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Zapovednik (Russian: заповедник, plural заповедники, from the Russian заповедный, "sacred, prohibited from disturbance, committed [to protect], committed [to heritage]") is an established term on the territory of the former Soviet Union for a protected area which is kept "forever wild". It is the highest degree of environmental protection for the assigned areas that are strictly protected, and maybe restricted to the public.
The literal English translation is "nature sanctuary" (like animal sanctuary), however in practice zapovediks are not always only connected with nature, but can also incorporate historical-cultural, historical-archeological, and other types of cultural or natural heritage. They also function as important sites for historical research and so are comparable to the Sites of Special Scientific Interest as found in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong.
The term was used in the former Soviet Union and still is in the Russian Federation as well as in some of the other 14 former Soviet republics. Human use is generally limited to scientific research or educational purposes. However, many reserves have areas with different degrees of protection, and sometimes other activities (such as grazing) are permitted to a certain extent. Zapovednik refers to the reserve, staff and infrastructure.
Other types of protected areas include national nature parks, zakazniks (refers to "state game reserve" because a limited authorized hunting is also allowed there ), nature monuments (often individual trees, geological exposures, or other small areas) etc. Some zapovedniks are recognized as biosphere reserves (biosphere sanctuaries).
In Russia there are 101 zapovedniks covering about 330,000 square kilometers (130,000 sq mi), or about 1.4% of the country's total area. They include everything from isolated patches of steppe to large tracts of Siberia and the Arctic, and range in size from Galich'ya Gora at 2.31 km² (570 acres) to Great Arctic State Nature Reserve at 41,692 square kilometers (16,097 sq mi). The Russian Ministry of Natural Resources oversees 99 of the zapovedniks. Il'menskiy is, however, administered by the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Galich'ya Gora by Voronezh State University.
Theory of zapovednost'
The theoretical justification for the zapovedniks is known as zapovednost' (заповедность) - strictly meaning 'the state of being protected in a zapovednik'. It was developed in the 1890s and early 20th century, principally by the soil biologist V.V.Dokuchaev.
The fundamental idea is the exclusion of people and the prohibition of economic activity, the only exceptions being non-intrusive access allowed to scientists and rangers. Zapovedniks are intended to be parcels of untouched natural ecosystems that can be studied as etalony (эталоны) or standards with which to compare managed ecosystems, such as are created in agriculture and forestry. To this end, zapovedniks need to be large enough to be self-sufficient, with a complete range of trophic levels up to the top predators.
In 1910 the theory of zapovednost' was taken a step forward by I.P.Borodin, who argued that zapovedniks should not be established piece-meal, but as a planned system of reserves including samples of all the main natural regions in the country.
In the 1940s Aldo Leopold understood the need for zapovednik-type reserves: "While even the largest wilderness areas become partially deranged, it required only a few wild acres for J.E.Weaver to discover why the prairie flora is more drought-resistant than the agronomic flora which has supplanted it." The answer was that the wild prairie had a much more complex, and more efficient, root system, and this could only have been discovered by studying the undisturbed natural ecosystem.
Of course it would be difficult, if not impossible, to establish a 'perfect' zapovednik today, entirely natural and self-sufficient, especially in view of downstream effects involving pollution and greenhouse gases. Nevertheless many Russian zapovedniks are a good approximation to the ideal, and have been operating as scientific institutions for many decades.
The first zapovedniks were set up in the steppe region of the Russian Empire in the 1890s. Some at least were equipped with research stations. Dokuchaev was the guiding spirit behind these early zapovedniks. Steppe was chosen for the first zapovedniks on account of the rapid disappearance of virgin steppe as it was ploughed up, and because it was thought that ploughing might be exacerbating the effects of drought; clearly research was needed in order to understand the steppe and how it could be best exploited.
