1. Combining youth and experience
FGBU “The Prioksko-Terrasny State Reserve” took part in an educational project. The new partner of the environmental and scientific organization was the “Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation”. The conductor for establishing cooperation was Tatyana Romanishina, professor of the Department of Mass Communications and Media Business at the university. As part of the educational project, it was decided to organize internships for 2nd-year students of the Department of “Mass Communications and Media Business”. The educational project consisted of two offline meetings and one online consultation. In early March, specialists in environmental education and public relations of the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve held an introductory meeting at the academy, where they presented cases in the following areas: “The Adopt a Bison” Program”, “Mass Media: Advertising Campaign for the Reserve”, “Biosphere Reserve – Territory of Cooperation”, “Social Media of the Reserve”. Two weeks later, an online consultation was held, where students could communicate with their curators and get answers to their questions. On April 4, representatives of the reserve again went to the university to defend their practical work. 13 groups, which is about 100 students, were waiting for the meeting, having thoroughly prepared. According to the results of the educational project, the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve received original stickers, as well as options for maintaining and filling social networks, radio and video scripts, developments for further implementation and promotion of the “Adopt a Bison” program, examples of innovative formats for interaction with the media and bloggers, a presentation of modern platforms and new audiences for work within the framework of environmental education. The specialists of the environmental education department have a lot of work to do to analyze the projects and implement them in life. We hope that all the innovations will be appreciated by subscribers of social networks and the reserve’s website, its guests and partners.
2. Bison in the capital of Russian bohemia
A popular science exhibition dedicated to the history of the miraculous return of forest giants opened on April 3 in Tarusa. The location for the exhibition was not chosen by chance. Tarusa is not just one of the cities in Russia. It has the status of a natural and architectural reserve. Since most of the buildings here are one-story, built in the 19th century, the city is included in the list of historical cities of the Russian Federation. The exposition “The Bison Returns” is a joint project involving the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve, the Museum and Exhibition Center, the State Darwin Museum and the A.A. Buzovkin Children’s Art School. The opening of the exhibition took place with the participation of the reserve staff and representatives of the general public. The first excursionists were students of grade 4 “B” of the Secondary comprehensive school No. 1 named after Hero of Russia M.G. Efremov, students of the theater studio “Pulse” and active residents of the city. The excursion for them was conducting by the leading specialist in tourism development of the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve Marina Muzychenko. The museum guests listened with interest to the specialist’s story about the history of the bison, took part in a silent quest, a master class on painting plaster figures of “bison”, assembled floor puzzles and learned to distinguish bison from buffalo, took memorable photos with a life-size “Bison” doll. The guest of honor who visited the exhibition was the grandson of the animal artist Vasily Alekseevich Vatagin, also an artist, Nikolay Evgenievich Vatagin. The exhibition is dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Central Bison Nursery – the first in Russia for breeding bison. The exhibition presents colorful information tablets, graphic, pictorial and sculptural works by masters of animalism: Vasily Vatagin, Konstantin Flerov, Dmitry Gorlov and others. Animal artists often visited the Central Bison Nursery, painted bison and donated some of their works to the reserve. A special part of the exhibition is dedicated to protographs by Viktor Kalinin, which capture historical milestones of the reserve: the meeting of Mikhail Zablotsky with Konstantin Paustovsky, plein airs of Vasily Vatagin and Dmitry Gorlov, a television interview with Vasily Peskov and Nikolay Drozdov.
3. Bisons in Bashkiria
Deputy Director for the Maintenance and Breeding of Bisons of the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve Andrey Stefutin – took part in a meeting of the working group on breeding Belarusian bison in Bashkortostan, which was held in Ufa as part of the Ecological Forum from April 11 to 14. Leading bison specialists in Russia discussed the implementation of bison breeding activities in the republic, and also considered the feeding potential of the region’s mountain-forest ecosystems for creating a population of European bison. The meeting of the working group was attended by the Director of the Department of State Policy and Regulation in the Sphere of Development of Specially Protected Natural Areas of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia, Irina Yuryevna Makanova. Niyaz Fazylov, Minister of Nature Management and Ecology of the Republic of Bashkortostan: “Irina Yurievna drew special attention to the fact that the republic’s practice of introducing bison has interested a number of Trans-Ural regions of Russia and the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug. A fairly ambitious project, which was difficult to believe at first, has succeeded. I would like to note that Bashkortostan has become the first pilot Russian region for breeding the Belovezhskaya bison population. The republic has the necessary conditions for creating an independent South Ural population of the Belovezhskaya bison, which will contribute to an increase in its numbers. We should not forget that our well-being depends on environmental development, the preservation of biological diversity, including rare species of plants and animals. After all, only a set of measures will allow us to preserve the uniqueness of our nature. I thank my colleagues for the constructive dialogue and special attention to the issues of preserving biological diversity”.
