The last day of June – June 30, 2017 – became a day of a serious trial for the capital and the whole Moscow region.

2017 will, apparently, be remembered as year of weather records. On June 30 the light of a bright summer day was dimmed by storm clouds. Some of the districts had their share of rain, strong wind and heavy hale. Prioksko-Terrasny Zapovednik was among them. The storm left the central part of the nature reserve nearly untouched, which is not the case of the outskirts of it.

The wind brought down trees in lines of dozens of meters, young trees and shrubs were severely damaged and some of the rooted out trees looked like an exquisite tangle of branches. Even the whirl, which broke 16 trees near the Main Wisent Breeding Center in minutes two years ago, cannot be compared to weather on June 30, 2017.

Our arboriculturists are surprised to see, that many dead trees still stand, while some living ones have fallen down. One of the biggest losses for us was one of the three mighty pines, which were very popular with our guests. People liked to take pictures of them and even called them The Three Sisters. Their photo was used in the Four Seasons photo competition. The storm brought down on of them and broke the top of another.

The damage caused by the storm has not been estimated yet. Our employees and volunteers managed to clear out a bit the breeding center and the territory of the Central Estate. We still have a lot of work to restore the broken fencing.

We hope a lot, that this summer will finally stop surprising us with these convulsions of nature and that we will a chance to enjoy calm warm days. We also hope for the help of our friends – the volunteers –, as it will be welcome like never before.

Sergey Maslov, Environmental Education and Educational Tourism Department Specialist

Photos by O.Kalinina