Guests from South America
On June 2, 2025, Rocines Chavez Rodriguez, President of the Institute of National Parks of Venezuela, paid an official visit to the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve. The delegation was accompanied by Irina Makanova, Director of the Department of State Policy and Regulation in the Field of Protected Areas Development at the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation. In the only reserve in Moscow region, the guests were greeted by Svetlana Rodionova, director of the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve, who introduced the main attraction — the Bison Breeding Centre. Here colleagues from Venezuela learned about Russia’s success in restoring the population of the bison, a species that was recently on the verge of extinction, and even gave a name to the newborn baby bison according to tradition (with the syllable “Mu”) — Muchaves. Next Rocines Chavez Rodriguez got acquainted with the popular tourist sites of the reserve: the high-altitude trail “Through the Foliage” and the ecological park “Treehouse”. These projects clearly demonstrate the possibilities of combining environmental education with respect for nature. The visit ended with a visit to the agricultural complex “Khutor Spassky”, a project for the development of rural ecotourism, implemented with the support of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia and the Ministry of Agriculture of Moscow region. The guests were able to see how traditional farming harmoniously combines with modern environmental practices. The visit took place within the framework of strengthening international cooperation in the field of nature conservation and exchange of experience in the field of ecotourism.
Young people of the “Movement of the First” in the reserve
The Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve summarizes the results of the ecological and educational project implemented within six weeks jointly with the young scientists of the “Movement of the First”. Since April 21 and every Monday, notes with stories about spring changes in the nature of the Prioksky forest have been published on social networks and on the website. The young people of the “Movement of the First”, as well as everyone interested, were invited to be inspired by the publications, draw information from them, and then go out to the park or forest and record their observations. This is how a number of publications appeared on the VKontakte social network under the hashtags: #юннатыЗаповедника #юннатыПервых. The spring observation project has been completed, and it’s time to sum up! The most active observers were students of the Kurilovo Gymnasium (Serpukhov) — Fedor and Ilya Shatornye, as well as Ivan Presnyakov, a student of Secondary School №85 named after Hero of Russia Filipov R.N. (Voronezh). Congratulations to the winners and we remind you that for your active lifestyle and love to nature, you receive a prize from the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve — an invitation to an excursion along the ecological trail “The Road to the Bison” accompanied by two adults for each child.
The alphabet at primary school-kindergarten “Aistyonok”
On June 3 the senior group of primary school-kindergarten “Aistyonok” got acquainted with the new game program “Zapovednaya Azbuka”, developed by the specialists of the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve. The children already had a good understanding of the number of letters in the Russian alphabet, and some even knew how to read, but repeating the letters and learning the names of plants and animals proved to be very useful for them. After seeing the videos taken from camera traps on the screen and listening to the comments of the specialists of the Department of Environmental Education of the reserve, the children revived. They immediately shared with the organizers their knowledge about the animal world, as well as told about the cases that had happened to them, their relatives and friends. Then everyone solved riddles about nature, and at the end of the lesson they painted plaster figures of bison, symbols of the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve. The event turned out to be not only informative, but also very exciting, leaving the children with a lot of vivid impressions! Holidays should be celebrated festively, and ecological holidays should also be eco-friendly! That’s what we did.
School “Absolut” in the reserve
On June 5, Ecologist’s Day, the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve hosted students of inclusive School “Absolut”. More than 100 children, accompanied by teachers, arrived at the Central Estate to have a good time. An adapted tour along the ecological trail “The Road to the Bison” was conducted for the children. Pupils of grades 1, 2 and 3 took part in the lesson ” Zapovednaya Azbuka ” (a new project is being implemented at the expense of the Green Mission Foundation). The elder children from grades 4-9 visited the ecological park “Treehouse” and completed a quest in the treetops. In addition, everyone, without exception, visited the Bison Breeding Centre and heard the story of the rescue of the bison. A long walk in the fresh air, a lot of new information and a fun game program tired our guests a little. You can be sure that everyone will have a good night’s sleep and, perhaps, someone will dream of huge furry bison.
Exhibition on spades
The reserve is preparing to celebrate its anniversary! An original exhibition and installation by artist and writer Ekaterina Popova-Gamayun “100 portraits. Creators on spades.” The project is dedicated to great people from different eras. The uniqueness of the exhibition is that all the portraits are painted on old spades. Here you can see the images of A.P. Chekhov, L.N. Tolstoy, A.I. Kuprin, I.E. Repin, D.I. Mendeleev, P.I. Tchaikovsky, I.S. Turgenev, P.P. Bazhov, Agatha Christie, Johann Goethe, Claude Monet, Walter Scott, Antoni Gaudi, Franz Kafka, Frida Kahlo, Tonino Guerra, Rudyard Kipling, Edvard Munch, Queen Maria of Romania, A.T. Bolotov, G.A. Demidov and others. The unusual portraits are placed on a carefully selected background and photographed in Moscow most beautiful gardens by photographer Mikhail Bogachev.