4. Plein air at the Museum of Nature
On Friday, April 12, the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve once again welcomed students from the A.A. Buzovkin Children’s Art School. Young artists have been coming to the reserve for plein air painting for the second year. In a specially protected natural area you can always find many colorful scenes and interesting objects, there is a place to use in practice the knowledge and skills received from teachers. Today’s event was different from the usual – it began with an introductory lecture from the honored researcher of the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve Galina Veniaminovna Sokolova, who has been conducting phenological series of observations for many years. The children learned a lot of new things and remembered a lot of long-forgotten things! Now they can easily answer how many tiers a forest has, what primroses are and how they differ from snowdrops, where birds winter and much more. Then the plein air began, during which young artists went to work in the Museum of Nature. The Museum’s exposition allows you to choose objects for every taste and draw practically from life. Hundreds of beautifully made stuffed birds and dozens of animals are presented in three halls of the Museum, made by masters of their craft and accurately conveying the features of their behavior and characteristic habitat landscape. The few visitors to the Museum of Nature on this weekday looked at the works with interest and tried not to interfere, no one gave advice, it was immediately clear that despite their young age, the artists were already quite experienced. Having worked well at the easels, the group went on a traditional excursion to the Central Bison Nursery. This is not our last meeting this year, the guys will come to the reserve more than once for inspiration and beautiful views. At the end of the year, we will definitely make a photo report from the final exhibition.
5. Science speaks and shows
On April 15, on the Day of Environmental Knowledge, Deputy Director of the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve Vasily Demidov took part in the program “Direct Conversation” on Public Television-Serpukhov. During the live broadcast, they talked about scientific knowledge that needs to be brought to the masses and its forms. The guest of the studio spoke about the science department and the scientific staff of the reserve, about how the scientific work “Chronicle of Nature” is formed annually and about the diversity of scientific observations of nature in the spring. The presenter Olesya Akinfeeva asked about the directions in which work is currently being carried out, about what is a priority and why, received “secret” information about how serious publications are prepared for scientific publications and learned the secret of the appearance of “Oka flora”. Vasily Demidov: scientific knowledge is the basis and foundation for understanding nature. Specialists of scientific departments systematize all the information obtained during research. Sometimes this information, in the form of articles and reports, is difficult for ordinary people to understand and evaluate. And in order to convey this information to the general public, there are environmental education departments in the reserve. Environmental survey specialists make the information more accessible and understandable. The presenter of the program, Olesya Akinfeeva raised many interesting topics and asked many relevant questions. A careful viewing of the program “Direct Conversation” will help you become more environmentally literate.
6. Work so that everyone is healthy
On Tuesday, April 16, a surprise awaited the little patients of the medical and rehabilitation scientific center “Russkoe Pole”, undergoing rehabilitation in the medical institution. From the very south of the Moscow region, specialists from the FGBU “Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve” came to meet them. The guests from the specially protected natural area prepared an interesting and very educational ecological education program for the children. The participants got acquainted with various representatives of the fauna and, of course, with the main attraction of the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve, a contemporary of the mammoth, living in the Central Bison Nursery – the bison. The children learned why all bison born in the Moscow region have nicknames starting with the syllable “Mu”, how much bison weigh and how they live. And at the end of the meeting, everyone was given the opportunity to take part in a master class on painting a plaster figurine of a bison, which will now long remind them of an interesting meeting for a long time. The motto of the medical and rehabilitation scientific center “Russkoe Pole” is to “Work so that every sick child is healthy, combining the possibilities of clinical practice, achievements of science and education.” The staff of the reserve wish all the little patients a speedy recovery and be sure to come and see the largest land mammal in Europe in person.