The applied-science motivation for setting up zapovedniks was continued in the first state-organized zapovednik. Barguzin Nature Reserve was established by the tsarist government in 1916 on the eastern shore of Lake Baikal. Its purpose was to protect and study a population of sable - a valuable species, which was declining due to hunting for its fur. Other zapovedniks appear to have been set up at about the same time but either lapsed (e.g. Sayan) or did not receive formal recognition until later (e.g. Kedrovaya Pad').
Lenin's nationalization of the land in 1917 and 1918 created a legally favourable environment for the Soviet zapovednik system, since problems with securing large areas of land for this purpose from private owners immediately disappeared. Fortunately[weasel words] Lenin appears[weasel words] to have had a genuine interest in nature protection,[neutrality is disputed] and this perhaps partly explains why permission was granted promptly for the creation in 1919 of Astrakhan Zapovednik in the Volga Delta on the north-western shore of the Caspian Sea.
The legal recognition of zapovedniks was put on a firm basis by a measure 'On the Protection of Nature Monuments, Gardens and Parks', signed into law by Lenin in 1921. Although creation of zapovedniks went ahead, the legislation also allowed for national parks, though for some reason none was set up in the Soviet Union for another half century.
By 1933 there were 15 state zapovedniks in Russia, and by 1995 115 had been established. The average area of new zapovedniks declined from 780 km² in 1916-25 to 110 km² in 1936-45, and then rose to 5,060 km² in 1986-95. In 2007 there were 101 operating zapovedniks, reflecting a small number of new ones opened since 1995, but also two periods of closures and contraction of the system. The first of these was planned by Aleksandr Malinovskii, and carried out in 1951, with a view to turning the zapovedniks into 'commercial-and-research' institutions, as well as releasing substantial areas of protected forest for commercial exploitation. Over the next 10 years the zapovednik system recovered somewhat, but in 1961 Nikita Khrushchev criticized it, famously referring to a film about Altay Zapovednik in which a scientist was shown watching a squirrel gnawing a nut. Six zapovedniks were closed, and others were amalgamated or reduced in area.
Although in theory a zapovednik is an institution with an extensive area of unspoilt natural ecosystems used only for scientific research with a residential staff of scientists and rangers, the history of many zapovedniks has in fact been rather different, sometimes involving closure, exploitation (including felling of forest), and eventual reopening. Even so, some zapovedniks have had an almost 'unblemished' history, and most retain the original vision of being scientific research institutions not catering for public recreation.
It is not easy to summarize the coverage of ecosystems protected by zapovedniks, but a rough idea can be gained by counting the number of reserves in the main natural-vegetation zones. On the map these are, from north to south:
- Arctic desert (treeless; no continuous vegetation cover) and tundra (treeless; small shrubs, sedges, mosses)
- taiga (coniferous boreal forest with admixture of birch and other deciduous trees)
- deciduous forest (discontinuous zone dominated by oak and other deciduous species)
- steppe (treeless, dominated by forbs in the north and grasses in the south).
This is a highly simplistic classification: each major zone is divided into subzones, and there are transitional vegetation types. Moreover many zapovedniks, especially if in a transitional zone or covering a range of altitudes, will contain examples of several vegetation types.
With those qualifications, the numbers of zapovednik sites (some zapovedniks occupy widely dispersed sites, some of which are here counted separately) in the different zones are as follows: Arctic desert and tundra - c.15; taiga - c.40; deciduous forest - c.13; steppe - c.30. About half a dozen are predominantly montane, especially in the Caucasus. Komandorsky and Wrangel Island are remote islands. A few are mainly wetlands.
Management and uses
Although the principle of zapovednost' stipulates no economic use, in practice zapovedniks have often been required to contribute to the national economy. Voronezh Zapovednik, for instance, bred European beavers for reintroduction to other areas in support of the fur industry. Several zapovedniks have also been regarded as a breeding ground for other commercially valuable fur-bearing animals, such as sable and desman, allowing them to spread into neighboring unprotected areas to support commercial trapping.
