Reserves of the USSR. The very first Russian nature reserve

"Specially Protected Territories" - Monuments of nature. Reserve for fish. Reserves. Many rare species have been preserved. Moose Island. Voronezh Reserve. The reserve is a reserve. biosphere reserves. National parks. Territories. Protected areas. complex reserves. Scientists. Protection and rational use of the animal world. Reserves. Altai reserve.

"Large reserves of Russia" - Protected species of animals. Animal world. Vegetation. Reserves of Russia. Euryale is awesome. Khanka reserve. Birds. Vegetable world. Algae plantations. Lotus Komarov. Lazovsky Reserve. Cormorants. Volcanoes. Kuril reserve. Ussuri cormorant. Solovki. Reservoirs. Small tern. Protected bird species. Square. Brown Kamchatka bear. Rocks. Kuznetsk Alatau. Sikhote-Alin Reserve.

"Reserves on the territory of Russia" - Teberdinsky Reserve. Astrakhan nature reserve. Reserves of the South of Russia. Dagestan reserve. Caucasian Reserve. North Ossetian Reserve. Rostov nature reserve. Reserves of Russia. Erzi reserve. Photo report. Photo report. Black lands.

"Protected natural areas of Russia" - Take care of all the animals inside nature. Reserve. Formation of meta-subject competencies using the "Consultant Plus" system. Familiarize yourself with specially protected natural areas. The first Soviet reserve - Astrakhan. Specially protected natural areas. Vegetation and fauna. Why do humans need plant and animal resources? Monuments of nature. Types of punishments.

"Specially Protected Natural Territories" - Bashkir Reserve. Reserves. national park. The largest nature reserve in Russia. Ussuri Nature Reserve. Barguzinsky Reserve. Branch. natural parks. Sleeping Beauty. The need for protection. Reserve. Monument of nature. Gallic Mountain. Astrakhan nature reserve. Outlets of thermal springs. Big Arctic Reserve. The smallest reserve Specially protected natural areas. Official holiday.

"Reserves of Russia and the World" - Barguzinsky Reserve. Animal world. Birds. Vertebrates. Reserves and national parks of Russia and the world. Lotus pink. Africa. Herd of bison. graylings. Vegetable world. North America. Diversity of wildlife. The park is the benchmark. 90,000 impala antelopes. Seventy geysers. Astrakhan nature reserve. Ginseng. Purpose of creating national parks. Big Arctic Reserve. 17 species of mammals.

"Ussuri Nature Reserve" - ​​Russia Primorsky Krai. Features: Ussuri Nature Reserve. Animals. Climate. Rocks. Ussuri State nature reserve name of acad. Red Book. In 1949 it was approved in the status of a reserve. Flora and fauna of the reserve. Until 1973 it had the name Suputinsky.

"Museum-reserves" - Historical and cultural complex of the Solovetsky Islands. Nevnyanskaya leaning tower. The city has preserved remarkable monuments of ancient Russian architecture. Museums-reserves. Winter Palace. The harmonious ensemble of northern wooden architecture consists of buildings of the 18th-19th centuries. During the Time of Troubles, Trinity-Sergiyevo was the stronghold of the troops of Minin and Pozharsky.

"Prioksko - Terrasny Reserve" - ​​There are currently 35 national parks in Russia. We live and exist thanks to nature. The duration of the frost-free period in the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve is more than 135 days. Reserves are the most well-known and strict form of territorial nature protection. Medium annual temperature air in the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve is 3.9 degrees C.

"Alakolsky Reserve" -. prevail in the Alakol basin. Other insects have not yet been studied enough. Kazakhstan, Birds. State natural reserves. Alakol-Sasykkol system of lakes. Another nine species extremely rarely flies to the lake. Alakol (3320 ha). On the elevated parts of the Alakol basin, low-calcareous gray soils are developed.

