Prioksko-Terrasny State Nature Reserve announces the completion of the sixth stage of the interregional environmental education competition project “12 Wonders of the Prioksky Forest”! The theme of the last summer month was a bright beauty, which can be mistaken for a guest from the tropical forests – the Papilio machaon. As part of the contest, we asked you to draw an unusual inhabitant of protected areas. We received many works, so the jury decided to divide the works into two categories – for children and adults. The winners and participants are going to get diplomas and souvenirs. We are waiting for your creative works! Follow the news!

September 1, 2021 begins a new chapter devoted to representatives of fauna and flora characteristic of the territory of Prioksko-Terrasny State Nature Biosphere Reserve. The seventh chapter begins with the first month of autumn. We have chosen a bird, the bright color of which is not inferior to the autumn leaves. The Eurasian hoopoe (Upupa epops) is a medium-sized bird with a very distinctive appearance. The coloring of the body and head is reddish-beige. The wings and tail are black and white. This bird got his name because of its interesting song “upup-upup-upup”. It is widespread in Eurasia and Africa. In Russia they are found mainly in steppe and forest-steppe areas and in the south of the forest zone. In our reserve, the hoopoe can be seen on the edges of the forest in the protection zone and in the floodplain of the Oka River, the bird sticks to open areas. They need forests with old hollow trees to raise their nestlings, as well as open areas where hoopoes forage. We suggest you to take part in our competition and to make a handicraft with this bird.

August 26, 2021 in Prioksko-Terrasny State Reserve” was organized and conducted a personal meeting of residents of Serpukhov with the interdistrict environmental prosecutor of the Moscow region named Natalia Krinitskaya. The aim of the environmental prosecutor’s office is to monitor the compliance with environmental legislation in Moscow region, the laws aimed at protecting the environment: land, forests, water, wildlife and the environmental rights of citizens, as well as the legality of measures taken on environmental offenses by specially authorized government agencies in the field of environmental protection. During a personal reception, thirteen residents of Serpukhov and Pushchino addressed the prosecutor for help on various problems. All citizens received the necessary legal advice on environmental and other legislation. For further work, the prosecutor accepted two applications. The Interregional Environmental Prosecutor’s Office of the Moscow Region and Prioksko-Terrasny State Reserve are always on guard of the law and the protection of nature in the Moscow region.

Today, employees of Smith & Nephew LLC, a manufacturer of high-tech medical products, visited the Prioksko-Terrasniy Reserve. The company has a long tradition of volunteer work and has been coming to us for several years. The guests of the reserve shared the values of the company: “We believe that our care and preservation of the unique nature of our region is one of the most important and urgent tasks nowadays”. The volunteer movement has been gaining attention lately.  Often companies use a volunteer day as an alternative to a team-building event. Some people volunteer not only with their colleagues but also invite their family members. . It is held on the specially protected natural territory, surrounded with almost century-old forest, in the company of red-listed animals – bison, in close communion with those, who have chosen nature protection as their business. “In addition to the opportunity to help the reserve in its difficult and necessary work, we had a fantastic opportunity to get acquainted with its inhabitants and learn many curious and previously unknown facts about the diversity of nature of the southern suburbs of Moscow.

The Central Bison Nursery exists in the Prioksko-Terrasny State Nature Biosphere Reserve for over 70 years. The nursery has a modern infrastructure that is annually improved and updated. Particular attention is paid to feeding grounds and the organization of the feeding system in general, as the health and well-being of our pets depends on it. Each paddock is equipped with a feeding area, which includes a system of feed troughs for mixed fodder, hay, saltpans and artificial watering places. The foundation of these sites needs to be concrete because bison use it daily, and the weight of adult males can reach more than a ton. Precipitation, temperature changes and movements of animals lead to various negative consequences and the construction gradually crumbles. Feeders and drinkers must comply with veterinary and sanitary norms.  This requires a lot of effort and money. However, annually allocated funding is not enough. In addition, sponsors and patrons, nature lovers and connoisseurs come to the rescue. The staff and all those who care about the fate of the only reserve near Moscow expect that the planned work will be carried out on time and with the proper quality. After all, their result will not only improve the living and breeding conditions of the red-listed species in the Central European bison nursery, but also allow it to become one of the best European nurseries meeting international standards.\

