Аннотация:East European forests dominated by Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.) in thebroad-leaved–coniferous zone should be considered as secondary communities formed under theinfluence of centuries-long activities (logging, fires and planting) and extended outside their naturalrange. The study raises an issue—how stable is the current state of Norway spruce forests in thecenter of the Russian plain and what is the eect of silviculture on the forest cover of the large urbanagglomeration—the Moscow Region? Current study is based on multidisciplinary research andconsequently concerns the age dynamics of spruce plantation forests, the species and typologicaldiversity of mature spruce forests and spatial pattern of spruce forests along the south edge of theirrange. The composition and structure of Norway spruce plantations have been studied for variousage classes and compared with mature natural spruce forests and pine plantations on the basisof field data. Remote sensing data and modeling approach were applied to estimate the spatialstructure of spruce forests. It is found that mature plantations (over 80 years) become similar tonatural forests in terms of structure and composition. The relationship between the distribution ofspruce formations and the climatic and geomorphological conditions are confirmed. The proportionof spruce and spruce–aspen/birch communities follows the pattern of zones—the transition fromthe coniferous and broad-leaved forest zone to the broad-leaved forest zone. Despite the significantanthropogenic impact and the high proportion of plantations in the composition of Norway spruceforests (about 60–80%), their floristic and typological diversities correspond to such properties of zonalbroad-leaved–coniferous communities. Over-matured plantations can provide valuable habitats forthe re-establishment of native typological diversity. This makes it possible to use silviculture standsas an accelerated alternative to the natural recovery of disturbed habitats.