"Stolby Reserve" - ​​The fauna of the reserve is not rich. Grandfather. Acclimatized raccoon dog. Fauna. Twins. History reference. Purpose of creation. Reserve "Stolby". Flora. Pine forests (41%) and fir forests (28%) prevail among 8 forest-forming species. Attractions. Most of the stands were selectively cut in the 1940s and 1950s.

"Altai Reserve" - ​​Location: Russia Altai-Sayan Ecoregion Republic of Altai. Workshop at the facility. Ecological and tourist object in the reserve. - carries out the Management of the biosphere territory as a part of: Touch the history and culture of the Altai people. Teletskoe society of hunters and fishermen. Public Councils.

In 1919, Lenin, signing a decree on the organization in the Volga delta of the first Astrakhan state reserve in the USSR, said that the matter of nature protection was important not only for the Astrakhan region, but for the entire republic as a whole, and that he attached it urgent importance.

Actually, the Volga Delta should have been made a protected area a long time ago. Uncontrolled predatory development of the region led to the degradation of the biosphere. Boris Zhitkov visited the Volga Delta in 1912 and was horrified by what he saw: “On large areas in the immediate neighborhood, farms grow one to another, which make even relatively free for game tracts constantly crowded and open up full scope for hunting for random hunters that is not limited in time from peasants and for the activities of dogs living without a prize.

It was possible not even to hunt, but to catch molting birds with your hands or beat with sticks, collect eggs. At the beginning of the XX century. for each spring in the Volga Delta, at least half a million eggs were collected. Some of them went to food, and those who had time to go rotten were sent to soap factories.

By the beginning of 1917, the forbidden areas of the Volga delta were completely fished, and predatory fishing began everywhere, which continued throughout the Civil War.

In Europe, women's hats with feathers and products made from bird skins were fashionable. Prices for feathers and skins were set high, and demand was virtually unlimited. In Astrakhan, several reception offices were opened with branches in the districts. In 1903, a French firm bought up about 100,000 bird skins in Astrakhan. In 1907, 1,500 pairs of pelican skins and 3,000 pairs of swan skins were exported and sent to the capital and abroad. By 1912, the mute swan had completely disappeared for nesting, great and little white herons, spoonbill, loaf, pheasant became extremely rare, the number of all species of gulls, gray geese, pelicans, and wild boars had sharply decreased. A few colonial nesting sites of cormorants, night-crowns, and gray herons suffered less from excessive hunting, but survived only in remote, hard-to-reach corners. Maintaining the status of a reserve for the Volga delta made it possible to restore the number of many species in the future.

May 14, 1920 Lenin signs a decree on the organization of the Ilmensky mineralogical reserve in the South Urals.

Reserves created and local authorities authorities.

On April 10, 1920, the Yenisei Gubernia Committee issued a decree prohibiting logging and breaking stones in the Stolbov region near Krasnoyarsk and declared a protective territory covering an area of ​​4 square versts around them. In 1925, on the initiative of the director of the Regional Museum of Local Lore (later Doctor of Biological Sciences) A.Ya. Tugarinov and artist D.I. Karatanov, the issue of declaring Stolbov a reserve was raised, and on June 30 of the same year, the Yenisei Provincial Committee issued a corresponding resolution. The area of ​​the reserve was determined at 3,630 acres, it was on the local budget and was directly subordinate to the regional museum.

On September 16, 1921, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR issues a decree "On the Protection of Natural Monuments", which was also signed by Lenin. There, in particular, it was said: “The land areas allocated for reserves with all the forests and other natural resources located on them constituted a special state reserve fund, excluded from general economic exploitation. All reserves are research laboratories in nature and have the following main tasks: a) conservation of natural sites that are typical for these geographical areas; b) protection, restoration and increase of stocks valuable in economic, cultural or scientific terms natural resources; c) protection of the water regime of the area and its normal climatic conditions; d) study of the nature of nature reserves, as well as the resolution of accounting issues natural resources, ways to increase, improve and rational use; e) resolution of issues of acclimatization and re-acclimatization of wild animals and plants valuable in economic or scientific terms;

f) familiarization of the population with the nature of reserves, their work through the organization of tourism and scientific excursions; g) providing an opportunity for university students to have an internship on the territory of nature reserves”.