“Donate waste paper – save a tree!” – an environmental campaign of the Prioksko-Terrasny State Reserve is nearing completion. For three weeks, representatives of the media and government agencies, companies and individuals took part in it. Today the political party “United Russia” has contributed to the campaign. It is designed to unite all the regions of the country and municipalities of the Moscow region in the common desire to conduct “general cleaning”. Every week within the eco-marathon, thematic events are held at different sites: waste paper collection, tree planting, eco-festivals, cleaning the banks of water bodies from garbage. The reserve has prepared an environmental education program for the participants. A round table on environmental issues and nature protection was held in the Visitors’ Center. Here, the participants of the action, employees of the department of ecological education and educational tourism presented a presentation “Formation of the Prioksko-Terrasniy Reserve”. We live in a world full of civilization achievements. But sometimes modern people forget that many technologies that make our lives comfortable are not good for the Nature. In pursuit of his needs, we actively pollute the atmosphere and rivers, and cut down forests. A utilitarian approach has led to the fact that we have developed almost all natural resources. But there are special corners of wildlife that live their own lives.  One of them is Prioksko-Terrasny reserve, the only one in Moscow region. Here Nature is the mistress, and man only helps her. Every day here is a Day of Environmental Action!

On Saturday, September 11, the specialists of the branch office “Russian forest” of  Mosoblles prepared and held an important environmental event: “Our forest. Plant your tree”. In order to restore the forest, this public action has been held in the Moscow region on the initiative of Governor Andrei Vorobyov since 2014. As you know, over the past few years, the region has been ravaged by a bark beetle epidemic, and the only possible way to deal with the consequences of this disaster is to sanitize the forest. Forest pathologists, also called “forest doctors”, very carefully examine the trees to find out the exact number of infected, because it is necessary to remove the “sick” forest as soon as possible to prevent the development of the epidemic. The cuttings of infected trees are burned. All sanitary cuttings are strictly controlled by the relevant agency – the Forestry Committee of the Moscow Region. The final stage of measures aimed at the forest health improvement is the forest planting, which takes place one or two years after felling. This time is necessary to prepare the soil. The planting itself is carried out with two-year-old seedlings.

On September 13-14, 2021 within the framework of experience exchange between specially protected natural areas of federal importance Prioksko-Terrasny State Nature Biosphere Reserve visited the head of the operational unit of the FSBI “Voronezh State Reserve” Sergey Komov. Specialists of the services of nature reserves discussed the nuances of special protection of protected areas and the peculiarities of operational work against violators, and innovations in the current environmental legislation. The meeting of state inspectors in the field of environmental protection was very productive. Prioksko-Terrasny State Reserve expresses its gratitude to the management of the Voronezh Nature Reserve and personally to Sergey Komov for organizing and participating in the joint event.

The “Environmental Campaign of the Prioksko-Terrasny State Reserve”, titled “Recycle Waste Paper – Save a Tree! – has come to its final part. During the action, individuals and legal entities, as well as participants of the All-Russian Ecological Marathon “Days of Green Actions”, brought us a lot of waste paper. We collected so much waste paper that when it was time to go to the collection point we needed a truck! After a lot of weighing and counting, it turned out that we had almost a ton of the paper! There are calculations: 100 kilograms of waste paper saves one tree. Then, our campaign has already saved 10 trees from being cut down! It may not be enough, but our campaign is not over yet, and similar events are taking place all over Russia and, as a result, tree by tree, we will save the whole forest!

Prioksko-Terrasny State Reserve became a participant of the environmental education project of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia and the Moscow Metro aimed at popularizing eco-tourism in specially protected natural areas. As part of it, “Troika” transport cards with photos taken in nature reserves and national parks of the Russian Federation are issued. On the front side of each thematic “Troika” is a QR-code leading to the website of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia, where ecotourism opportunities of reserves and national parks of Russia are presented.

