2017 | Page 2 of 5 | Silver Taiga

Kids with Mums and Dads Invented Fairy-Tales, Drew Fishes, Made Videos and Compiled Mezen Guides

06.10.2017| «Model river «Mezen» project by Just Author

The interregional environmental Family Battle contest launched on 1 September, initiated and conducted by the Leshukonye Central Library (Arkhangelsk region) as part of the Model River Mezen project, is completed.

The family teams that applied for the contest had to travel “distantly” along the Mezen river from its source to the estuary by performing environmental tasks. Each task fulfilled correctly earned points for the teams. The teams with most of the points competed in the final – at the “estuary” of the river. Families from Leshukonye, Mezen and Udora districts were invited to participate in the competition. 6 teams were admitted for the start, 5 from Leshukonye and one from Udora. Four teams got to the final – Joyous Family, Girls and Cactus from Leshukonye district and Udorachi from Udora district.

The game consisted of 5 stages. At the first one the participants had to invent a fairy-tale, story or legend about how the Mezen river appeared, and the children had to illustrate their essays. At the second stage the participants had to make a video with the youngest family member reciting a poem about the Mezen river. At the following stages they had to compile and present a quiz devoted to the Mezen and do the quiz prepared by another family.

The final test was creation of a tourist guide of the district chosen at random (either Leshukonye, or Mezen, or Udora districts). In addition, the children had to draw fishes inhabiting the Mezen river.

All tasks were assessed by a jury made of four people. According to the jury, the participants took a creative approach to fulfilling the tasks, they did it with all their hearts, all their works turned out to be bright and interesting. However, it was a competition, so the winner certificate and the prize went to the Joyous Family team – Anna Ivanova and Maxim Ivanov from Leshukonskoye – with 85 points they had earned. Our congratulations on the victory! The other teams were awarded participant certificates and souvenirs.

“We are thankful to all the participants”, Svetlana Ivanova, the contest facilitator, said. “Thank you very much for finding time to participate in our initiative. A special “thanks” is to the Udorachi team from the Republic of Komi – Alyona Tsyngina, Bogdana Tsyngina and other members of their big family.

It should be noted that the Leshukonye Central Library staff joined actively the Silver Taiga’s project on sustainable fishery resources management in cooperation with the local population (Model River Mezen) and conducted a cycle of environmental training events entitled as Mezen – River of the North, River of Life in June-September. The environmental Family Battle is just one of such events.

Family Battle winners Anna and Maxim Ivanovs

I Live at the Mezen Bank

06.10.2017| «Model river «Mezen» project by Just Author

That was the name of the photo contest organized by the Leshukonye Central Library staff under the environmental and educational project Mezen – River of the North, River of Life with the support of the Silver Taiga Foundation (Model River Mezen project).

Residents of the Mezen districts of Arkhangelsk region and the Komi Republic were invited to participate. The photos were accepted for two nominations: Beauty of the Native Village and Beauty of the Dear River. The pictures submitted for the contest were displayed at the Leshukonye Central Library and the readers were offered to judge them and to vote for the best works.

Photo show

“Residents of Leshukonye and Udora districts took part in the district”, Svetlana Ivanova says. “Mezen district residents haven’t sent a single photo unfortunately. 34 pictures were registered for the two nominations. 129 readers took part in the independent assessment. The readers’ choice for the Beauty of the Native Village nomination was the photo Beauty of Malaya Pyssa by Alyona Tsyngina. This photo got maximum votes – 57 in total.

«The beauty of Malaya Pyssa village» (author A. Tsyngina)

The second place was given to the Rodoma Village photo by Albert Loginov from Udora district (Malaya Pyssa).

«Rodoma village» (author A. Loginov)

The work called We Don’t Need Foreign Resorts by Natalia Fedotova from Yuroma, Leshukonye district, became the third.

N. Phedotova from Yuroma (the 3rd place)

«We don’t need foreign resorts» (author N. Phedotova)

The winner of the Beauty of the Dear River nomination was the work by Albert Loginov – The Kama River – the Mezen Tributary.