Article 6 of the Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR of January 7, 1924 "On the Accounting and Protection of Monuments of Antiquity, Arts and Nature" read: "Unauthorized felling of protected forests and extermination of plantations, as well as hunting for animals and birds, fishing, destruction of nests, exploitation of the bowels of the earth and reclamation work in areas subject to scientific protection are not allowed. The presence of unauthorized persons on the territory of the reserves without the permission of the directorate of the reserve is prohibited. The relevant legislation establishes liability for violation of the reserve regime.

If necessary, the authorities went to very expensive measures. By the decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR on May 4, 1930, the Pechoro-Ilychsky Reserve was created. In connection with its organization, about one and a half thousand local residents give them a new home.

At the first stages of the organization of reserves, they were created in the most "hot" spots and, as a rule, in the most developed areas. Since 1921, there has been a systematic development of the reserve system according to the geographical principle - the reserves had to cover the main types of landscapes.

By 1930, more than eighty reserves with a total area of ​​about seven million hectares, more than five hundred state reserves of republican significance and more than a thousand reserves of local subordination were created. Over three thousand unique natural complexes were declared natural monuments and put under protection.

Alexander Chibilev, Dr. geogr. Sciences, Corresponding Member RAS

In 1912, the Imperial Russian Geographical Society (IRGO) established the Environmental Commission. Its creators were professors of Moscow and St. Petersburg universities, geographers, zoologists, and botanists. The commission worked until 1918. The main result of her activities was a plan to create a network of reserves on the territory of Russia. It was not destined to be fully realized, however, on the basis of this plan, already in Soviet time reserves were opened in many regions of the USSR.

Young owl. Such beauties cannot survive without reserves and sanctuaries.

Barguzinsky Reserve. Lake Baikal. The first state reserve in Russia, established in 1916. The number of sable, the protection of which was the original purpose of creating the reserve, has increased by 300-400 times since its establishment.

I. P. Borodin.

G. A. Kozhevnikov.

G. F. Morozov.

A. P. Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky.

V. P. Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky.

Pechoro-Ilychsky reserve. Organized in 1930 on the western spurs Northern Urals. Photo by Vadim Gippenreiter.

Dangerous traces of industrial activity still remain on the territory of the Buzuluk pine forest. Photo by Alexander Chibilev.

In the year of the centenary of the commission, the Russian Geographical Society resumed its work. This event was dedicated to the past in September this year meeting of the Academic Council of the Russian Geographical Society in Orenburg. We bring to the attention of readers the presentation of the report, which was made by one of the initiators of the restoration of the Environmental Commission, Vice President of the Russian Geographical Society, Doctor of Geographical Sciences, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Chibilev.

Let us turn to the origins of the environmental movement in Russia. Interest in nature at the end of the 19th century, especially in university circles, was great. The cause and at the same time the consequence of it were a series of large geographical expeditions, numerous and very productive botanical and zoological studies. Not the last role in this process was played by the military, who conducted extensive research in Asia, the Caucasus, and the polar regions. At the same time, magnificent publications came out in rather large circulations, for example, Brehm's Animal Life, books by Buturlin, Sabaneev. In a word, society has already prepared for real work on nature protection. All that was needed was a concrete and feasible plan, people capable of developing and implementing it, as well as financial and administrative support. (Not much has changed in the past hundred years, hasn't it?) All of these components happily combined in the Geographical Society.

At the head of the new social movement in defense of natural monuments were outstanding Russian scientists: botanist I. P. Borodin, anthropologist and geographer D. N. Anuchin, forester G. F. Morozov, St. Petersburg zoologist D. K. Solovyov, head of the Department of Zoology of Moscow State University A. Kozhevnikov, botanist of Kharkov University V. A. Taliev, geographer V. P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky and his brother entomologist A. P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky. They own the idea of ​​an ethical and aesthetic approach to the protection wildlife and to the sacred work. This direction was closest to the then intelligentsia. And this is very important, since it was the intelligentsia that provided the greatest support to the new movement.