Non-intervention management is difficult to practise in steppe zapovedniks, which are often far too small to support a self-sustaining ecosystem including wild herbivores (such as saiga) that may have been migratory. Resort is sometimes made to various mowing regimes, which however cannot satisfactorily replace natural processes insofar as it does not recycle nutrients and organic matter through the herbivore and carnivore food chain, and cannot replicate trampling effects.
An important activity in all zapovedniks is regular monitoring of seasonal events (phenology). This is now standardized in a programme of observations known as the Chronicle of Nature (Летопись природы). The name was suggested by Aleksandr Formozov in 1937 although a monitoring programme was being developed by V.N.Sukachev in 1914 and Grigorii Kozhevnikov in 1928. Instructions for conducting the Chronicle of Nature are periodically updated.
Under the pressure to become self-financing, some zapovedniks have tried at various times to develop ecological tourism - usually in the reserve's buffer zone, so avoiding infringement of the principle of zapovednost'. In some cases tourism does however become a serious problem on account of the proximity of recreation centres, e.g. at Teberdinsky Zapovednik in the Caucasus. The Dombai recreation center, long a favorite Russian alpine skiing destination, is located near the center of the zapovednik, and the impact of tourism in the area as more Russians and foreigners come to visit has created pressure on the preserved ecosystems around it.
International significance of the zapovednik system
The anthropogenic impact on the environment - due to pollution, climate change and ultimately human population growth - is generating increasingly serious problems, the solution of which will depend on a better understanding of the biosphere than we already have. To provide conditions in which such an understanding can be developed, it is essential to preserve as far as possible intact examples of natural ecosystems, and the zapovedniks are the only large system of protected areas created primarily for this purpose. In the case of soil erosion, for example, it is only by comparing soil formation and loss rates from intact steppe or prairie and from the same kind of land under intensive agriculture that we can appreciate how destructive of natural capital the latter often is.
Regular long-term monitoring of natural phenomena in zapovedniks has also provided a baseline set of data which is now valuable for assessing how anthropogenic pressure, primarily through climate change, is affecting natural ecosystems. Since the latter perform essential functions such as carbon sequestration and nutrient cycling, it is obviously important to know how these ecosystem services are being affected by anthropogenic pressure. There is an argument for establishing a well funded global network of zapovedniks in order to increase our understanding of anthropogenic pressures on all the natural ecosystems of the world.
List of zapovedniks in Russia
km² (sq. mi.)
|Altai||Altai Republic||8812 (3402)||1932||Part of Golden Mountains of Altai World Heritage Site.|
|Astrakhan||Astrakhan Oblast||668 (258)||1919||Consisting of 3 areas in Volga River delta at the Caspian Sea|
|Azas||Tyva Republic||3340 (1290)||1985|
|Barguzin||Buryat Republic||3744 (1446)||1916||Part of Lake Baikal World Heritage Site.|
|Basegi||Perm Krai||380 (147)||1982||In central Urals on Basegi Range|
|Bashkirski||Bashkortostan Rep.||496 (192)||1930||Consisting of 2 sites in the southern Urals|
|Bastak||Khabarovsk Krai||918 (354)||1997|
|Baikal||Buryat Republic||1657 (640)||1969||Located on terraces of south shore of Lake Baikal in Khamar-Daban Range|
|Baykal-Lena||Irkutsk Oblast||6599 (2548)||1986||Part of Lake Baikal World Heritage Site, includes the headwaters of the Lena River west of Lake Baikal|
|Belogore||Belgorod Oblast||21 (8)||1999|
|Astrakhan Oblast||185 (71)||1997||In western part of the Caspian lowland on the left bank of Volga River, includes Lake Baskunchak (largest salt lake in the country)|
|Bolon||Khabarovsk Krai||1036 (400)||1997|
|Bolshaya Kokshaga||Mari El Republic||216 (83)||1993|
|Bolshekhekhtsir||Khabarovsk Krai||454 (175)||1963||Isolated highland region (Bolshoy Khekhtsir) near confluence of Amur and Ussuri Rivers|
|Botcha||Khabarovsk Krai||2670 (1031)||1994||Includes the Botcha River basin in the northern Sikhote-Alin Mountains|
|Bryansk Forest||Bryansk Oblast||122 (47)||1987|
|Bureya||Khabarovsk Krai||3580 (1382)||1987||Includes mountains between Pravaya Bureya and Levaya Bureya Rivers|
Republic of Adygea Rep.
