Vitim Nature Reserve was established on May 20, 1982. The
territory of the reserve is located in the Sayano-Baikal mountain
region, 240 km above the city of Bodaibo along the Vitim river. Area
- 585 838 hectares. The river network of the reserve belongs to the
basin of the Arctic Ocean. There are a large number of lakes on the
territory of the reserve: Lake Oron is of special scientific and
cultural value.
Northern Transbaikalia, the border of the
Patom and Stanovoy uplands. The highest ridges bordering the
Stanovoye Upland from the north are the Severo-Muisky and Kodarsky,
with elevations up to 3072 meters above sea level. Here, on the
right bank of Vitim, in the area of Lake Oron, on May 20, 1982, the
Vitim Reserve was organized.
The area of the reserve is
585,838 hectares. It is located in the southeast of the Bodaibo
district of the Irkutsk region, where it borders on the Republic of
Buryatia and the Trans-Baikal Territory. Remote from transport
routes, protected by high mountain ranges from the south and
difficult-to-pass Vitim rapids, this site has been preserved in a
relatively original form during the period of rapid industrial
development of the region.
and represents today the standard of
nature of Northern Transbaikalia.
Specially protected natural
objects of the reserve are Lake Oron, Kodar glacial region, bighorn
sheep, black-capped marmot, Barguzin sable.
The position of the reserve within the temperate zone, the great distance from the oceans and the mountainous relief determine the main feature of the climate - the sharp continental and altitudinal zoning of climatic conditions. The absolute minimum temperature reaches -60 ° C. Winter begins in early October and lasts about 7 months. In general, the duration of the warm period (t ° above 0 ° C) is about 145 days per year.
About 12% of the reserve is under forest. 1085 plant species and 9
lichen species have been identified.
Vascular plants included
in the Red Book of the Russian Federation: Rhodiola rosea, Naiad
flexible, Calypso bulbous, Baikal borodinia (Tiling borodinia).
More than 220 species of birds were recorded in the reserve,
fish - 23, amphibians - 3, reptiles - 1, mammals - 35. Bighorn sheep
are represented by an isolated population. Reindeer, musk deer, and
elk are common among artiodactyls in the reserve. One of the most
common animals of the reserve is the chipmunk.
At the origins of the creation of the Vitimsky Reserve is the
professor of the Irkutsk Agricultural Institute V.N. Skalon, a
well-known Russian scientist - hunter, founder of the Siberian school of
hunting. In 1949, Vasily Nikolaevich Skalon proposed organizing a large
nature reserve with an area of about 3 million hectares on the territory
of the Bodaibo district of the Irkutsk region and the Kalar district of
the Chita region, including the largest lakes of Northern Transbaikalia:
Nichatka and Oron. Vasily Nikolaevich named the natural objects that
needed to be preserved in the first place: the bighorn sheep and the
black-capped marmot, as well as the entire natural complex of high
mountains with intermountain basins of the Stanovoy Upland ranges
located there.
"... This area is the most typical landscape of
the country (meaning the Vitimo-Olyokma Highlands). Vast areas of tundra
and dwarf pine, taiga, reaching far into the mountains along numerous
rivers, magnificent mountain lakes are of great and versatile interest,
as well as a full range of species local fauna. But for a long time, for
a number of reasons, his proposal was not implemented.
In 1974,
in connection with the start of construction of the Baikal-Amur Mainline
and long-term plans for the development of territories adjacent to the
mainline, there was an urgent need to preserve valuable species of flora
and fauna in the region. The Irkutsk regional executive committee turned
to the government of the RSFSR with a request to organize the Vitim
State Reserve. In 1975, the Government of the RSFSR instructed the Main
Directorate of Hunting and Nature Reserves under the Council of
Ministers of the RSFSR to prepare a project for the organization of the
reserve. A survey of the territory planned for the reserve was carried
out.
On March 24, 1976, the Central Design and Survey Expedition
at an interdepartmental meeting at the Irkutsk Regional Executive
Committee, in which famous scientists F.R. Shtilmark (scientific
supervisor of the Vitim Design and Survey Party), zoologists B.G.
Vodopyanov and S.K. Ustinov, botanists L.I. Malyshev and A.S.