In 1892, V.V. Dokuchaev expressed the idea of ​​the need to create special reserved stations. Unlike national parks in the United States, which were conceived as places for hunting, fishing, entertainment and recreation, Dokuchaev proposed that the site be reserved and “granted it for exclusive use” to indigenous species of flora and fauna. Dokuchaev's idea was developed by natural scientists, whom we have the right to call "A mighty handful of domestic conservation work."

Today, after 100 years, it is very important to remember these remarkable figures of the Russian Geographical Society, whose ideas at the beginning of the 21st century became even more relevant than at the beginning of the 20th century.

Ivan Parfenievich Borodin(1847-1930) - Russian botanist, academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, founder and chairman of the Russian Botanical Society (since 1915), vice-president of the Academy of Sciences. In 1910, in his report "Protection of Natural Monuments", he wrote that the creation protected areas- “This is our moral duty to the motherland, humanity and science. We have already understood the need to protect the monuments of our antiquity; it is time for us to be imbued with the consciousness that the most important of them are the remnants of that nature in the midst of which our state power once took shape, our ancestors lived and acted. Losing those remnants would be a crime.” Borodin drew attention to the fact that the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, with its extensive network of departments in all, including remote, provinces, has a unique opportunity to organize a "central environmental committee with the participation of representatives of various interested departments."

It was after this report by I.P. Borodin that on March 5, 1912, the Council of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society approved the Regulations on the Permanent Environmental Commission, in the second paragraph of which it was written: “The purpose of the commission is to arouse interest among the general population and the government in questions about the protection of monuments the nature of Russia and to carry out in practice the preservation of inviolability of individual sections or entire areas important in botanical and zoogeographical, geological and in general in physical and geographical respects, the protection certain types plants, animals, etc."

Grigory Alexandrovich Kozhevnikov(1866-1933) - professor of zoology and director of the Zoological Museum of Moscow State University. In 1909, in the article “On the need to arrange protected areas of Russian nature”, for the first time in Russian scientific literature, he stated the importance of preserving individual areas of wild nature in complete integrity: “Plots intended to preserve samples of primitive nature ... should be reserved in the strictest sense of the word. … No need to eliminate anything, add anything, improve anything. You have to leave nature to itself and observe the results. Protected areas are of great importance, and therefore their arrangement should be a matter of public and private initiative, but the state must lead the way here.”

Georgy Fyodorovich Morozov(1867-1920) - geographer and botanist, creator of the doctrine of the forest as a geographical and historical phenomenon. He was one of the consistent supporters of the geographical approach in organizing a network of reserves: “The allocation of protected areas should occur as systematically as possible with the position as the basis of the botanical and geographical division: protected areas should be located in each botanical and geographical area, representing in their totality a number of the most characteristic and most valuable scientifically the types of vegetation". Working in the commission, G.F. Morozov proposed to identify and take under protection the most valuable forest standards in different regions Russia.

Andrey Petrovich Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky(1866-1942) - President of the Russian Entomological Society. One of the most radical supporters of the inherent value of wildlife. In his opinion, "freedom is necessary for nature, just as it is necessary for people." This freedom, in his opinion, should be provided by nature reserves: “Nature untouched by man gives him irreplaceable aesthetic pleasures, elevating his soul - we also have a great moral duty to nature, a filial duty to our mother.”

Veniamin Petrovich Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky(1870-1942) - geographer and statistician, founder and editor of the multi-volume edition "Russia. A complete geographical description of our Fatherland ”(1899-1914), one of the most active members of the Environmental Commission. It was he who summarized the proposals of its members and in October 1917 prepared a report "On the types of areas in which it is necessary to establish nature reserves such as American national parks." The report was accompanied by a map northern hemisphere, on which already created US national parks and 46 national parks that need to be organized in Russia were plotted. V.P. Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky applied a purely geographical principle in the location of these protected areas. Calling the proposed objects on the model of the United States national parks, the scientist, in fact, had in mind nature reserves with their much stricter protection regime, restrictions on visits and economic activities.