“A spade is a basic tool for creation. A lot of artists, writers, directors, composers and even rulers were fond of gardening and created amazing landscape worlds, many of which still delight and inspire,” says Ekaterina Popova-Gamayun. The exhibition consists of 23 canvases. We are interested: is there a “favourite”? “Every person represented on the project is a bottomless resource that gives inspiration and strength to live, create, and do creative things. Pavel Petrovich Bazhov is the most relevant today, because I am going to Yekaterinburg in the near future and I really hope that this year we will be able to restore his garden. Bazhov was a fan of digging. He said, “I dig in the morning, I dig in the afternoon, I dig in the evening, and in general I really like to dig, because brain activity is much better carried out when a person is engaged in physical labor.” At the same time, he was very fond of Horseradish, a popular garden crop of the Urals and Russia. Horseradish is an aggressive, very strong plant necessary for a northern person, so Bazhov recommended planting it in vegetable gardens and orchards. And, as it seems to me, there are parallels between his fairy tales, which are ingrained in the minds of the Urals, entrenched like horseradish — there is nothing to “pull them out”,” Ekaterina continues. Being interested in Ekaterina’s train of thought, we couldn’t resist asking her about at least one more “creator on a spade.” Ekaterina chose Turgenev: “I think he is one of the most underrated writers in Russia. Everyone knows several of his works: “Nov”, “Fathers and Children”, “Bezhin Meadow”, but his later works are less well known. And if you read Turgenev’s diaries, they contain a completely unique sense of nature that you will not find in any other writer. He felt her so subtly! I call it “satori” — when he felt the whole nature, the whole world in one sound: the croaking of a frog, the squeak of a mosquito, the sound of the wind — everything merged into a single music for him. He knew about 10 languages, played chess, owned several musical instruments and was an incredible personality. For him, trees were a whole discovery, a whole world. He gave them names, found a mate for them, and communicated with them. He considered Gogol to be a lonely tree, “a tree within itself,” and said that Gogol was like a tree: he would gather a large forest around him, years would pass, and everyone would understand the power of this “tree.”
Graduation in the reserve
On Monday, June 9, students of Buzovkin Art School visited the reserve with the final plein-air in this academic year. The event was held at the reserve cordon, the road to which runs through the territory of the reserve. The participants of the event got acquainted with nature and listened to an interesting story by Marina Muzychenko, a specialist in the Department of Environmental Education. The theme of the plein-air was landscapes of the reserve. In addition to the creative process, the young artists took part in the All-Russian Nature Reserve dictation dedicated to Ecologist’s Day. We look forward to meeting our creative friends in the new academic year.
The Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve is 80 years old
The reserve is the same age as the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. Plans to create a specially protected natural area on the forested terraces of the left bank of the Oka River were actively hatched in the second half of the 1930s, but the Great Patriotic War prevented them from coming to life. The order on the creation of the Moscow State Nature Reserve, which included the Prioksko-Terrasny site, was signed on June 19, 1945. From that day, a story of eight decades began, full of successes, occasional failures, and constant, tireless work. In a small piece of untouched nature in the most densely populated region of our country, many species of animals and plants have found their home, some of which are on the verge of complete extinction due to human activity. The reserve preserves the reference wildlife of the southern Moscow region, conducts long-term scientific research and develops environmental education and tourism. The bison has become one of the most recognizable symbols of the reserve. Since 1948, a program has been successfully implemented here to restore the population of this last wild bull in Europe. The reserve has been a center of attraction for people from various fields of activity. Famous wildlife photographers, artists, environmental activists, volunteers and nature lovers come here. The reserve has repeatedly become a filming location for popular science and feature films and broadcasts. Congratulations to the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve on its 80th anniversary! May future generations receive this wild area so untouched and unique.
The best ecological trail in Moscow region
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation has published a Register of ecological trails and tourist routes in specially protected natural areas of federal importance. In total, the register includes 344 routes, of which only seven are located in Moscow region. The ecological trail “The Road to the bison” in the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve is included in this list. The remaining six routes are represented in the Losiny Ostrov National Park: water kayaking routes (up to 3 and 10 km), a water rafting route, hiking routes “Protected Forest”, “Deer Trail”, “Ornithological pontoon trail”. We are proud that the excursion to the Bison Breeding Centre “The Road to the Bison” was worthily included in this list and invite everyone to visit it. Only here in Moscow region you can see bison (bison bonasus) and their closest relatives, bison (bison bison).