Shcherbatyuk, presented the results of a survey of the territory of the
future reserve. The meeting agreed that "... the construction of BAM has
increased several times the risk of losing this priceless site of unique
nature for science and culture. Being in the area of an industrial
construction site, it will attract a stream of people and may lose not
only its original beauty, but also valuable species of flora and fauna.
The territory surveyed and planned for the reserve fully meets the
requirements of the reference." Only 6 years later, by the Decree of the
Council of Ministers of the RSFSR No. 298 of May 20, 1982, the Vitimsky
State Reserve was created in order to preserve the reference section of
the mountain landscapes of the northern taiga of Transbaikalia. Belyanin
Vladimir Nikolaevich, a zoologist by education, a graduate of Saratov
State University, who had experience in the Zhiguli and Bashkir
reserves, was appointed the first director of the reserve.
Prior
to the formation of the reserve, scientific research was carried out
mainly on Lake Oron. In 1948, an expedition of the Institute of Biology
of the Irkutsk State University under the leadership of A.A. Tomilova,
in 1974 studied the fish of the rivers and lakes of the basin of the
river. Vitim Yu.I. Kalashnikov (Limnological Institute). But until 1982,
no one had ever conducted stationary research here. Vegetation, fauna,
soils, climate were practically not studied. Scientific research on the
territory of the reserve has been carried out since 1983. He created the
first scientific department and organized scientific research on a vast
territory Vladimir Alexandrovich Sigarev, Deputy Director for Research.
Every year in the summer, scientists and students from Saratov and
Irkutsk came to the reserve for field work. Belyanina I.S. became the
first researchers of the reserve. - ornithologist, Chechetkin E.V. -
botanist. The first volume of the Chronicle of Nature was released in
1983, which is a rarity for new reserves. In the first years of the
study of flora and fauna on the territory of the reserve, Doctor of
Biological Sciences was carried out. Professor Bryologist Leonid
Vladimirovich Bardunov (Siberian Institute of Plant Physiology and
Biochemistry SB RAS, Irkutsk), Ph.D. ornithologist Yu.N. Durnev (Irkutsk
State University), Candidate of Biological Sciences, Associate Professor
of Saratov State University A.N. Belyanin.
A great contribution
to the formation of the reserve was made by employees: chief accountant
Kochkina O.S., accountant Gangan T.A., personnel department inspector
Bakhareva L.G., warehouse manager Nepyanova V.M., chief forester Vikhrov
A.D., forester Oronsky Valery Markelov, forester of the Amalyk district
forestry Chelukhin V.I., assistant forester Sazhin I.N., forester of the
Uryakhsky district forestry Nikitin V.O., captain Artamonov V.A. and
others. Thanks to their work in difficult conditions, the technical and
scientific base of the reserve was created. In the first 8 years of the
reserve's operation, the department of protection, in general, equipped
cordons, created a network of winter quarters and trails for carrying
out accounting work.
In 2000, a new department was formed -
environmental education, the main task of which is to educate
environmentally literate people, to provide the ideas of conservation
work with the support of the population. The department was headed by
Shalavina Nina Dmitrievna. From 1999 to the present, the director of the
reserve is L.G. Chechetkin. Larisa Grigoryevna has been working in the
reserve since 1984. She began her career as a laboratory assistant,
since 1988 she worked as a senior researcher, deputy director for
scientific work. On September 28, 1999, she was appointed director.
The position of the reserve in the middle part of the temperate zone,
the mountainous terrain and the great distance from the oceans determine
the main features of the local climate. The amount of solar heat is
moderate, the climate is sharply continental. Due to the mountainous
relief, the altitudinal zonality of climatic conditions is manifested.
The territory of the reserve during the year receives direct solar
radiation of about 60 kcal per cm2 of the horizontal surface. The
screening effect of clouds on average for the year is about 50% (in
winter - about 60%, in summer - about 40%). The average annual
temperature ranges from -5 to -7°C in the Vitim valley, to -12°C in the
highlands. The annual amount of precipitation is 400 mm in the
intermountain basins and 1200 mm in Kodar. Winter in the reserve comes
in mid-October. Its average duration is 7 months, at an altitude of 1500
m - about 8, and on Kodar, at an altitude of 3000 m - up to 10 months.