The words of V.P. Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky can serve as a real testament for future generations: “It is our duty to preserve for posterity, wherever possible, in complete integrity, completely the features of the face of Mother Earth, so that it always has the opportunity to peer into them and learn in nature what it has only heard from books. ... Preservation of the untouched natural whole geographical landscape from distant ancestors will help the descendants to more easily critically understand all that complex artificial environment in which they will have to live and act ... "

In 1918, the Environmental Commission of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society ceased to exist. Nevertheless, many of its members continued, to the extent possible, to offer their ideas to the new leadership of the country. So, in 1919, G. A. Kozhevnikov turned to the Soviet government with a memorandum that says: “Before Russian Republic lies the task of world importance - to preserve a number of animal forms that are not found anywhere outside of our fatherland and whose fate is followed with interest by the scientific world of the whole world. When judging this matter, it is useful to have before us the example of Western Europe and, in particular, the United States of America, which, in the interests of the public good, do not spare money for the protection of nature.

The works of the classics of domestic nature conservation and conservation work remain in demand even after 100 years, causing controversy. A careful analyst will find many contradictions in them. Often, science was not free in its choice, which led and still leads to incorrect, ambiguous conclusions, tragic mistakes. The entire 20th century in the history of national nature reserves is a kaleidoscope of contradictory decisions. Here are a few dates that marked the twists and turns in this story.

1898 - the private nature reserve Askania-Nova was created.

1916 - the first Russian state reserve Barguzinsky was created on Baikal.

1917 - V.P. Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky presented the first project of the protected network of Russia.

1922 - G. A. Kozhevnikov's memorandum "On the needs of nature protection in the RSFSR" receives support from the People's Commissariat and the Academy of Sciences.

1930 - "purge" in Glavnauka, prominent figures of nature conservation were dismissed and repressed. The first reserves in the USSR are opened, among them: Altai, Bashkir, Voronezh (1927), Galichya Gora (1925), Kandalakshsky, Kivach, Oksky and others.

1933 - First All-Union Congress On the protection of nature of the USSR calls "to break the fetish of inviolability from the reserves, populate the whole country with useful fauna and get rid of the harmful."

1930-1940 - 42 new reserves were established.

1951 - 88 reserves were completely closed and the territory of 20 reserves was reduced. Of the 130 reserves, 40 have been abandoned. Their area has decreased by more than 11 times.

1960 - the total number of reserves reached 85. The law "On Nature Protection of the RSFSR" was adopted.

1961 - 16 forest reserves are closed, logging begins on their territory. The area of ​​reserves has been halved.

1962 - the Regulations on state reserves were adopted, their status as research institutions was restored.

1980s - the number of reserves in the USSR reached 200. The first national parks were created.

1988 - the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the USSR is created, and then the RSFSR.

2000 - the federal department is abolished - State Committee on environmental protection, which was directly subordinate to the reserves.

The purpose of the work of the reconstituted permanent Environmental Commission should be clear and precise answers to several extremely important questions. There are seven of them, and I will allow myself to say a few words about each. At the same time, I note that in addition to answering the questions posed, we must take real action, since the Russian Geographical Society has all the possibilities for this. And, believe me, not only because of administrative support, which, of course, is important, but also because our work resonates with many scientists, public figures, entrepreneurs. But back to the "seven" questions.

1. Do all the islands and islets of wild nature preserved on the territory of Russia have the status of protected territories? What objects from the list of the Environmental Commission of 1917 are still waiting for their recognition?

Unfortunately, at present, the location of protected areas is determined not so much by a scientifically substantiated need as by the features geographical location, and mainly - the lack of economic interests and transport inaccessibility. In this regard, protected islands of wildlife are distributed extremely unevenly throughout the country. There are practically no reserves in the main agricultural zone of Russia. A negligibly small area is occupied by the standards of zonal steppe and forest landscapes, the special value of which was pointed out by V. V. Dokuchaev, I. P. Borodin, V. P. Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky.