|2803 (1082)||1924||Part of Western Caucasus World Heritage Site|
|Central Black-Earth||Kursk Oblast
|51 (20)||1935||Consisting of 6 sites of forests and steppes dissected by ravines|
|Central Forest||Tver Oblast||214 (83)||1931|
|Central Siberia||Krasnoyarsk Krai||10220 (3946)||1985||Consisting of taiga on the western slopes of the Central Siberian Plateau|
|Cherny Zemli||Kalmykia Rep.||1219 (470)||1990|
|Dagestan||Republic of Dagestan Rep.||191 (74)||1987||Consisting of 2 sites along the Caspian Sea coast|
|Primorsky Krai||643 (248)||1987||Consisting of 3 marine areas and 12 islands in the Sea of Japan|
|Dauriya||Chita Oblast||448 (173)||1987|
|Denezhkin Kamen||Sverdlovsk Oblast||782 (302)||1991||Originally founded in 1946 with 1350 km2 but not operational between 1960 and 1990|
|Erzi||Ingushetia Rep.||60 (23)||2000|
|Galichya Gora||Lipetsk Oblast||2.30 (0.89)||1925||From 1952 to 1970 it was an experimental farm; consisting of 6 sites in the Don River basin|
|Great Arctic||Krasnoyarsk Krai||41692 (16097)||1993||Includes 7 sites on mainland and islands of Taymyr Peninsula|
|Gydan||Yamalo-Nenets Okrug||8782 (3391)||1996||Located on peninsulas and islands in Kara Sea, includes 718 km2 of sea|
|Ilmen||Chelyabinsk Oblast||304 (117)||1920||Established as a mineralogical reserve in the southern Urals|
|Jerginski||Buryat Republic||2379 (919)||1992||Includes the upper Barguzin River in the Barguzin Range|
|Jugjurski||Khabarovsk Krai||8600 (3320)||1990||Includes coastal ridges and some islands of Sea of Okhotsk|
|Kabardino-Balkarski||Kabardino-Balkaria||828 (320)||1976||Consisting mostly of glacier and bare rock in Caucasus Mountains|
|Kaluzhskiye Zaseki||Kaluga Oblast||185 (71)||1992|
|Kandalaksha||Murmansk Oblast||705 (272)||1932||Consisting of the coast and islands around White Sea and Kola Peninsula|
|Katun||Altai Republic||1520 (587)||1991||Includes the upper Katun River in the Altay Mountains; part of Golden Mountains of Altai World Heritage Site|
|Kedrovaya Pad||Primorsky Krai||179 (69)||1925||Includes mountains and valley of Kedrovaya River|
|Kerzhinski||Nizhny Novgorod||469 (181)||1993|
|Khakasski||Khakassia Rep.||2680 (1035)||1991||Formed from the merger of Little Abakan and Chazy in 1999|
|Khanka||Primorsky Krai||393 (152)||1990||Consisting of part of Khanka Lake and its surroundings on the Chinese border|
|Khingan||Amur Oblast||972 (375)||1963||Includes part of Malyi Khingan Range on the border with China|
|Khopyor||Voronezh Oblast||162 (63)||1935||Consisting of forests and steppes along the Khopyor River|
|Kivach||Karelia Rep.||109 (42)||1931|
|Kologrivski Forest||Kostroma Oblast||589 (227)||2006|
|Komandor||Kamchatka Krai||36487 (14088)||1993||Includes the Commander Islands off the coast of Kamchatka Peninsula in the Pacific Ocean|
|Komsomolsk||Khabarovsk Krai||645 (249)||1963||Originally near Komsomolsk-on-Amur then relocated to mountainous area west of Amur River in 1980|
