The History of Fishing on the Mezen

A museum corner “The history of the fishing on the Mezen” has been established in the National museum of the Udora district in the framework of the Model River Mezen project.

The exhibits representing the ancient fishing gear and other attributes of the traditional fishing are combined in a unified exposition with a banner showing the river views and the scheme of the Mezen basin at the background. Besides, the old photos, elements of the local fishermen equipment many attributes of which preserved the traditional family coat of arms – pasy – have been used in the exposition.

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At the “Komi Book” Festivities in Bolshaya Pyssa

The Silver Taiga Foundation has participated in the republican “Komi book” festivities, which this time took place in the Udora village Bolshaya Pyssa.

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Environmental Troops on the Mezen

15072014

The first stage of the Udora pupils environmental expedition organized in the framework of the Model River Mezen project has come to an end. Six 7-11-graders together with their leaders Alexander Morozov and Alexander Butyrev have sailed on a catamaran along the Mezen – from the Lower Puzla inflow into the Mezen to Usogorsk.

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The Swedes Have Observed the Natural Forest Dynamics in the Komi Model Forest

A group of representatives of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry has visited the demonstration sites of the Komi Model Forest within the framework of an international seminar organized by the Syktyvkar Forest Institute.

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Stocking of the Irva Lakes with Fish Started

Last week the first practice of the stocking the “AgroUdora” cooperative fishing grounds with fish was held.

The cooperative leases five fishing grounds on the Irva, the tributary of the Mezen. The members of the Glotovo branch of the “ArgoUdora” – the residents of the village with the same name and the relating villages – are engaged in the fishing on these fishing grounds, mainly for their own needs, according to the allocated quotas. The cooperative is one of the participants of the Model River Mezen project implementation representing the community of the local residents who are above all others interested in the conservation of the fish resources. Therefore, the cooperative is dedicated to the sustainable river management development. The monitoring and maintenance of the fish stock, including the fish stocking, is one of the conditions of such management.

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Ecologists Are Preparing the Routes for the Summer Educational Season

The first expedition of another field season of the Silver Taiga Foundation ecologists is devoted to the preparation of the Komi Model Forest demonstration routes for the educational courses, seminars, and excursions, which have been traditionally organized and conducted by the Foundation for more than ten years now.

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Model Forest Needs an Experimental Status

The All-Russian “Tree planting day” campaign in the Komi Republic has been attended by the Minister for Natural Resources of Russia Sergey Donskoy and the Head of Rosleskhoz Vladimir Lebedev. In the course of their visit they got the materials on the results of the “Komi Model Forest” project implementation in Komi – an electronic presentation and a movie.

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Volunteers to Be Engaged in Real Work

Another meeting with potential Foundation volunteers – students of the faculty of chemistry and biology of the Syktyvkar University – took place in the Silver Taiga Foundation office.

The Silver Taiga Director Yury Pautov told the future ecologists and biologists about the Foundation projects. The ecologist Nikolay Shuktomov informed them about the activities within the frameworks of these projects in which the voluntary helpers – a few volunteers who are already involved in the projects implementation – take part.

However, the main target of the meeting was an acquaintance of the Foundation employees with the potential volunteers, their interests and skills, and their motivation. They wanted to pay attention of the new volunteers wishing to join the existing ones to the fact that the Silver Taiga does not specialize on organization of mass actions (tree planting, litter removal, etc.).

Although the Foundation employees regularly participate in such annual voluntary clean-ups as “Rechnaya lenta” (River ribbon), “Mayovka”, and other similar events, professional goals and objectives of the Foundation are a bit different. The Silver Taiga Foundation projects are development projects aimed at approbation and introduction of the sustainable management of natural resources – forests, rivers, watersheds – on a designated area. Our efforts are directed at the conservation of the ecological forest values, the most precious pristine forest massifs, involvement of the local population in the management process, support of the “forest” rural settlements development, sustainable forest management training for the forest relations participants…

Accordingly, what the Foundation team expects from the volunteers is not the massiveness and one-time sounding campaigns but specific help in the implementation of these projects and other fields of activity. Our voluntary assistants take part in the field works conducted in the forest and on the river, help to organize conferences and seminars, work with the Foundation photo archive, translate English-language sources on the project topics, etc. While performing this “isolated” not always noticeable work all of them make a real contribution to the sustainable development of our region and, at the same time, obtain new knowledge and improve their professional skills.

If someone reading this information would like to take part in such work, he/she can fill out a form and send it to the following address: nshuktomov@komimodelforest.ru. After that the Silver Taiga employees will contact you to discuss the prospects for cooperation.

Valentina Semyashkina
Translated by Irina Sokolova

Common Problems Have to Be Solved by Common Efforts

The first joint conference of the stakeholders representing different districts and regions, and different departments was held on March 14 within the frameworks of the “Model river Mezen” project. It was organized in the village Leshukonskoye – the center of the district with the same name adjacent to the Udorsky district and located in the middle reaches of the Mezen river where the Vashka meets the Mezen.

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On Interregional Cooperation and Recreational Fishing on the Mezen

Interregional cooperation and recreational fishing on the Mezen was discussed at another meeting of the “Model river Mezen” project Working group held at the end of February.

Yury Pautov, “Silver Taiga” Director and member of the Working group engaged in the development of this document, informed the audience about the progress of implementation of the project initiative on creation of an interregional target program aimed at conservation and reproduction of the Atlantic salmon in the Mezen river. He introduced the audience to the main sections of the Program under development.

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