Until now, such specially protected natural areas of the highest rank (with a strict regime for the protection of landscapes, flora and fauna, with developed scientific units) have not been created, such as the Khibiny Park, the Central Russian Upland Park, the Baraba forest-steppe park, the Ural Urem. But they were included in the list of PPK IRGO
1917. Or, for example, in 1943 the reserve of the Kungur caves was organized and then liquidated. Perm region. In addition, many nature reserves and national parks operate within significantly reduced boundaries compared to those that were originally designed.

The most important task of our commission is to find out why in some physical-geographical and administrative-territorial regions of Russia there is no representative network of specially protected natural areas(SPNA), including the highest rank. An example is the Urals, where key landscape areas are part of the existing reserves and national parks, but there are many that need to be created in order to cover the entire natural diversity of the region.

2. What habitats are rare species, especially those for which it is Russia that is responsible, those that served, serve or can serve as original symbols of the country or its regions, are not yet provided with environmental measures?

I would like to draw your attention to three branded species of Russian fauna from the three main natural elements: water, air and land.

Concerning aquatic environment, in the first place in terms of importance, we should, of course, have Russian sturgeon and other species of sturgeon - anadromous in the basins of the Black and Caspian Seas and non-water in Siberian rivers. Despite the success of artificial breeding of sturgeon, over the past 20 years there has been a catastrophic reduction (by 20-40 times) in the natural population of Russian sturgeon, beluga, and ship in the Caspian Sea basin. Only by changing the nature protection status of the transboundary Ural River and some other rivers of the Caspian basin, it is possible to preserve the recently former world's largest natural population of sturgeon in the North Caspian region.

Among rare species birds should pay attention to the endemic of Russia and Europe
Asia - red-throated goose. Russia is fully responsible for the preservation of this species in the world fauna, since its entire range from the Arctic tundra to the North Caucasus, along with migration routes, is located on our territory. To preserve the red-breasted goose, it is necessary to create a cluster reserve, including the habitats of this species in Taimyr, swamps Western Siberia, steppe lakes of the Trans-Urals, wetlands of the North Caucasus.

Another title species of the disappeared fauna of Russia is a wild horse. The Russian Geographical Society allocated a special grant to support the Przewalski horse reintroduction project. At present, in the entire steppe belt of Eurasia from Hungary to Mongolia and China, only Russia has not really begun to reintroduce the Przewalski horse in its steppes. On the territory of the Orenburg region, a plot of 16.5 thousand hectares has been prepared for the release of wild horses, and only the good will of responsible employees of the Ministry of Natural Resources, the leaders of the Orenburg region is needed to make this project a reality.

3. Another important task of modern nature conservation is the harmonization of relations between nature conservation and recreational and tourist activities.

Reserves were originally created not for tourism and tourists, but for the protection and study of natural objects. National parks, on the contrary, are intended primarily for organized recreation. It is impossible to mix and confuse these tasks. Reserves should not earn money through tourism. The legalization of ecotourism in the protected areas of national parks, especially in nature reserves, is a direct violation of the conservation regime, the results of which are sometimes catastrophic and always irreversible. You can not force nature reserves to prove their right to exist through tourism.

Nevertheless, it is possible and necessary to engage in tourism in specially protected natural areas, but this activity is permissible only in buffer zones and should not cover quiet zones and protected cores.

4. Important question The problem that the commission will have to work on is the problem of integrating the federal and regional systems of protected areas into the socio-economic development of the territories.

Wildlife islands - classic reserves - should not economically justify their existence: their enduring value is already in the fact that they exist, in that they give us the realization that somewhere on Earth there are still corners with untouched nature. The usefulness of these territories cannot be assessed by market methods. They are practically priceless, like unique masterpieces of world art, architecture or archaeological sites, and are also irreplaceable in case of loss.

