Materials of the Komi Science Centre, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences on the scientific activities of the Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences B. P. Kolesnikov

The paper deals with the problem of scientific study of biological resources of the Arctic and sub-Arctic territory of Russia before the Great Patriotic War by an outstanding Russian researcher, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences P. B. Kolesnikov. The task was to identify and include in the scientific circulation the documentary heritage of forestry engineer and botanist, Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences B. P. Kolesnikov on the study of forests of the European Nnortheast (the territory of the Komi ASSR) on the eve of the Great Patriotic War. The emphasis is on the characteristics of the scientist’s scientific activity and various materials about his scientific work on the study of forests of the region. The materials are stored in the Federal Research Centre “Komi Science Centre, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences”: manuscripts are kept in the Scientific Archive, publications - in the Scientific Library, and the herbarium is kept at the Institute of Biology. It is concluded that B. P. Kolesnikov personally collected various data on the forest resources of the Arctic region of the European North in the early 1940s, proposed a new theoretical approach and methodology for their analysis, and thereby made a significant contribution to the generalization of the data obtained. The activities of the staff of the Komi Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences to preserve the scientific works of this talented scientist contributed to the preservation of historical memory and the patriotic education of new generations. In the second quarter of the XXI century, the problem of the rational use of wood resources, as described in the works of B. P. Kolesnikov, acquires special value as part of modern nature protection.