Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve took part in the First All-Russian Ornithological Congress held in Tver, as well as in the international meeting dedicated to World Wetland Day.

In Russia since 1956, All-Union ornithological conferences were held. Ornithologists from all the republics of the USSR, as well as the socialist countries, gathered every four years for these grandiose ornithological scientific forums.
The All-Russian forum of scientists-ornithologists was held from January 29 to February 4, 2018. Experts from all over the country-scientists from reserves and national parks, research centers, institutes of the Academy of Sciences, various international and public organizations, came to the Congress. The congress was attended by about 400 ornithologists from Russia and representatives from 12 foreign countries, including Turkmenistan, Belarus, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and others.

At the plenary and breakout sessions, round tables, the congress participants listened to reports on the most topical areas of ornithology, hotly discussed the most important issues of research and bird conservation. The main directions of the reports are questions of the development of Russian ornithology, the solution of practical questions of protection and study of Russian birds and the integration of Russian ornithology into international programs.

Deputy Director for Research of the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve Yuri Buyvolov took part in this forum. He says that in comparison with past conferences, there were many reports at the Congress devoted to work in reserves and national parks.
Yuri Buyvolov: In comparison with past conferences, there were many reports at the Congress devoted to work in reserves and national parks. There were much more ornithologists from reserves and national parks than at past conferences. In addition to Prioksko-Terrasnoy, the reserves included Altai, Baikal, Barguzinsky, Vishersky, Kivach, Komandorsky, Kronotsky, Wrangel Island, Pasvik, Polistovsky, Yuganskiy, national parks “Smolenskoye Poozerie”, “Russian Arctic”, “Onega Pomorye” and others. This is evidence of the development of scientific research in the reserves, as well as the desire of ornithologists working in the reserves, to integrate the “reserved” science into the general scientific community.

A number of important meetings took place in the framework of the Congress. Yuri Buyvolov took part in the international meeting “Development of a network of water-marsh ecological and educational centers in Russia”, timed to the World Day of Wetlands. The organizers of the meeting were WLI-Russia (the Russian part of the global network of International WLI – ecological education centers on wetlands), the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia, the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Tver region, the non-commercial partnership for the development of bird studies “Birds and People”, the Environmental Information Center of the Library A.M. Gorky, the Environmental Center of Tver State University, the ecological site of the All-Russian Civil Forum.
The main objectives of the meeting were to present the current activities of the participants, the prospects for the development of environmental education centers in WLI-Russia, the discussion of projects for 2018 and the attraction of new partners to the network.

Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Tver region Andrey Naumov welcomed the participants of the meeting. He said that the conservation of wetlands is important for the Tver region. This knowledge will help to save a favorable environment for future generations. The meeting was also addressed by Ilya Prokhorov, Deputy Director of the Information and Analytical Center for Support of the Reserve Business, Andrey Zinoviev, Head of the Department of Biology of Tver State University.
Yury Buyvolov shared with the participants of the meeting the plans of the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve on the creation of a new ecological educational trail on the site of partial economic use near Danky. The uniqueness of this path is that three main species of marshes can be seen and studied at the same time for 3 km – lowland, transitional and upland.
Experts from Belarus shared their experience, as well as colleagues from Russian national reserves and national parks: the Central Forest and Baikal Biosphere Reserves, the national parks “Smolenskoye Lake”, “Valdai”, “Meshchera”, “Onega Pomorye”.

The participants of the meeting expressed hope that the exchange of experience and coordination of activities of different participants of the program will continue. Not only guests of our reserves and national parks, but also representatives of the regional authorities will receive new knowledge about wetlands, the idea of preserving these unique biotopes will become more and more understandable and interesting.

Yuri Buivolov was a convener at the round table “Scientific Research and Monitoring in Specially Protected Natural Territories”. The round table was held in lively discussions and exchange of ideas. The scientific issues of processing long-term series of observations were discussed in detail. Practical questions were discussed: how to preserve these data in modern financial conditions and make them accessible to a wide range of researchers.

The First All-Russian Ornithological Congress has become an important scientific event.