«The Kama River – the Mezen Tributary» (author A. Loginov)

The second place was given to Valentina Semenova with her Autumn Landscape (Tsenogora, Leshukonye district).

«Autumn landscape» (author V. Semenova)

And the third place was taken by Elena Novikova from Leshukonskoye with her photo Mirror.

«Mirrorlike surface» (author E. Novikova)

And only four works (three from Leshukonye district and one from Udora district) took part in the art contest 7 Wonders of the Mezen River. The first prize was unanimously given to Alyona Tsyngina from Koslan and her Udora Necklace presentation.

All participants of the contests were awarded with certificates and thank-you letters, presents and souvenirs at the gala evening devoted to the Mezen river, were competing works were displayed, extracts from literary works were recited, and local poets from the Vashka literary association declaimed their poems.

The facilitators are grateful to participants of both contests and hope for active participation of readers in new initiatives of the library. Special gratitude of the Leshukonye Central Library is to the Central Library named after A. Vaneyev in Koslan, Komi Republic, for support in contest organization.

The presents are going to be sent to Komi

You can see other participating photos at https://vk.com/album-37769424_246537242

New Wildlife Reserve in Udora Will Help Unite Protected Natural Areas of the Komi Republic and Arkhangelsk Region

The initiative related to the new complex landscape reserve in Udora district known as the Osa reserve (project title) was reported by Yury Pautov, director of the Silver Taiga Foundation for Sustainable Development, at the territorial conference for nomination of candidates for the V All-Russia Environmental Meeting held in the Institute of Biology, Komi Scientific Center of the Ural Branch of the RAS on 28 September, 2017.

The “project” title of the reserve is derived from the Osa river (the Vashka tributary) flowing along Udora district. The reserve is planned to be founded at the Verkhnyaya Vashka forestry at the border between the Komi Republic and Arkhangelsk region. The foundation of this specially protected area has been in progress since 2004. Based on the results of the physical accounting of virgin natural areas at the Verkhne-Vashka intact area the most valuable from the environmental point of view part – its Core, located both in the Komi Republic and Arkhangelsk Region – was found. In 2015, the Uftyuga-Ilesha landscape reserve was arranged in the Arkhangelsk part of the Core.

In 2016, the Silver Taiga Foundation organized an expedition to justify the environmental integrity and borderline of the new protected area in the Komi part of the Core of the Verkhne-Vashka Intact Forest Massif. Its participants were both the Foundation’s staff and the scientists of the Komi Scientific Center of the Ural Branch of the RAS, as well as environmental experts from St. Petersburg, Moscow, Arkhangelsk and Finland. The participants of the expedition walked over 250 km routes, found over 25 species of rare and endangered species of plants, fungi, and lichen from the Red Book of Russia and the Red Book of the Komi Republic. In addition, there you can find the habitat of the most southern population of the wild reindeer in the Russian North.

The design area of the reserve amounts to 74 thousand hectares. The area of the reserve to-be includes the famous Korabelnaya Chashcha described by the well-known Russian writer Mikhail Prishvin, and is adjacent to the existing Verkhne-Vashka and Uftyuga-Ilesha reserves.

The map of the Reserve

At present, almost the whole area planned for the reserve is leased by forest users. As Yury Pautov underlined in his report, the intact massif borders clear cutting areas both in Arkhangelsk region and in the Komi Republic. However, its most precious Core is still preserved.

“The reserve is valued as it unites the existing specially protected natural areas of the Komi Republic and Arkhangelsk region into a huge cluster and allows conserving the Core of the intact area. Such huge intact taiga areas are most resistant to various natural disasters, such as fires, windfalls or climate change. In such areas you can find swamps, lichen communities, spruce and pine forests. Large areas are able to preserve their population and genetic diversity for a very long time”, the reporter noted.

In addition, the area concentrates model intact catchment areas and sources of such rivers as the Osa, Poch, Ilesha, Uftyuga flowing into the Vashka and Vychegda in the Komi Republic and into the Pinega in Arkhangelsk region.

