Reindeer in Russia Ning to Show Signs of Recovery
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No. 35 Spring 2004 In this issue: • New Zapovednik for Kazakhstan • Preserving Plant Diversity in Belarus • Restructuring of Russia’s Ministry of Natural Resources • Norway and Russia: Preserving Cultural Landscapes in Kenozersky National Park PROMOTING BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION IN RUSSIA AND THROUGHOUT NORTHERN EURASIA CONTENTS CONTENTS Voice from the Wild (A Letter from the Editors).................................1 ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION Draft Forest Code Met with Concern and Opposition………………21 PROTECTED AREAS A Unique Experience in Moose Domestication at Pechoro-Ilychsky Zapovednik........…………………...2 CONFLICT RESOLUTION Vsevolod Stepanitsky Shares His Thoughts Zapovedniks and Local Government: on Komandorsky Zapovednik’s History and Future ........................6 A Conflict of Interests in the Adygeya Republic ................……………24 In Kenozersky National Park, Norway and Russia Working to Preserve Traditional Cultural Landscapes ............................................9 NGO NEWS A New Zapovednik for Kazakhstan.....………………………………………………11 Muraviovka Park: Organic Farming and Nature Conservation at Work Together..............................………………...27 ENDANGERED SPECIES The Middle Spotted Woodpecker: NEWS OF THE DAY Sentinel of European Russia’s Oak Forests.............……....………………...12 Zapovedniks by Mail: Just an Envelope Away………………...…………….30 The Wild Reindeer of Kola Peninsula…..………………………………………….15 In Russia, a Rare Crocus Again in Bloom………………...………………………31 BULLETIN BOARD.........................................................................32 CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT Russia’s Ministry of Natural Resources Restructured ABSTRACTS IN RUSSIAN.............................................33 and under New Leadership............................................................…………………18 Identifying Important Plant Areas in Belarus...............…………………..19 CONSERVATION CONTACTS....................Back cover The mission of the Center for Russian Nature Russian Conservation News is produced with support from many won- Conservation (CRNC) is to promote the conservation of derful conservation-minded people! We could not do our work without nature in Russia and throughout the former Soviet you! Special thanks to: Juliana T. Williams, Andrea Williams and Chas Union, and to assist conservation groups in that region Dewey, Winslow Duke, Harriett Crosby, Andrew Sabin, Bernie McHugh, through information exchange, coordination of profes- the Weeden Foundation, Bill Eichbaum, Lisa Woodson, Rodney Cole, sional and education exchanges, and provision of tech- and the Center for Conservation Innovation at World Wildlife Fund. nical assis- We'd also like to thank all of our subscribers and special contributors, tance to pro- especially the following: Matthew Auer, Thomas Babcock, Cynthia tected areas. Barakatt, Ronald Beavers, Jr., W. Horton Beebe-Center, Gerard Boere, CRNC is a Joan Bridgwood, Bill Chandler, Dave Cline & Olga Romanenko, Evelyn Cochran, Wallace Cole, Mary Cooper, Jane Costlow, William Cox, Susan project of the Helms Daley and Sean Daley, Nicholas Day, Andrew Durkin, Martin Tides Center. Farrell, Jr., William Fuller, Kennedy Gilchrist, Kevin Gilligan, Geoffrey Harper, Ken Harte, John Hemenway, Dale R. Hemming, Joan Hoblitzell, Nancy Hopps, Freeborn Jewett, Jr., George Johnson, Nadezhda Kavrus- Hoffmann, Eliza Klose, J.C. Krieg, Kyle Lussier, Michael James McGrady, © Copyright 2004 CRNC/Tides Center. Rick McGuire, Mary Anne Mekosh, Rev. Ivan Mina, Kazuo Morimoto, Lois Morrison, Edward Mulrenin, Douglas Murray, David Ostergren, Ashley Pakenham, Jack Padalino, John Prentice, Phillip Pryde, Guido Rahr of the Wild Salmon Center, Thomas Rainey, Nicholas Robinson, RCN has many partners and friends in Russia, including Russian Life Magazine, Jonathan Sachs, David Sears, Birgith Sloth, the Partnership for Zapovedniks, whose mission is to offer Brooke Stevens, Fred Strebeigh, Gregory & Judy Streveler, Michael organizational, technical, Thoma, Trust for Mutual Understanding, Peter Ward, William Wasch, Jr., and financial help to Gary Waxmonsky, Don Weeden, and Frederick Welty. zapovedniks and nation- al parks in Russia. ISSN 1026-6380 Voice from the Wild (A letter from the editors) n the spring, when all is new and young, we are reminded of I nature’s fragility and delicacy. For conservationists in Russia, this spring also offered a reminder of how vulnerable are the institu- tions that have been established to protect her. Months of political machinations and maneuvering, carried out at the highest levels in EDITORIAL BOARD Moscow, have left the conservation community fearing for the future of the country’s unique system