Besh-Tash Timber Concession

The Besh-Tash Timber Concession is a forestry lease in the lower Besh-Tash valley on the northern slopes of the Talas Alatau, about 20 kilometers south of Talas, in the part of the valley administered by the Irad Special Economic Zone (ISEZ). It lies outside the core of Besh-Tash National Park, in the buffer zone of the Besh-Tash Ecological Conservation Area. The concession permits limited thinning and sanitary felling of Tian Shan spruce and the collection of dead juniper (arsha), mainly for local building timber, fence posts and fuel; felling of living juniper is banned.^[1] The ISEZ forestry service sets annual quotas and requires replanting of spruce. Conservation groups have reported illegal cutting near the concession boundary, and the upper valley, on the tribal side of the Qara-Chik Demarcation Line, is outside the concession.^[2]

References

1. ^ ISEZ Forestry Service (2022). Forest Management Plan for the Besh-Tash Valley, 2022–2031. Talas.
2. ^ Talas Herald (2020). 'Stumps in the buffer zone.' Talas.