The economic and environmental justification for the reserve prepared by the Silver Taiga was submitted to be approved to the Ministry of Industry of the Komi Republic and to the subordinate authority – Protected Areas Center. In November, public hearings are planned to be held in Udora district. Then, the documentation prepared is to pass through the state environmental assessment followed by development of the respective regulation. If the documents are approved, the Osa reserve will become the 24^th protected area of Udora district.

The participants of the territorial conference for nomination of candidates for the V All-Russia Environmental Meeting

Heads of School Forestry Units Were Told About Methods of GIS-Technologies Application in Ecomonitoring

26.09.2017| News by Just Author

Silver Taiga representatives took part in the workshop for the heads of the school forestry units held on September 22 under the republican school forestry units meeting at the premises of the republican centre of the ecological education under the support of the forestry specialists’ society of Komi. The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Industry of Komi were the founders of the meeting.

The school forestry units usually meet once a year. The aim of the meeting is to involve the children and young people to the environmental and exploratory activities. This year the representatives of 12 school forestry units of Komi came to Syktyvkar. Each team consisted of 4 participants – three schoolchildren and one teacher.

Young foresters from five districts of Komi participated in such contest games as Forestry, Forest Protection, Forest Regeneration and Forest Searchers. As for the heads of the school forestry units they listened to the lecture on the use of the cartographical materials in the learning process. The Silver Taiga GIS-specialist Alexander Borovlev told about the geoinformation systems practiced by the Silver Taiga Foundation. The school teachers learned how to use the modern monitoring methods during planning of loggings and how it is possible to control the forest ecosystems changes with the help of the remote sensing data.

«The modern GIS directions have a simple interface. There are the programs available even for theschoolchildren. The very simple set of functions allows using such programs during the forest ecosystems monitoring without any special education. It would be nice to practice the use of the geoinformation technologies during the environmental lessons at school. No doubt, not all the schoolchildren will be the foresters in future, but they should know how to conduct the forest ecosystems monitoring with the help of simple, available-for-all tools», says Alexander Borovlev.

Aleksandr Borovlev

Silver Taiga Completed Forest Certification Training

20.09.2017| News by Just Author

The training course was conducted for employees of Mondi Syktyvkar and its contractors to meet the company’s request. The agenda of the course was focused on such aspects as reforestation, biodiversity conservation, soil and water protective functions of the forest, assessment and minimization of the environmental impact.

Mondi Syktyvkar is the company performing voluntary forest certification under the schemes of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and PEFC, each year it proves its compliance with the standards based on the results of external audits. During the audits experts pay special attention to the logging procedure and whether it meets the environmental requirements of the standards, that is why the company conducts additional training for the employees involved in logging operations and contractors performing delineation services.

The training under the Planning and Organization of Logging Operations in Line with the National FSC Standard – Environmental and Forest Management Aspects was conducted in the field conditions. Over 170 people, mostly harvesting equipment operators and foremen, as well as delineation experts, improved their skills. All trainees passed a final test upon completion of the course and they will get certificates subsequently. For the period of five months Nikolay Shuktomov, Alexander Borovlyov and Nikolay Shilov from the Silver Taiga Foundation for Sustainable Development have arranged over 12 courses at 6 logging camps. Silver Taiga experts prepared demonstration sites in four Komi districts – Priluzye, Udora, Ust-Kulom, and Kortkeros, were Mondi Syktyvkar leased areas are located. Typical objects were selected for each area, and foremen and operators were explained what they did well, and what they had to improve. The trainees were also provided with workbooks, operation sheets, printed space images and aerial surveys.

Descriptive material prepared by the Foundation’s experts quickened the trainees’ interest

Harvesting equipment operators were most interested in the training course. Studying the examples, they were eager to consider the topics related to minimization of negative environmental impact of logging, especially effect on soil, flora and fauna, discussed and offered problem solutions. Trainers of the course put emphasis to such sites at the demonstration routes where environmental criteria were met to the full, they took efforts to make the trainees remember them and follow the example later on at work.

“The course schedule was tough, and the Foundation’s experts worked hard. So, it is nice to see the result, the course was useful both for the employees of logging operators, who upgraded their qualification, and the Foundation’s staff, because they allowed us to get a comprehensive vision of the way the production processes are organized at different logging areas of the company,” Nikolay Shuktomov, forestry project coordinator of the Silver Taiga Foundation, explained.

