial parameters of the cutter chains. The movement of the cutter working body from the transport position to the working one has been studied. Virtual displacement sensors have been installed on the chains in the Motion Solidworks
 module, and cutter paths have been obtained. The resulting control actions can be used as an input parameter for simulation models in other mathematical environments, and when creating prototypes of cutting control mechanisms

Extinguishing natural fires largely depends on the effective use of fire extinguishers by firefighters. Nevertheless, there are objective limits to the fire extinguishing ability of known substances and materials, which cannot be overcome by either tactical or technological methods. In the work, a method for extinguishing ground fires using aluminum hydrogels with different concentrations as fire extinguishing compositions is proposed, which makes it possible to simultaneously realize three extinguishing methods: cooling, insulation, and combustion inhibition. Investigation of fire extinguishing ability of the selected fire extinguishing compositions has been carried out according to a specially developed technique that simulates formation and development of ground natural fire in experimental plots. Extinguishing efficiency was assessed by comparing the results of the total cost of extinguishing agents to a unit of length of the edge of the fire and a unit of area of the fire. It was shown that the best fire extinguishing ability has an aqueous solution of aluminum hydrogel with a concentration of 3.5-7 g/l. Fire extinguishing ability of aluminum hydrogels was investigated. The obtained results were compared with the fire extinguishing ability of water and aqueous solutions of sodium carbonate (soda) and sodium sulfate. The use of other aqueous solutions (soda and sodium sulfate) has not shown significant contribution to fire extinguishing. Therefore, fire extinguishing effect is completely due to the chemical composition and physical and chemical properties of aluminum hydrogel. Based on the data obtained, aluminum hydrogel costs per unit length and area of the fire, its lowest concentration, which retains the fire extinguishing effect and the technological conditions for its preparation and use, have been determined

Forest fires are accompanied by the release of a huge amount of heat, and the temperature at the edge of a forest fire, where firefighting equipment usually operates, reaches 300-700 °C. Fire engines are exposed to intense heat to extinguish forest fires. The main requirement for the design of such machines is the availability of rational thermal protection. Studies of various methods of thermal protection of cabins have showed the possibility of lowering the temperature on the inner surface of the cabin, but these methods show low efficiency. Protection of cabs from thermal radiation is not provided in the new developments of forest fire machines. It is proposed to use pre-preg coatings to protect cabins of forest fire engines. They are successfully used in spacecraft designs. Recent technologies for the production of such materials, developed recently, have significantly reduced the cost of production of these materials. It expands the possibilities of their application for other equipment subjected to intense heat exposure. The calculations have showed that the heat-protective coatings of the cabins made of pre-pregs quickly warm up to acceptable temperatures. However the use of water reserves in the tank of the car to cool the inside of the cabs provides high protection efficiency even at the limiting values of heat fluxes that occur in the fireplace. At the same time, water is not consumed; it is heated, circulating between the tank and the heat exchanger. The proposed method of protecting cabs of fire machines from thermal radiation is original one. It is a subject of further development.

Making the right management decisions in the logging industry is a complex multi-factorial task. The multivariance of solutions consists of various options for the application of technological chains of logging operations and timber transportation. Indeed, today the market offers a lot of options for systems of forestry machines, with or without forest storage with timber transportation at different seasons. Previous studies propose mathematical dependencies, an algorithm, and methods to solve all these problems. It makes it possible to search for the maximum flow of minimum cost in the dynamic structure of the technological process of performing work at the enterprise. They determine the conditions for solving the problem by the graph method. However, the proposed calculations for graphs with a large number of vertices and arcs connecting them are very laborious and require a lot of time. To solve this problem, the article presents the development of a computer application that performs basic calculations and calculates the optimal technological sequence of operations. The algorithms of the application, its description and principle of operation have been presented. The developed program enables to automate the process of finding the optimal sequence of technological operations in the logging enterprise operating procedure. Upon receipt of the results, it is possible to compare and analyze various process options for decision making.

ПРОСТРАНСТВЕННОЕ ВАРЬИРОВАНИЕ ПОКАЗАТЕЛЕЙ ЭКОЛОГИЧЕСКОГО СОСТОЯНИЯ ДЕРНОВО-ЛЕСНЫХ ПОЧВ УСМАНСКОГО БОРА кандидат биологических наук А.В.Белик кандидат биологических наук Ю.С.Горбунова доктор биологических наук, профессор Т.А