At the same time, being on the balance sheet of the state or a constituent entity of the Federation, sometimes in private ownership, objects natural heritage are part of the economic infrastructure of a region. Therefore, an untouchable niche should be allocated for these territories. They should be clearly marked on land management and district planning schemes, and any economic activity should be prohibited here.

Nevertheless, reserves and especially national parks should play an important role in the economy of the region. Large regional reserves and national parks can be used as basic cores for creating natural reserve clusters. Transfer to national parks and reserves for direct management of nearby reserves, parks, natural monuments and other protected areas will allow spreading the culture of nature protection to neighboring landscapes, creating new protected areas with wildlife and increased natural diversity, and reasonably shifting part of the recreational and tourist load from the main core protected areas to other sites.

5. Our commission will definitely have to deal with the prevention and prevention of internal and external anthropogenic and natural-anthropogenic risks.

Threats of fires, ecological autonomy of protected areas, voluntaristic decisions of administrative and economic bodies, looting and poaching, violations of the reserve regime and the use of scientific material for hunting and extraction - have always accompanied and accompany the daily activities of our reserves and national parks. But these same threats are even more dangerous for wilderness areas and unique landscapes that have not yet been taken under state protection. Yes, only for Last year The environmental commission of the Russian Geographical Society had to deal with real threats associated with new options for the development of a phosphorite deposit in the territory of the projected National Park of the Khibiny Mountains. Not so long ago, we prepared proposals for the creation of the Zapolyarno-Uralsky National Park in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug and the Subpolyarno-Uralsky National Park in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug. Both of these initiatives arose as a result of the construction of roads, the laying of a pipeline and the planned industrial development of the ore deposits of the Polar Urals.

In the autumn of 2011, according to our idea, the President of the Russian Geographical Society resolved the issues of stopping the looting of the paleontological heritage of the New Siberian Islands. As part of the 2012 expedition, a group worked on this archipelago, which is now preparing proposals for the creation of a national park on it.

Even the status of world natural heritage sites (there are currently 10 of them in Russia) does not protect them from technogenic impact. There is no need to look far for examples: "Lake Baikal" - the operation of the BPPM and illegal construction on the coast; "Volcanoes of Kamchatka" - prospecting and exploration, plans for changing the boundaries of the object; "Western Caucasus" - lack of buffer zone protection status, economic development projects; "Golden Mountains of Altai" - pipeline construction plans, poaching; "Virgin forests of Komi" - projects for the development of mineral deposits, etc.

It is possible to trace the process of the emergence and development of threats of a natural and anthropogenic nature during the 20th - early 21st centuries using the example of the Buzuluk forest. This unique forest - the world's largest pine forest among the steppes - in the 19th - early 20th centuries became the school of Russian forest science and forest biogeocenology. Here G.F. Morozov and V.N. Sukachev worked out the doctrine of the types of forest plantations, and in 1917 V.P. Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky included Buzuluk forest in the project of the Nature Conservation Commission as one of the 45 national parks of Russia. The fate of the forest is tragic and instructive. Over the past two centuries, fires have occurred on 75% of its territory. The fires of 1831, 1879, and 1921 were especially devastating. In 1932, a state reserve was created on a part of the territory of the forest. Then the activity of the reserve was criticized, and in 1948 it was liquidated. Immediately begins a period of large-scale reforestation. As a result of improper forest management, 30,000 hectares of forests were planted, which, due to the overestimated density, turned out to be unviable. The situation was complicated by the fact that, in parallel with reforestation, clear felling of mature forests was carried out. In 1959, exploration and production of oil and gas was carried out on the territory of the forest by deep drilling - in total, about 200 wells were drilled, more than 20 of them commercial. The low culture of oil and gas production led to massive oil spills and fires. In 1973, under pressure from the scientific community, the first ban on oil and gas production was announced here. The oilmen left behind a network of pipelines, industrial waste, liquidated and mothballed wells that pose a technogenic hazard. And only in 1994, by order of the Government of the Russian Federation, boron was included in the List of state reserves and national parks recommended for organization on the territory of the Russian Federation in 1994-2005. In 2007, the Buzuluk forest finally became a national natural park. But the dangers didn't end there. Oil and gas wells are still not brought to a safe condition. The area is still threatened by fires. Even during the Great Patriotic War, an arsenal of weapons was brought to the center of the forest along a special railway line. In June 2012, this arsenal reminded of itself when artillery shells began to burst and scatter for several kilometers around.