In addition, Silver Taiga managed to enlarge its data base by landscape images obtained through aerial survey by a drone in the course of the workshop. Over a thousand and a half of images were taken, now they are to be analyzed and systematized. The aerial survey will allow to assess the situation in the forest comprehensively, to understand what happens during logging operations and observe the cause-and-effect relations.

Aerial survey of a key biotope preserved by loggers in Udora district

Environmental experts state that delineation quality differs in different districts. Most delineation issues were raised in Ust-Kulom district. That is why a special focus was given to the course in Ust-Kulom (in particular, to conduct a drill for delineation specialists), and several demonstration sites were prepared in different forestries.

Landscape borders and key elements are studied at a logging plot

Based on the results of inspection of logging areas during the preparation and implementation phases of the course, a note will be drawn for the Mondi Syktyvkar management to provide the analysis of the status at each area to ensure additional monitoring during the assessment of the company’s environmental footprint.

A group of trainees at the course in Udora district

Photos by N.Shilov, S.Davydov and V.Shuktomov

Global Climate Change and Clear Felling Scale Discussed at International Forest Summer School in Komi

13.09.2017| News by Just Author

Regular studies of the International Forest Summer School facilitated by Syktyvkar Forest Institute and arranged jointly with its partners, Silver Taiga, Mondi Syktyvkar, and Komi Fire Fighting Center, were held from 3 to 16 September in Komi. The annual course was attended by students of foreign universities.

For several years experts of the Silver Taiga Foundation for Sustainable Development have participated in the event through sharing their experience and the results of the Priluzye Model Forest project, as well as a number of other projects. This time, the course has been attended by nine forestry students from three different German universities and one student from Sweden. On the second day, a lecture on forestry specifics in Russia and Komi and regularities of natural taiga forest dynamics was given by Yury Pautov, director of the Silver Taiga Foundation. Germany is dominated by temperate zone forests, mostly deciduous, so it was necessary for the German students to get acquainted with the character of forest management in the Northern taiga.

On the following days, during field studies, the visitors walked along the three demonstration routes of the Priluzye Model Forest, a logging camp of the Luzales company, and an operating logging site of Mondi Syktyvkar in the Noshul district forestry. The future forest engineers were eager to learn about functioning of forestry sector in Russia, differences between the forest management rules in Russia and European countries, compare forest exploitation history in different countries. They were particularly impressed by the size of clear felling area in Komi. The maximum clear felling area in Germany should not exceed three hectares, and even such size is rare. Germans, as a rule, prefer selection felling. So, the visitors were interested in the biodiversity preservation system applied in certified forests.

Forest management history is interesting both for Russian, and foreign students

The foreign students were much surprised about the fact that local people sell mushrooms and berries by the roads near residential areas. People do not do it in Germany. They also found themselves lucky to see traces of wild animals – a she-bear with bear cubs and a couple of wolves. It turned out that wolves are protected by the state in Germany, and they can only be hunted under a license in specially allocated areas. The foreign guests found it exotic that bears in Komi hang out by highways hoping to be fed, and wolves come to villages in winter and scare the locals, as was told by Yury Pautov.

Daily taiga management practices were presented at the meeting with Yury Serditov, deputy head of the Priluzye forestry. He told the students about the effective forestry legislation and the features of the Russian forest management system. The German students were surprised about the fact that foresters in Russia are no more than just state inspectors, while in Germany they are fully responsible for all the activities conducted within the forestry, including wood cutting and hunting. The German visitors also noted that forest fires in Germany are extraordinary events, because the temperate zone forests are dominated by hardwood species – beech, oak, ash. So, they had a lot of questions with regard to the dynamics and consequences of fires. They were also interested in the methods currently used in Komi for fire fighting and fire prevention.

