Building Partnerships in RussiaNews & Program Updates

WSC and Russian conservation scientists work together toward Kamchatka Regional Assessment

In December, WSC staff made a trip to Kamchatka, Russia to meet with partners regarding the Kamchatka Regional Assessment, a project that will look at the habitat condition of a subset of watersheds on Kamchatka. This project will provide a baseline data set for Kamchatka watersheds. This prototype for assessing/monitoring watershed habitat can then be applied to programs across the North Pacific.

Most notably, our staff met with key organizations that will be involved in the Kamchatka Krai Protected Area Development Plan. This included Olga Chernyagina from the Pacific Institute of Geography, Evgeniy Lobkov, Wild Fishes and Biodiversity Foundation and Aleftina Palataeva, Kamchatka Krai, Department of Environmental Protection. These organizations signed a three way agreement to facilitate the Protected Area development plan, an unprecedented event between government and private organizations on Kamchatka.