6. The Commission will also have to deal with the development of new categories of protected natural areas, covering the landscape and biological diversity of the country.

In 1918, the St. Petersburg zoologist D. K. Solovyov in his work “Types of Organizations Contributing to Nature Protection” proposed more than 30 forms of protection of objects of the natural reserve fund. Unfortunately, they have not found their application in Russia. However, in the USA, Canada, Great Britain and other countries there are many such categories - for example, protected landscape area, areas of exceptional natural beauty, scenic river, national river, etc. In Canada, 13 rivers with a total length of 3 thousand km received conservation status"national river". In the United States in 1993, 153 river sections with a total length of 18,000 km were protected by a special law. The so-called cluster PAs of linear (for example, along the path of migration) and cluster type are widely practiced in the world. In addition, in many areas, the nature protection regime may be seasonal. To conserve biodiversity (specific plant and animal species), certain types protective nature management, for example, grazing of livestock with a limited load, sparing haymaking. Naturally, these methods are unacceptable for classical nature reserves, peace zones of national parks.

7. One of the most important tasks of our commission is to raise the cult of the primeval landscapes and wild nature of the country as a common property of all peoples.

It would be right that the project of the Park of Russia, which was announced at a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Russian Geographical Society in August 2012, reflects the best examples of the unique landscapes and wildlife of our Fatherland. Plots of pristine nature should become one of the central symbols of Russia and that national community, which we designate with the words " Russian people". Many of us are very afraid to use the concept of "national landscape" in relation to Russia. At the same time, if we want to save Russia, we need to declare a single national landscape and the best examples of preserved wild nature, "belonging to all together." But for this it is necessary to adopt the laws “On the national landscape”, “On the wild nature”.

“All the best in nature belongs to everyone together” - these words of the Roman writer Petronius, written in the 1st century AD, are worth remembering. Standards and unique samples wildlife, commanded and not yet commanded, should be in the public domain.

The very first nature reserve that was opened on the territory Russian Federation, is considered to be the Barguzinsky State Nature Reserve. It originates back in 1916, namely on January 11 according to the new calendar style. The opening day of the Barguzinsky Reserve is also considered to be the day of protected areas and national parks of the country. On the this moment On the territory of our country there are about one hundred protected areas and about forty national parks, which in percentage terms with the total area of ​​our country is about two percent.

At the moment, the Barguzinsky Reserve is carefully protected, and it is almost impossible to visit it, with the exception of cruise tourist routes on Lake Baikal. Cruise participants have a unique opportunity to see a small part of the protected protected area and also visit the museum, which presents various interesting exhibits.

The Barguzinsky Reserve is located on the central part of the western slopes of the Barguzinsky Range and the Baikal coast, its area is about 375 thousand hectares of the land part and about 15 thousand hectares of the sea part. This place very unique in its kind because the territory has a peculiar surface relief, exotic flora and fauna, and the variety of soil and the prevailing microclimate on the territory of the reserve make this place doubly interesting.

The protected system, of course, is a very important part of any civilized and modern country. National parks and reserves are very important for the development of the scientific environment. They contribute to a more detailed study of individual species of animals, plants, the impact of climate on environment and other equally important aspects of the environment. That is why it is very important to protect the environment and treat the world around us with respect.

The first reserve in Russia was created on January 11, and it is not for nothing that this day is also the day when the foundations of the Russian reserve system as a whole were laid. This day serves as a kind of reminder for all people living in our territory that it is necessary to take care of nature.