“Such international forest summer schools are very useful both for students, and for trainers, because they allow seeing forest as a global worldwide resource necessary to ensure survival of the mankind. In particular, discussions with the students from Germany revealed the different approaches to climate change in different countries. Few people focus on the issue in Russia now. At a meeting in Priluzye forestry the students asked what norms for adjustment to climate change are used in Komi forest sector??? Neither myself, nor deputy head of the forestry could clearly answer the question, because Russia simply has no such norms. Climate change takes place globally and locally, and that is clear from more frequent extreme weather conditions, like hurricanes, winter thaw, droughts, floods. A good example was last summer, when Northern districts of Komi suffered of uncommon heat, there were forest fires in forest taiga, while Southern districts were flooded by continuous rain. Such extreme weather conditions undoubtedly lead to weakening of forests, which results in outbreak of parasites propagation and forest diseases. Many foreign countries have already developed measures for forestry adaptation to upcoming climatic changes, but in Russia only scientists and few experts speak about the necessity of such measures,” Yury Pautov summed up the course.

At the route showing regularities of natural taiga forest dynamics

Studied Fish Scales Microscopically and Made a Fire with a Stone

28.08.2017| News, «Model river «Mezen» project by Just Author

From 21 to 25 August, the Summer Ichthyologic School was held in Vazhgort, Udora district, as part of the Model River Mezen project, jointly with the Usogorsk Children Recreational Center, Komi Republic Center of SPNA, with the support of the Vazhgort Secondary School. The participants were kids from different places – Syktyvkar, Usogorsk and Vazhgort. In total, there were 18 participants, four adults and 14 schoolchildren aged from 13 to 16.

“The Summer Ichthyologic School has operated for three years already, and for all this time we have found the method to make both newcomers and permanent students interested. The schoolchildren obtain basic skills of biological material handling. Many of the kids make reports based on the knowledge they get and present them at various forums, for example at the Motherland – Komi Land conference, but the purpose is not to write a research work,’ Nikolay Shilov, initiator and director of the Ichthyologic School, coordinator of the Model River Mezen project, says.

N. Shilov is giving a lecture

At the training session he told the children about the Mezen ichthyofauna, the fish anatomy, methods of fish stock keeping, human role in preserving bioresources, and conducted practical lessons.

Practical training

Training was held in the Vazhgort Secondary School, and there was a good reason to choose the venue. In the first year the research was conducted at the Irva river in the area of the upper reaches of the Mezen, in the second year the school was arranged in the village Bolshaya Pyssa near the middle reaches of the river, and now the focus was on the Mezen tributary – the Vashka – and the Kula river flowing into it.

The program was targeted on teaching the schoolchildren how to determine the composition of the fish population in the Vashka basin with available methods. So, the kids accompanied by adults went fishing, caught fish and prosected it. By analyzing the scale under the microscope they estimated the age of fish, looked for parasites and defined them.

The underwater world under the microscope is even more interesting

This year, the school used new entertaining teaching methods. For example, the schoolchildren studied the anatomy of fish with the help of puzzles, watched a video on artificial fish reproduction and the state of industrial fishing in the Komi Republic.

Fish skeleton puzzle

Also, during the session the schoolchildren conducted a survey among local fishermen to get to know the details of the species composition of the fish, asked about the causes of increase or reduction of the population, were interested about the tools used to catch fish and assessed the overall state of the fishery resources. The survey revealed a lot of new information for the students, some of the answers puzzled them. For example, the locals told them that they had started seeing bull-trout in the Vashka, but the description given identified that they mix the bull-trout up with other salmon species. The children specially noted that the fishermen believed it was necessary to restrict catchment during the spawning period to preserve the fish population.

Interviewing the fisherman

Guided by Margarita Shilova, senior expert of environmental education department, Center of SPNA, the children conducted assessment of the quality of surface water in the Vashka and the Kula and tried to make a filter for water in the field conditions. With the help of test-strips and the portable Bee-Bio lab they learned how to determine chemical properties of water. Most results enabled them to draw a conclusion that the water quality was good even with dark colouring. The expert also had an informative lecture about the Red Book of the Komi Republic upon completion of which the children were able to find the conserved species of plants, animals, insects inhabiting the Udora district.

The kids also performed as experts in an environmental game and managed successfully to find solutions for ecological problems.

A representative of the Center of SPNA conducted a workshop for teachers under the extended training course Reserved School, and some game lessons for the children.