The winter regime of atmospheric processes is formed under the influence
of the high-pressure area formed in autumn - the Siberian anticyclone,
which reaches its maximum development in January - February. Its
destruction in winter is rare. Frosts are strong, the absolute minimum
reaches -60°C. The coldest month is January. Its average monthly
temperature is usually below -30°C. The number of days with frosts below
-30°С per season is 80-90°С, and below - 40 - 30-45°С. In the conditions
of the anticyclone regime, calm and very weak winds prevail in the
winter months. Cloudless weather persists.
In the Vitim valley,
about 20-25% of the annual precipitation falls during the winter, in
Kodar - up to 40%, or in absolute terms - 400-500 mm. The Kodar passes
are covered with snow already in the second half of September, and in
3-4 weeks the snow cover is established throughout the reserve. In the
valleys and in the lower part of the mountains, snow remains until the
end of April - mid-May, and in the highlands - until the end of June.
The height of the snow cover is from 40-80 cm in the Vitim valley to 2
meters or more in the highlands. Spring comes to the reserve in early
May and lasts about a month. At this time, the largest daily
fluctuations in air temperature are observed in the year. Severe frosts
often occur. There is little precipitation, less than 10% of the annual
norm. Summer - a period with average daily temperatures above 10 ° C -
in wide valleys begins in early June and lasts about 80 days. With the
ascent to the mountains, the duration of the summer period decreases,
and at an altitude of 2500-3000 meters the average daily temperature
does not exceed 10°C, i.e. summer is almost non-existent. The average
temperature in July is 16-18°C, during the day it often rises to 30°C
and above; the absolute maximum is 38°C. Frosts can occur in any of the
summer months. The exception is the vicinity of Lake Oron, where, under
the influence of the softening action of the lake, the frost-free period
lasts from late May - early June to early September. During the summer,
cloudiness increases and most of the precipitation falls, especially in
the second half of the season. Their total number in summer is 55-60% of
the annual amount.
Autumn comes quickly, frosts begin at
relatively high daily temperatures. In the valleys of Vitim, its arrival
is celebrated in the last days of August, and in the highlands - two
weeks earlier. The duration of autumn is 1-1.5 months. A characteristic
feature of this period is the strengthening of the high pressure area.
Daytime temperatures are positive throughout the autumn, nighttime
temperatures become negative at the end of the season. Wind speed is
low, clouds are still high. The amount of precipitation decreases,
amounting to about 10% of the annual amount. In general, during the
year, the duration of the warm period is about 145 days in the Vitim
valley, at an altitude of 1500 m - no more than 130, and above 2500 m -
less than 70 days.
The soils of the reserve are formed on acidic crystalline and
metamorphic rocks, and in the southwestern part - on carbonate-free
sandstones. In the uppermost part of the highlands, where harsh climatic
conditions suppress microbiological processes, physical weathering
predominates. Stony placers and screes, with a weak influence of the
vegetation cover, give rise to primitive mountain-tundra bald-soddy
soils. Their characteristic feature is the predominance of coarse stony
material on the surface, in the intervals of which fine earth
accumulates. These soils are associated with alpine landforms and flat
tops of watersheds, where chars have huge fields of stony placers.
In areas occupied by dry lichen and shrub tundra, well-formed
mountain-tundra bald-soddy soils develop. Due to the gravelly substrate,
the insignificant thickness of fine earth, low moisture content and poor
vegetation cover, they do not contain peaty horizons, but have a clearly
defined humus layer. In the subalpine belt, permafrost-taiga soils
appear, characterized by a strong ferruginization of the surface
horizon, an abundance of rubble, thinness, and the absence of obvious
signs of podzolization. They arise under the communities of Siberian
dwarf pine, dwarf birch, shrub and lichen tundra. In the forest belt,
the most widespread are mountainous taiga-permafrost ferruginous soils.
Much less area is occupied by permafrost-soddy-podzolic soils.
The vegetation of the reserve has a belt character. The belts change
as you climb the mountains as follows: mountain-taiga (forest),
subalpine (subalpine), alpine (alpine). And on the Kodar ridge, at
altitudes above 2700 m, there is a nival belt of ice, snow and stone,
where only such plant organisms as epilithic (scale) lichens survive.
Forests are located on the bottoms of river valleys, gentle slopes
and low flat watersheds. The border of the forest passes at an altitude
of 800 - 1200 m, but cedar thickets are often found even lower on the
stone slopes. Forests occupy no more than 12% of the area of the
reserve. The main forest-forming species is the Gmelin or Daurian larch.
