The Banks of the Mezen Have Become Cleaner

On July 5th the second stage of the pupils ecological expedition “Let’s protect the Mezen from rubbish! ” organized by the teachers of the Children’s art house of Usogorsk in the framework of the Model River Mezen project was completed.

This time the expedition members under the leadership of the teacher of supplementary education Alexander Reomidovich Morozov have sailed on a catamaran from Yol’kyb to Patrakovo. Thus, in two expedition steps the schoolchildren have almost entirely passed a famous “Udora necklace” – a loop, which the Mezen river makes on the territory of the Udora district.

The first village the group had reached by bus was Yol’kyb. The pupils were impressed by the fact that the village was so well-tended (though, there is even no electricity there and it “comes to life” mainly in summer) and by the attitude of its natives towards their small motherland. The natives of Yol’kyb currently living in the district center and other places, including the areas outside the district, had installed an original memorial, depicting the genealogies of all village generations going up to the Afanasyev family famous in Udora, in their village. Besides, in the memory of the ancestors, they had built a wooden chapel there. After a talk with the hospitable residents of Yol’kyb, acquaintance with the village places of interest, and some refreshment the group prepared the catamaran for departure and left.

Unfortunately, the very next stop – near the first hut on the bank of the Mezen downstream from Yol’kyb – has made an entirely different impression on the guys. It seemed that everyone who had ever stopped here felt obliged to multiply the heaps of rubbish and waste strewn around. The schoolchildren along with their leaders have spent a few hours of work to transform the place. They collected all rubbish and buried it the pit, which had been specially dug by them beforehand.

The next stop was in the village Sjol’yb. Here Olga Busheneva had already been waiting for the group near her large guest house. Olga Leonidovna is not simply a hostess of the local guest house. She is an initiator of the establishment of a wonderful village museum. Thanks to its exhibits the schoolchildren have learned many interesting things from the history of Sjol’yb and its inhabitants. A village tour, a visit to the church restored by the local residents and the tomb of the local priest Bronnikov, who had done a lot for Sjol’yb in olden times and was duly respected by the population, a meeting with the local icon painter Oxana Baklanova – all of this was a discovery for the kids.

It should be mentioned that in other villages located on the Mezen the pupils environmental troops have been greeted amiably and hospitably. In Melentyevo the group has been waiting out a storm in the house of Nadezhda Mikhaylovna Prokopyeva, who has given them a shelter. In the village Muchkas the local citizen Anatoly Lobanov has shown the schoolchildren a famous salt lake and told about the history of its origin and the salt works, which have once been organized here. Naturally, the kids have been captivated by Patrakovo – the final point of their river journey – the village best remembered for its impressive landscape and creative, hospitable owners of the local guest houses.

Unfortunately, along the entire string of the river route on the camp sites of the fishermen and vacationers and around the forest huts the group has found an enormous amount of rubbish and waste. They have made stops to put in order the littered banks and the places around such camp sites. Besides, they have installed the information boards, displayed the posters with the information on the proper behaviour in the forest, left near the forest huts and riverside camp sites the appeals to those who will come here in the future. And again, they cleaned, dug pits, buried the rubbish… Thus, the pupils ecological expedition has cleaned from rubbish and waste seventeen camp sites!

According to Nadezhda Stepanovna Morozova, the Head of the Children’s art house, who has taken part in the second part of the expedition – from Yol’kyb to Patrakovo, – the group has left each cleaned camp site with a light heart: both the adults and schoolchildren felt joy in their hearts not only due to the chance to contemplate the Mezen beauties and contact the nature, but also because they had made a real contribution to the conservation of this beauty, in protection of the health of nature.

The Silver Taiga Foundation and the Working Group of the Model River Mezen project would like to say many thanks to all expedition participants – the schoolchildren Victor Kasiyan, Danil Marunich, Vladimir Vaneev, Anton Butsik, Denis Roskoshin, Ivan Kharin, Alina Morozova, Ekaterina Politova, Anastasia Goryashina, Dmitry Mamontov, and Alexander Veryovkin. Of course, we also owe a debt of gratitude to their teachers – Alexander Reomidovich Morozov, Alexander Aleksandrovich Butyrev, Nadezhda Stepanovna Morozova, as well as all the people who have helped them in the organization of the ecological expedition – Board of education of the administration of the municipal district “Udorsky”, municipal general education institution “Usogorsk secondary general and special profile school”, LLC “Udora necklace”, and Deputy Head of the Administration for Economy Alexander Alekseevich Bobrov.

Valentina Semyashkina,
The photo is made by Nadezhda Morozova
Translated by Irina Sokolova 

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