Biologists' project received support of the Governor of Altai Krai

"Let's revive the Salair cedar" - this is the name of the project, which has received grant support from the Governor of Altai Krai, and which will be implemented by the children from the school forestry Salair in the Yeltsovsky District.

The name speaks for itself. Back in the last century in our region, Siberian cedar pine, or simply cedar, like the dark coniferous taiga, grew more widely than now. But the wood of this tree is highly valued, and the cedar was actively cut down. In addition, some places of taiga were transformed by humans into pastures, hayfields, and in some cases even fields. Cedar suffers more than other species, since it grows 3-4 times slower than pine, and begins to bear fruit only after 60 years. In addition, it spreads very slowly: the cone will not fly far from the tree, and the chipmunk will not carry the nut far.

At the same time, the cedar is a very valuable tree for the forest ecosystem: many birds and animals feed on pine nuts, and small animals find refuge in its dense crown. Therefore, where cedar grows and bears fruit, forest life is richer and more diverse.

This valuable breed has practically disappeared in Salair and in the Yeltsovsky region. It is impossible to return it to these huge areas through mass planting, but small areas can be created from which, when young trees begin to bear fruit, the cedar will begin to spread. It is in our power to help nature in these places to recover, but this can be done successfully only with the support of the people who live here.

In winter, experts and activists of the Adopt a Wildlife Sanctuary program came to the children of the Yeltsov school - Lyudmila Pozhidaeva (program coordinator), Alexey Ebel (Vice-President of the Russian Bird Conservation Union) and Alexander Skachko (Head of the Karavan children's tourist unit from Pervomaisky district). The guests told the schoolchildren about the work done by their peers in other areas of Altai Krai to study and preserve nature, using specific examples they showed how exciting it can be, what a practical environmental effect it can produce. The meeting turned out to be interesting for both parties, and on the same day it was decided to create a school forestry Salair on the basis of the Yeltsov school, which will restore cedar in its small homeland, and the biology teacher Lyudmila Klyueva took over the leadership of this work. Now volunteers are often invited to plant a forest, but almost for the first time it was decided to do it where the planted trees will definitely not become wood - on the territory of the national park being created in Salair.

And they start working. Activists of the Adopt a Wildlife Sanctuary program - the Young Naturalist team from st. Alambay, Zarinsky district - they gave the Yeltsov schoolchildren zoned planting material - pine nuts, collected in the fall of 2019. The new Head of the school forestry carefully studied the methods of seed stratification - special preparation of nuts so that they germinate in spring. Together with the director of the school and the children, a place was chosen on the school territory where they decided to establish a cedar nursery. Sowing of seeds was timed to the end of the school year, and at the end of May in Yeltsovka, thanks to the efforts of schoolchildren and their mentor, Lyudmila Klyueva, a nursery for growing seedlings of a valuable coniferous species - cedar, appeared. In the future (in 3 years), their own planting material from small cedars will allow the children to plant it in the disturbed by gold mining areas in the places of the future national park, helping nature to recover from unreasonable management.

Summer is ahead, and the school forestry activists have a lot of work to do. And not only at the nursery - after all, they have planned many activities within the framework of the project!

So, during school holidays, the children intend to study the nature of their area together with the state environmental protection inspector in specially protected natural areas of regional significance Altaypriroda Alexei Rovkovsky, to get acquainted with the natural attractions of the Yeltsovsky reserve. Surely there will be many discoveries and valuable finds: the summer has just begun, and the naturalists of Salair have already managed to find and photograph a rare species from the Red Book of Altai Krai - a yellow daylily!

Together with the gamekeeper of the reserve, the children plan not only to learn about nature and its inhabitants, but also to provide all possible assistance in preserving biological diversity. For example, July is a great time to prepare brooms for feeding ungulates during the winter food shortage. In addition, the guys plan to make and install several different versions of bird houses for hollow-nesting birds and predators on the territory of the future national park. And in the fall it will be necessary to prepare seed material (pine nuts) so that the nursery can be enlarged next spring.

Traditionally, the school forestry will, of course, carry out educational work with the population, aimed at preventing uncontrolled grass fires. In the fall, the guys intend to hold a large event open to all interested villagers, talk about their findings and discoveries, share the results obtained from the work done and, of course, plans for the future, invite adult fellow villagers to participate in the restoration of cedar in Salair.

Let everything that was conceived work out, and we are always ready to help and support such activities in the regions of the region!

Lyudmila Pozhidaeva, graduate of the Faculty of Biology,
coordinator of the program "Adopt a reserve"