Scotch pine forests grow on sandy soils, old burnt areas and clearings.
Less common are pure spruce, fir and cedar dark coniferous forests. The
most common mixed forests in the reserve, in which, along with conifers,
deciduous trees grow - aspen, flat-leaved birch, fragrant poplar, aspen,
bearberry-leaved choiceia - a relic of the Tertiary time, which has come
down to our days from those times when there was a humid and warm
climate. Above all tree species, woolly birch and spruce rise into the
mountains.
Above the border of the forest there is a subalpine
belt - this is an impenetrable northern jungle of shrubs, mainly cedar
elfin and splayed birch. Cedar and dwarf thickets occupy 33% of the area
of the protected area. Golden rhododendron (kashkara), fragrant currant,
dushekia shrub, numerous species of willows and other shrubs grow in
them.
Even higher, on average, from a height of 1500 m above sea
level, there is a belt of mountain tundra and alpine lawns. The
highlands of the Vitimsky Reserve are distinguished by the so-called
"full snow" in the winter months, strong freezing of soils, therefore,
moss and shrub tundras are most developed. The vegetation cover is
composed of numerous species of mosses and lichens. Shrubs are
represented by dwarf willows, dwarf birch, kashkara - golden
rhododendron, Redovsky rhododendron, cassiopeia, dryad (partridge
grass). In the highlands of the Kodar ridge, endemics grow - the Kodar
ostrich, the dandelions of the snowy and Muya, the poppy of the false
grayish. In total, 15 endemic species grow in the reserve.
Alpine
lawns, which occupy narrow strips along streams in conditions of good
drainage, turn into lush flower beds in the middle of summer. Azure
aquilegia, blue snakeheads, snow-white anemones, graceful saxifrages,
fiery baths and buttercups and many other flowering plants coexist with
flying snowfields, glaciers, scree and rocks.
Currently, 1085
plant species have been recorded, which does not yet fully reflect the
diversity of the local flora.
Rare species grow in the Vitimsky
Reserve, listed in the Red Book of Russia, the Red Book of the Irkutsk
Region.
The fauna of the reserve includes 36 species of mammals, 252 species
of birds, 23 species of fish, 1 species of reptiles - viviparous lizard,
4 species of amphibians. Of the amphibians in the reserve, there are
Siberian salamander, moor and Siberian frogs, Far Eastern tree frog.
More than 350 species of invertebrates have been identified. This group
is the least studied.
All typical taiga species of mammals live:
bear, wolverine, wolf, otter, American mink, squirrel, flying squirrel,
hare, sable, ermine, weasel, weasel; artiodactyls - reindeer, red deer,
elk, musk deer, roe deer.
Bighorn sheep live on the Kodar ridge
in summer. Throughout the territory in the highlands in circuses and
kars, where there is enough grassy vegetation, the black-capped marmot
lives.
More than 10 species of ducks nest along the banks of
reservoirs: mallard, goldeneye, large merganser, kale, whistle-teal,
wigeon and others, as well as black tern, common gull, black-headed
gull, sandpipers - carrier, snipe, woodcock.
In the mountain
forests, taiga species are typical: nutcracker, kuksha, Siberian
flycatcher, taiga flycatcher, common redstart, bluetail, white-browed
thrush, white-winged crossbill and spruce crossbill, common tap dance,
Siberian mountain finches, brambling, siskin, gray bullfinch, polar
bunting, common lentil, hazel grouse.
Mammals listed in the Red
Book of Russia: black-capped marmot - Baikal subspecies, bighorn sheep -
Kodar subspecies.
Birds included in the Red Book of Russia: black
stork, golden eagle, white-tailed eagle, peregrine falcon, osprey, eagle
owl, demoiselle crane, gray goose, Siberian taiga goose, lesser swan,
kloktun, killer whale, greater spotted eagle, lesser tern, dubrovnik.
Fish included in the Red Book of the Russian Federation: arctic
char, taimen.
Mammals included in the Red Book of the Irkutsk
region: black-capped marmot - Baikal subspecies, otter, bighorn sheep -
Kodar subspecies.
Fish included in the Red Book of the Irkutsk
region: Far Eastern brook lamprey, Siberian sturgeon, lenok, taimen,
arctic char, tugun, valek.
