All mixed forests with one third of cedar trees are considered to be cedar forests. Cedar is mainly met in southern taiga of the left Yenisei bank and the Sayan Mountains. In the Yenisei taiga cedar is mixed with spruce and fir plantations, which are confined to the river valleys. On the ridges of the Sayan Mountains, which are open to the wet westerly winds, cedar forests stretch at 400 m height and make the upper bound of the forest, at the inner parts of this mountain system the mighty cedar is substituted by larch forests. Cedar forests are of great economic importance, they have the function of water protection and water storage in the mountains.