Russian Traveler Awards-2025

The winners of the national award Russian Traveler Awards-2025 in the nomination “Natural object” have been announced. On November 1, the open online voting ended, according to the results of which the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve entered the top five. The results of the popular vote demonstrated a variety of tourist preferences, from specially protected natural areas to unique landscapes and famous resorts.

The first place was taken by Smolenskoye Poozerye National Park (Smolensk region), which received 20% of the votes;

• Second place – cultural landscape “Reserved Kenozerye” (Arkhangelsk region) – 18%;
• Third place – Mount Manaraga (Komi republic) – 13%;
• The honorable fourth place was shared by the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve (Moscow region) and the Krasnoe Ozero ski resort (Leningrad region), showing the same result in 10% of those who voted.

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to everyone who voted for the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve, the development of ecological tourism and the preservation of the unique nature of the southern Moscow region. For several years now, the Russian Traveler Awards has been recognized as one of the most prestigious awards in the Russian tourism industry. The special feature of the award is the combination of an open popular vote and professional expert assessment, which makes it possible to identify popular and promising destinations for domestic tourism. For all finalists and winners, the award will be an important impulse for the development of tourist infrastructure and increase the recognition of territories.

An advertising tour

An advertising tour for tour operators took place in the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve. On November 9, the Reserve conducted an information and promotional tour for representatives of travel companies in Moscow and Moscow Region. The event was organized to present the unique tourism potential of one of the pearls of the region. During the tour, the participants were able to personally evaluate the key objects of the exhibition and the infrastructure of the reserve. The program included a sightseeing tour of the Bison Breeding Centre, where the guests saw majestic bison, rare red Book animals, a symbol of the reserve. The tour operators also visited the Nature Museum, got acquainted with seasonal tourist services and got an idea of the variety of master classes and environmental education events available to visitors. The promotional tour made it possible to establish direct contacts with representatives of the tourism industry and demonstrated the reserve’s readiness to receive organized tourist groups.

The 2025 fire season is over

The 2025 fire season has officially ended in Moscow Region since November 14. The decision was made due to a decrease in average daily temperatures and the establishment of stable rainy weather. This year, the fire season in the region was set by the Forestry Committee of Moscow Region from March 20 to November 14. The past fire period has become difficult for the reserve. Three times, at the borders of its protected area, there was a real threat of fire spreading to the forest area of the reserve’s core. In all cases, the threat was successfully eliminated thanks to the coordinated work of inspectors in the field of environmental protection of the reserve. On May 25, a large fire broke out in the protected area of the reserve, near the outlet of the power line into the floodplain of the Oka River. Having found heavy smoke, the fire extinguishing unit of the reserve went to the place. The inspectors came to the aid of the staff of the forestry “Russian Forest”. By joint efforts, the fire was localized, but it was possible to completely eliminate the fire only by the evening of the next day. On July 10, a dry grass fire was recorded near the village Respublika. The fire was detected in a timely manner, and its spread was stopped within a few hours. The cause of all the described fires was the irresponsible handling of fire, which each time significant forces and resources are involved in extinguishing. The fire season is over, but in winter a whole range of measures is always carried out to prepare for the coming year – repair of forest fire equipment, its maintenance and conservation until the next season, training of inspection staff. Scheduled interdepartmental studies on the organization of interaction between structural divisions of various departments will begin again in March 2026. The Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve reminds of the need to comply with fire safety rules in forests at any time of the year.

The Bison Breeding Centre is 77 years old

Dear friends, colleagues and everyone who loves nature! The 21st of November  is a special date in the history of the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve. It was on this day in 1948 that the Bison Breeding Centre was organized, which became the cradle for the restoration of an endangered species, the European bison. Over 77 years of work, we can proudly summarize the impressive results:

• About 800 cubs were born in the Bison Breeding Centre.
• More than 500 animals were sent to create new populations in 30 free habitats and 33 breeding sites throughout Russia and abroad.

Thanks to our graduates, bison today live in the national parks “Orlovskoye Polesie”, “Ugra”, “Smolenskoye Poozerye”, the reserves “Bryansk Forest”, “Zapovednaya Mordovia” and many others. Our centre is not just a territory. This is a carefully thought-out complex where bison are kept in conditions close to natural, on an area of 200 hectares of forest. Highly qualified specialists take care of them here, providing balanced nutrition and veterinary care, as well as conducting serious scientific work on the formation of family groups in order to avoid closely related interbreeding. We are not standing still! Future plans include upgrading the infrastructure and exchanging animals with other centres to maintain healthy population genetics. On this festive day, we would like to thank everyone who supported and supports our work! Thanks to the staff, volunteers and visitors who believe in our common cause. Happy birthday, centre!

Connection with creativity

Pupils of the Buzovkin Children’s Art School visited the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve on another visit. This trip is part of a long-term creative collaboration and the third season of the annual plein airs. The pupils worked in the field, making sketches of autumn landscapes, and then honed their skills at the Museum of Nature, where unique exhibits acted as “nature”. The highlight of the day was an excursion to the Bison Breeding Centre. Majestic bison did not leave young artists indifferent and became the heroes of many quick sketches. The frozen artists could not break away from their work for a long time, and only the appearance of hot tea forced them to hide their notebooks and canvases. We always follow the work of our young friends with interest. Right now, the second festival “Objective Perspective” has started at school, where the works of both artists and photographers are on display. The exhibition brought together a wide variety of authors who are inspired by the legacy of the masters of the early 20th century. A special place is given to two iconic figures for Serpukhov: photographer Nikolai Andreev and artist Alexander Buzovkin, who once formed the local artistic environment. The main idea of the festival is to rediscover the similarities between painting, graphics and photography. Here you can see how the authors reveal the themes of “Portrait”, “Still Life” and “Landscape” in different ways, mixing artistic and photographic techniques. “Objective perspective” is a bridge between tradition and modernity, which helps to transfer creative experience from generation to generation. And the specialists of the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve are especially pleased to see works inspired by the protected nature, and to recognize landscapes and forest inhabitants.

Wildlife monitoring

Last week in Moscow, in the building of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a large-scale All-Russian scientific and practical conference “Monitoring wildlife in specially protected natural areas” was held, bringing together many prominent zoologists from Russian nature reserves and research institutes. The conference was opened by Vyacheslav Rozhnov, President of the Theriological Society, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the meetings were led by Vsevolod Stepanitsky, Co-chairman of “Expert Council on Conservation”. Vasily Demidov, Deputy Director for Scientific Work at the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve, Anna Rodnikova, a researcher at the theriologist, and Sergey Albov and Lyudmila Khlyap, veterans of scientific work at the reserve, took part in the conference. The objective of the conference was to develop common approaches to the organization and methodology of wildlife monitoring in protected areas. There were many reports on new monitoring methods for both familiar species – moose, wild boar, beaver, songbirds and predatory birds, as well as exotic ones such as polar bear, tiger, leopard, bighorn sheep, muskrat (yes, muskrat is already becoming an exotic species due to a sharp decline in numbers). But the greatest interest and lively discussions were aroused by three reports on the need to reconsider traditional invasive methods involving the death of animals (this mainly concerns the collection of insects, soil and aquatic invertebrates and the capture of mouse-like rodents), and completely abandon them in nature reserves. As a result of the discussion, it became clear that the proponents of prohibition and regulation are Rosprirodnadzor and a number of representatives of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the majority of scientific departments of nature reserves are supporters of maintaining long-term observation series with established methods. What do you think, are methods of monitoring wildlife in protected areas acceptable, which lead to the death of captured insects, soil and aquatic invertebrates and mouse-like rodents?