Birds included in the Red Book of the
Irkutsk region: black stork, gray goose, Siberian taiga bean goose,
whooper swan, lesser swan, kloktun, kale, shelduck, osprey, golden
eagle, white-tailed eagle, peregrine falcon, merlin, black crane, gray
crane, belladonna , long-toed sandpiper, curlew, black-tailed godwit,
eagle owl, common kingfisher.
Kodar glacial region
On the Kodar ridge, which is part of the
Stanovoy Upland system, the Kodar glacial region is located. It was
discovered back in 1883 by the French traveler J. Martin, and studied
and described in detail in 1959 - 1961. expedition of the Institute of
Geography of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR under the leadership of
V. S. Preobrazhensky. The Kodar glacier region includes more than 30
glaciers with a total area of more than 15 km. Most of them are located
in the upper reaches of the trough valleys and in cirques with northern
and northeastern exposure, i.e. on the territory of the reserve. The
Kodar glaciers represent a unique modern glaciation in Transbaikalia,
which is determined by the climatic conditions of the highlands:
significant snow accumulation, low temperatures during a long winter.
Glaciers are promising objects for establishing the features of current
and past atmospheric circulation, assessing the dynamics of the current
climate, identifying the ways and rates of migration of chemical
elements in the global water exchange system, and identifying remote
sources of technogenic pollution.
Lake Auron
Lake Oron is the
second largest lake in the Irkutsk region after Baikal and the largest
in the north of Transbaikalia, which is part of the hydrological network
of the Vitim River, with which it is connected by a 1 km long channel.
As a consequence of this, there is a constant exchange of water between
Oron and Vitim, and the state of the river. Vitim inevitably affects the
state of the lake. The lake is inhabited by endemics characteristic of
the lake. Baikal, which indicates the existence of a connection between
the lakes and their genetic relationship in past geological epochs. Like
Baikal, Oron arose as a result of tectonic faults in the earth's crust;
the bowl of the lake was deepened by the glacier sliding down from the
Sygykta valleys and the Kultushnaya glacier. The ichthyofauna included
21 species, of which 12 lived permanently in the lake until the
beginning of the 21st century. In connection with the acidification of
the water, the lake has become unsuitable for fish in the last decade
and a half. During periods of spring and autumn migrations, hundreds of
ducks, geese, swans, and waders stop in shallow chickens to rest and
feed. Lake Oron is the main natural object, for the conservation of
which the Vitimsky Reserve was created.
Snow Sheep Kodarsky
The population of the Kodar snow sheep, described in 1994 by its
researcher D.G. Medvedev (Irkutsk Agricultural Academy), as an
independent subspecies, is the smallest of the subspecies living in
Russia. According to the censuses of 2002 (Medvedev D.G.), its number in
Kodar does not exceed 300 individuals. The state of the population
cannot but cause concern: the immigration of animals is impossible due
to isolation; the population can exist only under the condition of
internal homeostasis, the adoption of state protection measures. The
organization of the Vitimsky reserve only partially solves this problem,
because only summer feeding stations are located on its territory. On
the northern slopes of Kodar, where the reserve is located, snow cover
up to 2 - 3 m is formed in winter, and bighorn sheep migrate to the
southern slopes of the Trans-Baikal Territory with little snow. The
Kodar bighorn sheep is included in the Red Book of Russia, 2021. It is
listed in the Red Book of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation
of Nature) as a species dependent on conservation measures; The Red Data
Book of the Chita Region and the Red Data Book of the Irkutsk Region, as
an endangered species. The most effective measure for the conservation
of the bighorn sheep will be the organization of the Kodarsky National
Park on the territory of the southern macroslope of the Kodar ridge
adjacent to the reserve or the expansion of the boundaries of the
Vitimsky reserve to include Lake. Not much.
Baikal black-capped
marmot
At the beginning of the 20th century, he lived everywhere in
the mountains of the Baikal and Transbaikalia. The construction of the
Baikal-Amur Mainline, the expansion of mining, an increase in the
recreational load on previously inaccessible remote mountain ranges, the
pressure of marmot poaching due to valuable warm fur, medicinal meat and
fat, as well as natural limiting factors led to a reduction in the range
and number of marmots in throughout the region. The organization of the
Vitimsky Reserve, the cessation of exploration work on the ridges that
make up the relief of the reserve - Delyun-Uransky, Severo-Muisky,
Kodarsky, the restriction of free access to the territory contributed to
the stabilization of the number of marmots. Expansion of economic
development of natural resources of territories adjacent to the reserve,
a significant intensification of anthropogenic impact on nature in the
last decade of the last century and now emphasizes the importance,
timeliness of the creation of the reserve and its importance in the
conservation of the black-capped Baikal marmot, included in the Red Book
of Russia, the Red Books of Irkutsk, Chita regions (decreasing species)
and the Republic of Buryatia (rare species).