7. “Green Spring” has started
On April 20, the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve opened the 2024 Volunteer Season and held an environmental and educational event under the auspices of the 11th All-Russian environmental cleanup day “Green Spring-2024”. The participants of the clean-up day were employees of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation and the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment’s Roszapovedtsentr, and the site for the volunteer cleanup day was the Prioksko-Terrasny Nature Reserve. The official part began with a welcoming speech by the Director of the Department of State Policy and Regulation in the Sphere of Development of Specially Protected Natural Areas of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia, Irina Makanova. Having split into five teams, our fellow volunteers began work on the seasonal improvement of tourist sites located on the Central Estate of the Reserve. Everything was done quickly and efficiently! Tired but happy volunteers were fed hearty porridge in the field kitchen, after which everyone who wanted to could go an excursion to the Central Bison Nursery. All regions of Russia took up the baton of volunteer actions under the auspices of “Green Spring-2024”. The XI All-Russian environmental cleanup day “Green Spring-2024” is one of the most massive environmental marathons in the country, which is organized by the V.I. Vernadsky Foundation. The slogan of “Green Spring” – Let’s make the Planet greener together!
8. “Visiting the bison”
On April 25, the Prioksko-Terrasny Reseve became closer to residents and guests of the capital at the Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy in pavilion No.13 “Geology” of the State Biological Museum named after K.A. Timiryazev, a photo exhibition “Visiting the Bison” was opened, dedicated to the only reserve in the Moscow region. The main character of the outdoor exhibition was the last wild bull of Europe – the bison, whose distant ancestors roamed our continent back in the days of mammoths. Enormous strength and size did not save the bison from almost complete disappearance from the face of the Earth at the beginning of the XX century. Only the efforts and many years of painstaking work of many people allowed the bison to return back to the wild. The photo exhibition presents the best works of specialists of the Prioksko-Terrasny State Reserve, taken at different times of the year in this specially protected natural area. Some of the posters of the photo exhibition introduce the tourist potential of the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve: the high-altitude ecological trail “Through the Foliage” and the ecological park “Tree-House”. The timing of the exhibition was not chosen by chance, on April 28, the tourist season of 2024 starts in the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve! With its opening, the high-altitude ecological trail “Through the Foliage” and the ecological park “Tree-House” begin to function on the territory of the Central Estate. These environmental and educational facilities for active recreation are annually included in the top best in the Moscow region. The high-altitude ecological trail and the ecological park are open from May to November, and are visited by more than 20,000 people annually.
9. Victory Dictation 2024
On April 26, the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve joined the International Historical Action “Victory Dictation” for the first time. Students of grades 7, 9 and 11 of the Municipal Budgetary General Education “Turovskaya Secondary General Education School” volunteered to take part in the action. A large and friendly of them arrived at the Central Estate of the reserve in advance to slowly complete registration. Vasily Demidov, Deputy Director for Research at the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve, addressed the students with a welcoming speech. Being well versed in the history of the Serpukhov district, he told them about the events of the Great Patriotic War that took place in these very places: why the bridge across the Oka river is named after the “Podolsk Cadets”, where in the vicinity you can still see trenches that have been filled with water over time, and how fierce air battles took place in the sky above the territory of the future reserve and nearby settlements. Exactly according to the regulations, simultaneously with thousands of sites in the Moscow time zone and hundreds of thousands of people around the world, the “Victory Dictation” began. The students were faced with 25 questions that required deep historical knowledge and a broad outlook. The questions were created based on the memoirs of famous military leaders, knowledge of historical facts about the Great Patriotic War, and the culture of that time. “Victory Dictation” in the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve has been completed and the completed forms have been sent for verification. We wish our students high scores and to continue to be interested in history.
10. You’ve written the dictation, now you can volunteer!
On a working Saturday in April, before the long May holidays, the employees of the Department of Environmental Education and Educational Tourism were preparing for the opening of the 2024 tourist season. There were many worries and troubles. We wanted the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve to meet its guests fully armed: seasonal tourist facilities to open their doors and start working, everything was clean and tidy, and the beauty of the young greenery was not spoiled by any, even the smallest garbage. All the specialists, as one, came out for the cleanup. The amount of work was impressive. And how nice that help came to us! The guys we knew, with whom we wrote the “Victory Dictation” on April 25, students of grades 7 “B” and 8 “B” of the Municipal Budgetary General Education Institution “Turovskaya Secondary General Education School”, headed by the director’s advisor on education – Darya Viktorovna Voronina and physical education teacher Rodion Nikolaevich Zhandarov, arrived at the reserve as part of the “Day of the Good Deeds” event. The team of young volunteers with their adult mentors helped the reserve staff prepare the Central Estate, the “Tree-House” ecological park and the high-altitude ecological trail “Through the Leaves” for the opening of the summer tourist season. In gratitude for the assistance provided, specialists from the Department of Environmental Education conducted an educational excursion for the volunteers along the ecological trail “Road to the Bisons”.