What the students were most impressed by were the tours facilitated by Irina Klishch, director of the Vazhgort Secondary School. During such trips she informed the kids about the diversity of species of plant communities near Vazhgort. Additionally, the kids learned how to survive in the forest, they were taught to make fire with a stone, to find their way in the forest with the help of compartment lines and water bodies. The schoolchildren also visited the local fire brigade where they were told about how to behave in emergency situations. And on the last day the young ichthyologists went to the Vazhgort museum. The kids also played sports – volleyball and other active games. The leisure activities were organized by Nadezhda Morozova from the Usogorsk Children Recreational Center.

“It is great that at the end of the session all children had a huge desire to join the summer ichthyologic school next year. They offered to make a list of additional topics jointly with instructors. For example, they recommended to include the detailed study of a skeleton of bony fish,” Nikolay Shilov summed up the results of the Summer Ichthyologic School.

Visiting the fire station

Photos by Nikolay Shilov

«Learning From Nature»

24.08.2017| News, «Model river «Mezen» project by Just Author

This was the name of the stage play prepared by the student propaganda team for the population of Chuprovo, Bolshaya Puchkoma and Muftyuga villages of Udora district of Komi under Model River Mezen Project. The students’ performances in Udora district at the end of each summer season have become already a good tradition.

On August 5 the students acted in Chuprovo village and the next day they went to Bolshaya Puchkoma and Muftyuga villages. The team was in particular warmly met in Bolshaya Puchkoma village as the students had to cross Vashka River during the spring flood. The audience hall in the Community Center was almost full. The students visited Chuprovo and Muftyuga villages last year. As for Bolshaya Puchkoma village, the students visited it for the first time.

Crossing Vashka River

The team enlarges every year by the new volunteers from among the students. This year the propaganda team consisted from the Komi Republican Agroindustrial Technical School leavers Christina Ekimova and Dmitry Kazarinov, the student of Art Gymnasium of Komi Victoria Tushkanova and the student of Syktyvkar Trade School №34 Andrey Korovin. The students were assisted by Edva village Secondary School physical training teacher Natalia Politova as well as the representatives of Chuprovo village library Alexander Korovin and Zhanna Korovina.

Just landed

The propaganda team showed the ecological tale, sang chastushkas (two-line or four-line folk verse on a topical or lyrical theme) and songs. The students acted on behalf of the personified Udora lakes and rivers requesting to care with respect to natural resources.

Episode of the performance

«Next year we are planning another action of the propaganda team as we see the results of our work, our performances give pause for thought about nature. Especially school and preschool children appreciate our work», says the leader of the propaganda team Christina Ekimova.

If only the rivers and lakes could speak…

Honoring the Mezen, Beautiful River, Fostering River

17.08.2017| News, «Model river «Mezen» project by Just Author

Residents of the near Mezen areas gathered in the village of Bolshaya Pyssa, Udora district, to honor the Mezen river on 12 August. Guests from such villages as Latyuga, Malaya Pyssa, Politovo, Patrakovo, Melentyevo, Muchkas, Syolyb, Koslan, and also the old Vozhgora village located in Leshukonye district, Arkhangelsk region, came to the inter-village Mezen Day event arranged for the first time by the Silver Taiga Foundation for Sustainable Development. In total 400 people participated in the celebration.

“For five years already the Silver Taiga Foundation supported by Mondi Group has been implementing the Model River Project – Sustainable Fishery Resource Management in Cooperation with the Local Population in Udora district. Under the project, meetings are conducted at various grounds – at conferences, workshops, the project working group meetings, at AgroUdora cooperative, in rural settlements, and we discuss both on the district and regional levels how we can manage this huge and complex asset (the river length is almost one thousand kilometers) sustainably. The Mezen flows from the Timan rocks to the White Sea. And as the five years passed have shown, there is a certain progress. More and more enthusiasts join us, schoolchildren are also active in the project, and we hope that this event will serve as a uniting start for preservation of the river resources – fish and forest growing by the river,” announced Yury Pautov, the Silver Taiga Foundation director, at the opening ceremony.