Barguzinsky sable
Sable is a traditional valuable object of fur trade in Russia. In
history, there were periods of almost complete extermination of the
species in vast areas from the Urals to Kamchatka. To preserve and
increase the number of this fur-bearing animal, the first Russian
reserves were created (Sayansky, Barguzinsky in 1916), and many others -
in subsequent years, including the Vitimsky Reserve - in 1982. The most
valuable subspecies of sable lives in the reserve - Barguzinsky. This
area has always been distinguished by a high abundance of sable; from
here, from the vicinity of the lake. Oron and the valleys of the river.
Sygykty in the forties and fifties of the last century, animals were
taken for resettlement in neighboring Yakutia. The number of sable in
the reserve varies under the influence of natural factors: the yield of
berries, pine nuts and cedar nuts, the abundance of mouse-like rodents -
the main food for sable.
The number of department in the field of environmental protection -
the protection service of the reserve is 15 people, including the deputy
director in the field of environmental protection. The territory of the
reserve is divided into 3 district forestries: Amalykskoye (175904 ha),
Oronskoye (298699 ha) and Uryakhskoye (110418 ha). Inspectors in the
field of environmental protection live on cordons due to the
considerable remoteness of the territory from the city. The task force
is created by order of the director in the summer to work in the
highlands, if there is a financial possibility of being transferred by
helicopter.
The security department is provided with equipment to
perform the assigned tasks, including snowmobiles "Buran", "Yamaha",
"Ural-4320-01" car, UAZ-3469 car, boats, outboard motors, chainsaws,
motor pumps, gasoline power plants and others. equipment necessary to
perform assigned tasks and work in the field.
State inspectors
ensure compliance with the reserve regime, patrol the borders, conduct
simple scientific observations of nature, providing material for
compiling the Nature Calendar, ensure scientific research and
environmental children's camps on the territory (escort, security,
safety precautions), carry out a set of fire prevention measures,
participate in fighting forest fires.
Researches of the protected nature under the program "Chronicles of
Nature" are carried out by staff members of the scientific department of
the reserve and scientists from outside organizations. More than 50
scientists worked on the territory of the reserve: doctors, candidates
of sciences and graduate students from Irkutsk, Novosibirsk, Tomsk,
Yakutsk, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Chelyabinsk, Saratov, Moscow,
Yekaterinburg, Krasnoyarsk - universities, institutes and research
institutions - the Central Siberian Botanical Garden SB RAS
(Novosibirsk), Limnological Institute SB RAS (Irkutsk), Siberian
Institute of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry SB RAS (Irkutsk),
Institute of the Earth's Crust SB RAS (Irkutsk), Institute for
Monitoring Climatic and Ecological Systems SB RAS (Tomsk) and others.
A list of rare, endemic, relict plant species subject to protection
in the Bodaibo region has been compiled. The herbarium of vascular
plants of the reserve has more than 8000 leaves. There is a herbarium of
mosses and lichens, a database of rare species.
Hydrobiological
and ichthyological studies of Lake Oron and other reservoirs of the
reserve are being carried out. Monitoring studies of the Kodar glaciers
are underway. In addition, employees of the reserve take part in the
environmental impact assessment of economic facilities in the Bodaibo
district, the compilation of the Red Data Book of the Irkutsk region,
the assessment of the background state of the environment in the
licensed areas of geological exploration in the district, explore the
biodiversity of the largest gold mining enterprises of Polyus JSC and
the background area .
The reserve has a scientific library with
about 1.5 thousand books, 38 volumes of the Chronicle of Nature, reports
of third-party organizations that worked on the territory of the
reserve, collections of background species of Lepidoptera and skulls of
small mammals, zoological, ornithological, phenological, floristic
databases.