Today we begin a series of publications devoted to the guides of the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve. The profession of guide in our country, appeared in the 1980s. Considering that the reserve was organized in the post-war period, it becomes curious when and by whom the first excursion was conducted, who was the first to try on this difficult profession, how did those excursions differ from the current ones, and how has the visitor changed over time? From the stories of employees whose experience in the Reserve goes back dozens of years, we found that the first people for whom guided tours were held were: Soviet scientists, zoologists, biologists of various fields, young naturalists, zoo workers.  They often visited the reserve at the beginning of the 50s to study and master the best scientific experience in the field of nature protection. The excursions then were mostly of a scientific character and were free of charge. The first guide was an outstanding scientist Mikhail Aleksandrovich Zabolotsky, a man whose name was given to the Prioksko-Terrasny State Natural Biosphere Reserve in 2015. Gradually, due to the popularization of the reserve, organized groups of sightseers began to come here. Lydia Vasilievna Zablotskaya, Deputy Director for Scientific Work, took charge of the development of excursion activities.  Under her leadership, the department, consisting of 10 scientific workers and the same number of laboratory assistants, began to play the role of guides.  And the scientific content began to be supplemented with ecological-educational information. The first excursion route to the bison began at the western gate of the Central Bison Nursery, where cordon no. 10 is located today.  Here, visitors arrived by bus. They walked less than 1 km, watching the life of the bison and bison kept in the pens. The scientific work at the Reserve was not limited only to the study and breeding of the bison in the nursery conditions. Work on creating a nature exposition was carried out there.  Its basis was formed by natural objects representing the entire diversity of the Reserve’s fauna. In the 1950s, a talented taxidermist, Vladimir Flegontovich Arseniev, laid the foundation for a scientific collection of stuffed animals.  Some time later, his work was continued by Sergey Dmitrievich Kuligin. On the basis of their workshop, the Museum of Nature was created, which became the second object of the show a decade later. In the 1960s and 1970s, the nursery became a very popular ecological route in the Moscow region, due to which the number of visitors increased from several hundred in the fifties, to several thousand in the early seventies. At the same time a fee of 20 kopecks was charged for the excursions. In order for the guides to have reliable and scientific information about the nursery activities, L.V. Zablotskaya organized special courses.  Research workers delivered lectures and told about the activities of the Reserve and the Central European Bison Nursery and the news of conservation work in Russia. In 1971, guides were added to the staff of the Reserve. The excursion desk was located in the structure of the library and was placed in the former administrative building. Excursion bureau staff consisted of 3 persons. The senior guide was the head of the library Lydia Ivanovna Yukhno. Excursions took place several times a day, but later they were daily. The Reserve played an important role in receiving guests of the Summer Olympics in 1980. We became one of the most important points of interest. A string of buses with foreigners headed here for excursions. In those years, the reserve had its own exposition at VDNKh. Here, in the demonstration enclosure, a pair of bison from the Central European bison nursery lived for a year. In 2004, the Department of ecological education appeared in the structure of the reserve. Its head was Tatiana Demina. The department staff included 4 guides who performed different tasks: liaising with the local population, work with the media, schoolchildren and teachers, development and carrying out of ecological festivals and events.  It was during this period that the first computer appeared in the reserve. Today there are 26 guides working in the reserve! These are not only current employees of FGBU, but also specially trained and passed a serious exam freelance workers, combining their main activity with the conduct of excursions.

Prioksko-Terrasny State Reserve announces the completion of the seventh stage of the interregional environmental outreach competition project “12 Wonders of the Prioksky Forest”! The theme of the first autumn month was bright as autumn leaves hoopoe bird. As part of the contest we offered you to make a handicraft. The works, which came to the reserve, the jury divided into two categories – for children and adults. Commission of the staff of the scientific department and the department of environmental education and educational tourism Prioksko-Terrasny State Reserve is pleased to announce the winners!