Silver Taiga Director Yury Pautov

The Mezen flows across three districts – Udora district in the Komi Republic, Mezen and Leshokonye districts in Arkhangelsk region. With no good roads available, the river has served as an only means of communication between the residents of near Mezen areas for long. Till the end of the previous century districts had strong ties, people travelled to each other, intercommunicated, made families, while in recent years the connecting bonds have been getting loose.

“We want to help the river to preserve its primeval nature, its beauty, its biodiversity, its most valuable resources. Life shows that human actions do not always contribute to it. And so as each of us understood how important it is, we sometimes need to remind ourselves of the role of the river in our life, give the hard-working, beautiful, fostering river what it deserves… Officially speaking, the main objective of the event is to draw the attention of the public and authorities to the issue of the need to preserve the resources of one of the most important rivers of the North. The river knows no borders, so we can only conserve its assets altogether in mutual understanding and cooperation with each other. It is not possible to reproduce and multiply fishery resources locally, in one place only, the environmental bodies and local communities of the three districts have to act jointly. So, in order to unite the efforts of all stakeholders this celebration was organized,” deputy director of the Silver Taiga Foundation Valentina Semyashkina explained.

The program of the festival also included the environmental education part, for example, a lecture on ichthyology, regional study quiz, intellectual game What? Where? When?. The lecture by Nikolay Shilov, coordinator of the Model River Mezen project, unexpectedly raised much interest – there were a lot of those who were willing to learn the details of the life of the Mezen fish population.

N. Shilov is giving a lecture

A lot of village residents came to support their fellow villagers at the What? Where? When? game. The Model River Mezen project working group played against the local experts. To the great joy of the experts and sadly for the working group members, the game was won by Bolshaya Pyssa residents. The best player was acknowledged to be Mikhail Selivanov, and the best question was asked by Alexey Vurdov, who got a prize for it.

Mikhail Selivanov was considered as the best player of the “What? Where? When?” game

“In near Mezen settlements the many centuries old culture – traditions and customs, folklore and cuisine, songs and dialects – are still preserved. And today hardworking and talented people – craftsmen, who know and love their native land – live near the Mezen. So, this event is a good opportunity for them to show their results, and for us to thank them. It is primarily a brotherhood celebration,” Alexey Vurdov shared his impressions.

At the Mezen Day, the Udora writer acted in an unusual role and demonstrated to the visitors the recipe of a traditional Udora dish “lul” normally offered to the dearest guests on most important holidays. Only selected guests could try the delicacy, but everyone else was treated with the fish soup cooked according to old Mezen recipes. The fish soup was cooked in a big pot at the most slightly spot, and having absorbed the smoke of the fire it was extremely tasty.

Tasting the fish soup

The regional study quiz was conducted at the ground near the exhibition of books with contents related to the Mezen area. It turned out, the Udora residents do not know their native area well, and the facts they heard at the quiz show were a discovery for many of them. The right answers were awarded with tokens, and those who had most of the tokens received prizes – tea mugs with the same picture displaying the landscape of the area as was on the banner decorating the scene.

Regional natural history aroused a great interest among the participants

In a tent camp near the Bolshaya Pyssa Recreational Center local craftsmen Vladimir Bushenev, Oxana Baklanova and Nikolay Matveev conducted traditional arts and crafts workshops. Adults and kids were obsessed with the bark pipe making process, they painted wooden plates with traditional Mezen ornaments, and the youngest participants colored fishes made of plywood with paints.

Vladimir Bushenev is giving a master class

The young participants are in the painting class of N. Matveev

During the festival, meetings with Udora poets Anastasia Busheneva, Nina Obreskova and Svetlana Govorukhina were arranged in the hall of the Pyssa library.

The “newly-crowned” citizen of honor of Udora district Albert Loginov (he got the certificate validating the title right at the opening ceremony of the inter-village celebration from Nikolay Zhilin, head of the district administration) gave a master-class on how to make a Mezen boat, which is called “zyryanka” in Arkhangelsk region. The structure of the boat is known to be referred to the Vym type. There are almost no craftsmen able to build such a boat by the Mezen left, and the only one who knows the secrets of the ancient craft in the village is Albert.