Work on environmental education of the population has been carried
out since the establishment of the reserve. At the cordons,
schoolchildren, children from the Golden Horn school club of the Mamakan
village, pupils of the station of young naturalists, the House of
Children's Art in the city of Bodaibo and other villages of the Bodaibo
and neighboring Mamsko-Chui districts conducted environmental and local
history research, got acquainted with the nature of the reserve.
Employees of the scientific department conducted classes with children,
talked about the nature and work of the reserve. The mass media
published popular articles on environmental and environmental issues.
But this work did not have a systematic character and consisted in
conducting thematic classes in schools, excursions in nature, lectures,
practical classes in ecology, and depended on personal contacts with
individual teachers.
The creation of the environmental education
department in 2000 made it possible to significantly expand the areas of
this work, which is mainly focused on the younger generation:
schoolchildren, technical colleges and kindergarten students. Carrying
out such actions as "Earth Day", "March of Parks", "Feed the Birds",
"Days of Protection from Environmental Hazard", "Fire Action", "We Clean
the World", etc. unites the capabilities of educational institutions,
specialists in the field of ecology and nature conservation, the media,
representatives of local administration to solve environmental problems.
Every year, the staff of the department develops new forms of holding
events and competitive programs that most accurately answer the
questions that arise.
In the formation of the ecological culture
of the population, visiting the expositions of museums of nature and
photo-art exhibitions plays an important role. Environmental exhibitions
and expositions arouse people's interest in nature and, therefore, make
them not indifferent to its problems.
For almost 40 years, the
reserve has been cooperating with the Bodaibo Museum of Local Lore, the
Irkutsk Museum of Local Lore, placing and updating various thematic
expositions. In addition, temporary and mobile expositions are organized
(exhibitions of children's drawings and creative works from natural and
non-natural materials), which are located in schools, administrative
buildings of state authorities and local governments. Traveling
exhibitions are organized in remote villages of the Bodaibo district and
the neighboring Mamsko-Chuy district of the Irkutsk region.
Working with the media is one of the most important areas of activity.
Particular importance is attached to cooperation with regional print
media, as well as with the environmental press. The reserve conducts
purposeful work to cover topical problems of the reserve business in the
Russian electronic media. The reserve has a website, maintains pages on
Instagram, Vkontakte. The staff of the reserve publishes its own
quarterly ecological newspaper "Green Look", in which it acquaints the
population with the ecological calendar, news of the Ministry of Natural
Resources and the reserve, announces new competition events, informs
about the results of campaigns, events in the reserve life, etc. Press
releases are regularly issued following the results of events,
competitions and environmental campaigns. Cooperation has been
established with the regional editorial office of the Lensky Shakhtyor
newspaper, the Vitimtelecom TV company, and the State Television and
Radio Broadcasting Company Irkutsk. Several videos about the nature of
the reserve were shot on our own. A database of videos about events,
expeditions held in the reserve has been accumulated and is annually
supplemented. The photographic material is systematized in the main
areas of activity.
Video films, sketches about the reserved
Privitimie, show the beauty, richness and diversity of our native
nature. Films are actively used during the organization of exhibitions,
during environmental events and thematic classes with children. The
video library of the reserve consists of its own films, and is also
replenished by the work of the All-Russian State Television and Radio
Company (VGTRK), Irkutsk, filmed on the territory of the reserve, films
about other specially protected natural areas. The employees of the
reserve constantly replenish the fund of photographs dedicated to its
activities and nature. OOO Atoll. SV" with the support of the Ministry
of Natural Resources and Ecology of Russia released a DVD-ROM "Reserves
and National Parks of Russia" in which photographs of the Vitimsky
Reserve were used. Photo materials are submitted to various all-Russian
and regional atlases and photo albums dedicated to specially protected
natural areas of Russia, and are used in organizing exhibitions of all
levels.
Work with schoolchildren and pupils of preschool
institutions, students of the Bodaibo Mining College is aimed at
attracting children and young people to environmental activities,
expanding their environmental outlook, developing relevant knowledge,
skills, and promoting the professional orientation of students.
The main forms of work with children in the reserve are:
children's
ecological camps and expeditions
children's and youth ecological
actions, conferences, ecological hours, creative competitions
thematic classes using interactive teaching methods
thematic
excursions in the visitor center and in the protected area
ecological
holidays.
Conducting children's ecological expeditions on the
territory of the reserve has become traditional. In addition to
recreational, educational and recreational activities, the program of
the Calypso children's camp includes local history and environmental
studies.