CONCEPT OF WATER AND ECO TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AT THE RUSSIAN AREA OF PEIPUS / PSKOV LAKELAND NGO “Chudskoye Project” PSKOV 2005 WATER AND ECO TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AT PEIPUS / PSKOV LAKELAND © 2005 CONTENTS PART I. Analysis of water and ecological tourism at the Russian area of Peipus / Pskov lake basin .......................................................................................................................2 Section 1. General provisions ..................................................................................2 Section 2. An ecological situation at water reservoirs of fish management use .......5 Section 3. Flora and fauna .......................................................................................6 Section 4. Protected territories .................................................................................9 Section 5. Analysis of the Resolution # 172 «Border zone in Gdov, Pskov, Pechory, Palkino, Pytalovo, Krasnogorodsk, Sebezh municipalities of the Pskov region» and the Resolution # 177 «Border zone in Leningrad region» .................................................................................15 Section 6. Cultural and historical sites....................................................................17 Section 7. Tourism infrastructure. Pskov, Gdov, Pechory municipalities (Pskov region), Kingissepp, Slantsy municipalities and Ivangorod town (Leningrad region) .................................................................................19 Section 8. Analysis of tourist visits in Peipus/Pskov lake area. ..............................21 Section 9. Water transport......................................................................................27 Section 10. Calendar of events ................................................................................29 Section 11. The conditions of sports and amateur fishery........................................30 PART II. Concept provisions for eco tourism development ...................................................32 Section 1. General provisions ................................................................................32 Section 2. Kinds of eco tourism..............................................................................35 Principles of ecotourism for the elaboration at Peipus/Pskov Lakeland......................39 PART III. Strategy of eco tourism development .......................................................................41 Section 1. The main idea of strategy for ecotourism development.........................41 Section 2. The purposes and objectives of strategy of ecological tourism development..........................................................................................42 Section 3. Strategic directions of activity for ecotourism development...................43 CONCLUSION ..............................................................................................................51 Recommended prime actions on the elaboration of ecological tourism in Peipus / Pskov lakeland for the period of 2005-2008 ..................................................................52 Literature .......................................................................................................................54 1 WATER AND ECO TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AT PEIPUS / PSKOV LAKELAND © 2005 PART I. ANALYSIS OF WATER AND ECOLOGICAL TOURISM AT THE RUSSIAN AREA OF PEIPUS / PSKOV LAKE BASIN Section 1. General provisions The Peipus/Pskov lake is situated on the border of Russia and Estonia. Lake Peipus flows into Gulf of Finland through Narva river (77 km). The total water surface area is 47.800 sq. km (including the lake area) The Peipus/Pskov lake comprises 3 parts: the northern part – lake Peipus itself (2.613 sq. km, average depth 8,3 m), the southern – Pskov lake (709 sq. km, average depth 3,8 m), and the linking bay – Teploye lake (170 sq. km, average depth 2,5 m) Most widespread fish species in the lake are pikeperch, bream, pike, burbot, perch, roach, ruff, crucian and others. Lake white fish is characteristic only for the Peipus lake. The basic spawning places of bream, pike, roach are located at mouths of rivers, flowing into the Lake as well as in Raskopel’, Kulya, Zhelcha and other bays. High level of eutrophy provides high fish productivity. The shoreline is smooth. There are only a few bays in the northern part of the coastline. The largest bays in the southern part of Peipus lake are Raskopelsky, Zalakhtovsky; in Teploye lake it is Zhelcha bay; in Pskov lake – Kulya bay. The shoreline length is 520 km in total. Peipus lake shoreline is 260 кm long, Pskov lake shoreline is 177 km long, Teploye lake – 83 km. The banks are mainly low, peat- based. Narrow sand stripes, overgrown by pines, stretch along the eastern shore of Peipus lake. The relief of the eastern shoreline of Peipus lake, between rivers Chernaya and Lochkino and in low part of Zhelcha river, combine hills and ridges. 