The Mezen boat made by Albert Loginov

Also, the exhibition of the paintings by Nikolay Pavlov, born in the village of Latyuga, was opened at the festival. The works depict natural landscapes well known to the local residents, and each of the visitors to the exhibition was eager to compare the painter’s vision with own impressions. The exhibition made them proud of their native land. Irina Tarabukina, the painter’s daughter living in Syktyvkar, also came for her father’s exhibition opening. She told the fellow villagers about her father’s art, his life and the history of some of his paintings.

The paintings of Ivan Pavlov – a native of Udora (Latjuga village)

Here, the visitors could observe the paintings by Nadezhda Loginova, who spends each summer in her native village Bolshaya Pyssa.

At the end of the celebration, visitors could enjoy the performance of folk bands – Vozhgora folk choir from the neighboring Arkhangelsk region, Poloznicha artist band from Syolyb, folk band Zabavushka from Politovo, folk choir Lovya Va from Koslan, dance band Assorti and folk band Sostom Yol from Bolshaya Pyssa.

The local amateur-talent group

Almost all organizations and institutions of the village, including the administration, Recreational Center of Pyssa, Pyssa Secondary School, Udora Centralized Library System, Veterans Council and Women Council of Bolshaya Pyssa supported actively the festival facilitation.

The volunteers assisted during the event

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Mezen is one of the cleanest rivers in Europe. Its length from the riverhead to the estuary is 966 km. Mezen is the second river after the Northern Dvina in terms of the amount of water it brings to the White Sea. On its way to the White Sea the Mezen is nurtured by 15,187 rivers and streams. The bed of the river sometimes narrows and sometimes widens. The width of the river – 15 meters initially – increases to 40 meters gradually.

The local population want to learn something new about the native region

The guests have come from all over the region

The greatest event

Awarding ceremony

The organizers of the event

Pike Will “Clean” the Irva Lakes

03.07.2017| News, «Model river «Mezen» project by Just Author

200 thousand young pikes were released to the Irva river (the Mezen tributary) in Udora district at the expense of the Silver Taiga Foundation for Sustainable Development on 30 June. The juvenile fish release was attended by Vladimir Maltsev, temporary acting head of the Komi branch of the Federal Fishery Agency (GlavRybVod), and Nikolay Zhilin, head of Udora district administration.

The young pikes were delivered to the village of Glotovo by trucks, and then were transported along the Irva by boat. They were released to the river by Krivushevo near the AgroUdora cooperative fishery plot. Stocking of the river with fish was part of the Foundation’s Model River Mezen project.

The event was preceded by lots of work. First of all, a recommendation of the N.M. Knipovich Polar Research Institute of Marine Fisheries and Oceanography (Murmansk) was obtained. Then, based on the recommendation, a permission was issued to allow young pike release to the Mezen within Udora district. The fish was grown at the research facility of the Komi branch of GlavRybVod.

“Owing to well-coordinated efforts of the Komi branch the needed amount of juvenile fish was brooded, timely delivered and released to the Irva. It is worth to note that pike is not the most popular species for artificial reproduction. The grayling, cisco and other valuable fish species are subject to stocking more frequently. However, we decided to select the pike, as it has a huge food reserve in the Irva lake system. It mostly includes the roach and perch, which tend to grow in terms of their population due to progressing overgrowth of aquatic plants in the Irva lakes. The pike is expected to control the population of low-value fish species. At the same time, pike is demanded by the local population and has become a so-called “brand” of the Irva river”, says Nikolay Shilov, the Model River Mezen project coordinator.

The young fish handling

In 3-4 years, the youngsters released will provide almost half a ton of market fish. The AgroUdora cooperative will harvest the fish and sell it to local retail chains. Later on it is planned to expand the list of fish species recommended to be released to the Mezen. For instance, the cisco population is expected to be stocked.

The Irva lakes are a network chained by the Irva river. Therefore, their cleaning from aquatic plants by AgroUdora will become the following stage of the Model River Mezen project. During the reclamation, the weeds are planned to be taken out of water and composted. The test activities are expected at the end of this month.

The young fish

The river is stocked

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