This article focuses on edaphic aspects of afforestation. It discusses possible causes of the competition of tree species associated with the diversity of soil properties and heterogeneity of the soil cover on the border of natural zones in the European part of Russia. Forest management parameters of the forest landscape were compared with the diversity of soils and soil-forming rocks in different parts of the Kozelskiy abatis. The proposed method has not actually been applied to the territory under investigation to date. Oak on soddy-podzolic soils experiences difficulties with natural regeneration, which is confirmed by the lack of growth of the new trees. The authors present a forecast of the change of the dominant species in the stands of broadleaf forests at the final stage of the succession process, due to the less exacting ash requirements for soil properties and its pronounced shade tolerance in comparison with oak. The habitat of spruce communities will be narrowed to the zone of dominance of sod-podzols in the soil cover, which is due to the accumulation of organic matter in the soils, the development of non-moral species in the grass cover combined with the restructuring of the microbiota.