30 islands are located in the Peipus/Pskov lakes. Talabsk, Belov, Kamenka, Kolpino are the largest islands in the Pskov region. Usually the lake surface gets frozen at the end of November or beginning of December and recovers from ice in April. The most favorable climate is in the Pskov region. This fact is due to closeness of the Baltic Sea and the size Peipus/Pskov lake. Summer is moderately warm and wet, winter is comparatively mild. 2 WATER AND ECO TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AT PEIPUS / PSKOV LAKELAND © 2005 Bogs occupy large areas (approx. 45 thousand hectares). There are several large bogs that occupy more than 5 thousand hectares each. The soils on the most part of the lake land are quite poor. Sand soils and peat sand soils prevail in the forests. Bog peat soils are quite common too. 30 rivers flow into the lake and one river flows out. The major rivers are Narva and Velikaya. Other minor rivers are: • Zhelcha • Chernaya • Obdekh • Tolba • Abizha • Cherma • Robya • Pimzha Zhelcha and Chernaya are the cleanest rivers. Zhelcha river runs through thinly populated woodlands in Gdov district. It is more than 70 km long. In its upper section the river is very curvy. It runs among low banks covered with willow, birch and pine trees. The water is very clean. There are a lot of suitable places for camping / picnic stops at the river banks. After it flows out of Veleno lake, the river becomes very twisty, in some parts 10-20m wide. At the Veleno lake there is a tourist recreation base. Camping at lakes Uzhimskoye, Dolgoye, Veleno is very popular among visitors from the Pskov region, St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region. In the summer period about 50 small camps are set up along the river banks, their number amounts approximately 500 tourists. Chernaya river runs through thinly populated woodlands in Pskov district of the Pskov region. The river is more than 50 km long. It is very curvy too. The water is clean; the banks are suitable for camps. It flows into the Pskov lake. Its width is 10-20m. A number of fishermen houses and a boat mooring can be found at the mouth of Chernaya river. The Velikaya river, flowing over the territory of the Pskov region, is the biggest river of the Peipus/Pskov lake basin. The river starts at the Bezhanitskaya upland area and flows into the Pskov lake. It forms river delta, which consists of 40 islands. The length of the river is 430 km. Water volume in the river mouth is 127 m³/sec or 4 km³/year. The 3 WATER AND ECO TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AT PEIPUS / PSKOV LAKELAND © 2005 river is navigable in total of 5% of its length or 20 km up from the river mouth. Basin area of the Velikaya river is 25200 sq.km. The river is ice covered for the period of 4½ months. Down from the Ostrov town the Vlikaya river is leveled with rapids. The basic confluents to the river are rivers Issa, Sinyaya, Utroya, Sorrot, Cherekha, Pskova. Canoeing, fishing, mushrooms / berries picking up, bathing in rivers and lakes – the list of activities is far from complete. Narva river runs through Leningrad region (Slantsy, Kingissepp municipalities, Ivangorod town). Near Ivangorod town the river is split by a dam that forms Narva Water Reservoir (rus. Narvskoye vodokhranilishche). The middle part of the river is only the Narva Water Reservoir, the only one in the Lakeland. The dam was constructed for Narva power station. It was filled in 1955-1956. The dam weekly regulates the water level thus the altitude of the surface fluctuates up to 0,5 m. The water surface of the water reservoir is 191 sq.km, average depth – 1,9 m, maximum depth – 15 m, water volume – 0,363 km³. The area of Russian part of the waters is 79% (151 sq.km), Estonian part – 21% (40 sq.km). Maximum length (from north to south) – 25 km, maximum width (from west to east) – 30 km, average width – 4 km, the length of the highly curvy coast line is – 206 km. The biggest rivers flowing into the Narva reservoir are the Narva river (Estonia, Russia), the Plyussa river (Russia); The Narva river also flows out of the water reservoir. The reservoir is divided into the four parts – Narvsky, Plyussky, Pyantitsky bays and the area of the Narva river inflow that has no name. The Narva reservoir includes a lot small lowland islands which are covered with forests. Most of the islands are located in the southern part of the reservoir. 4 WATER AND ECO TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AT PEIPUS / PSKOV LAKELAND © 2005 Section 2. An ecological situation at water reservoirs of fish management use Indicators of water color and transparency may vary when moving from Pskov lake to Peipus lake. Pskov lake