of protected nature areas, Executive Editor: Margaret Williams and indeed, the wealth of natural riches that it harbors. Assistant Editor: Melissa Mooza In this issue of , we offer readers our Managing Editor: Nikolai Maleshin Russian Conservation News analysis of the important political and legislative processes that Graphics Artist: Maksim Dubinin have launched such widespread concern. We report on how the Design and Layout: Design Group A4 sweeping governmental reforms initiated by President Vladimir Computer Consultation: Putin after his landslide victory in March have transformed the Natalie Volkova Ministry of Natural Resources and further diminished its capacity to effectively manage the country’s protected areas. We also share Translation: Melissa Mooza with you an account of another political drama that continues to Subscriptions Manager: John Deever unfold, largely, it seems, behind closed doors: the persistent drive Contributing Authors: Valery Brinikh, to overhaul Russia’s forest legislation, very much at the expense of Sergei Kossenko, Mikhail Kozhykhov, protective forests and other protected areas, and with little con- Olga Makarova, Galina Pronkina, cern for the long-term social and ecological consequences. Andrei Satsyuk Contributing Artists and A survey of Russia’s protected area system offers insight into what Photographers: I. Filus, V. Kantor, is at stake. In this issue of RCN, we offer readers just that, a pot- G. Kataev, E. Ledovskikh, I. Shpilenok, pourri of articles which captures well the remarkable diversity of I. Torgachkin, A. Zimenko Russia’s reserves, illustrating the breadth of natural and biological Ackowledgement: Maps of Russia’s resources, experience, and knowledge encompassed within them. protected areas that are featured in this issue were prepared using the Among other articles in this issue, we will share with you a report Protected Areas GIS database of the on efforts underway in Laplandsky Zapovednik to preserve and Biodiversity Conservation protect the region’s wild reindeer population, which is increasingly Center/International Socio-Ecological pressured by domestic reindeer herds. Also in the Russian North, Union. For more information, please we find another interesting initiative being carried out in consult http://reserves.biodiversity.ru Kenozersky National Park, where a joint team of Norwegian and /gis/database.html. Russian specialists is working to preserve the park’s cultural land- scapes. In this issue, we also feature a piece on Russia’s first non- governmental nature park, Muraviovka Park, in the Russian Far East. The park’s demonstration farm is making steady strides ON THE COVER toward organic certification, and in the process, gaining valuable and transferable experience in this exciting new field. Of course, our coverage of nature conservation efforts in Eurasia, carried out both within and beyond the bounds of Russia’s pro- tected area system, would be unbalanced is we failed to present cases in which conservation objectives are not being fully met. Still far too numerous are the instances in which, despite best efforts by many, a cluster of factors contribute to performance shortfalls. We offer several such examples in this issue, including the cases of Kavkazsky Zapovednik, where local authorities’ ambitions threaten the reserve’s territorial integrity; and Komandorsky Zapovednik, where staffing and funding is still insufficient to adequately pro- tect the reserve’s resources. In parting, we offer on the final pages of this Spring issue of RCN, word of an exciting discovery: a rare crocus, found in bloom in southern Russia, where it has not been sighted for more than one hundred years. This small, delicate flower, we think, is a sign of Moose Calf (Alces alces). Cover draw- promise, that despite adversity, the beauty and wonder of wild ing by I. Filus (Altaisky Zapovednik). Russia will endure. Spring 2004, No. 35 1 Protected Areas Protected Areas A Unique Experience in Moose Domestication at Pechoro-Ilychsky Zapovednik By Mikhail Kozhykhov and Andrei Satsyuk A note from the editors: The following article highlights a long-term project that has been supported for many years, first by the Soviet management authorities overseeing zapovedniks and continuing today. In publishing this article, RCN had questions about whether such projects should in fact be supported by a nature conservation organization. Indeed, our vision for zapovedniks is one in which they are contributing to the conservation of wild nature, not trying to reverse the wild in nature. However, because our mission is to highlight the diversity and content of the protected areas systems in Eurasia, we made the decision to publish this story. eep in the forests of the D Ural Mountains, scientists Man and Moose: A Brief History and researchers at Pechoro- In his article entitled “On Breeding