|Koryak||Koryak Okrug||3272 (1263)||1995||Includes lowland and highland sites of lakes, bogs, and tundra in the north of Kamchatka Peninsula|
|Kostamuksha||Karelia Rep.||475.69 (183.66)||1983||In 1990 it was joined with protected areas in Finland to form transborder Friendship Nature Reserve|
|Kronotski||Kamchatka Krai||11420 (4409)||1934||Part of Volcanoes of Kamchatka World Heritage Site.|
|Kurils||Sakhalin Oblast||654 (253)||1984||Includes 3 sites on Kuril Islands and Kunashir Island|
|Kuznetski-Ala-Tau||Kemerovo Oblast||4130 (1595)||1989|
|Lapland||Murmansk Oblast||2784 (1075)||1930||Includes mountains, taiga, and tundra of Kola Peninsula|
|Lazovski||Primorsky Krai||1209.89 (467.13)||1940||Formerly called Sudzukhinski and originally part of Sikhote-Alin reserve|
|Lena Delta||Sakha (Yakutiya) Rep.||14330 (5533)||1985||Includes the Lena River delta on the Arctic coast of the Laptev Sea|
|Little Sosva||Khanty–Mansi Okrug||2256 (871)||1976||Includes part of the former Kondo-Sosva reserve|
|Magadan||Magadan Oblast||8838 (3412)||1982||Includes 4 sites around northern coast of Sea of Okhotsk|
|Mordovski||Mordovia Rep.||322 (124)||1936|
|Nenets||Nenets Okrug||3134 (1210)||1997||Includes part of the Pechora River delta and some islands of the Barents Sea|
|Nizhnesvirsky||Leningrad Oblast||416 (161)||1980||Includes bogs and forest of the shores of Svir River and Lake Ladoga|
|Nora||Amur Oblast||2112 (815)||1998|
|North Osetia||North Ossetia–Alania||295 (114)||1967||Consisting of north slope of Great Caucasus Mountains|
|Nurgush||Kirov Oblast||57 (22)||1994||Includes floodplain of Vyatka River, with numerous channels and ox-bow lakes|
|Oka||Ryazan Oblast||557 (215)||1935||Includes bogs, forest, and dunes along the Oka River|
|Olyokma||Sakha (Yakutiya) Rep.||8471 (3271)||1984||Includes hills and mountains on the right bank of Olyokma River|
|Orenburg||Orenburg Oblast||217 (84)||1989||Consisting of 4 sites of hills and steppe in the southern Urals|
|Pasvik||Murmansk Oblast||146 (56)||1992||Includes taiga in the Paz River basin near the Norwegian border|
|Pechora-Ilych||Komi Republic||7213 (2785)||1930||Includes part of the Virgin Komi Forests World Heritage site|
|Pinezhsky||Arkhangelsk Oblast||515 (199)||1974||Consisting mostly of taiga along the Pinega River|
|Polistovsky||Pskov Oblast||380 (147)||1994||Includes part of the largest raised-bog system in Europe (Polisto-Lovatskaya)|
|Poronaysky||Sakhalin Oblast||567 (219)||1988||Consisting of 2 sites of taiga lowland and hills on Sakhalin Island|
|Prioksko-Terrasny||Moscow Oblast||49 (19)||1945||Includes unusual meadow-steppe vegetation ('Oka Flora')|
|Prisurski||Chuvash Rep.||91 (35)||1995|
|Privolzhskaya Forest-steppe||Penza Oblast||84 (32)||1989||Consisting of 5 sites in a forest-steppe zone|
|Putorana||Krasnoyarsk Krai||18873 (7287)||1988||Includes mountains, taiga, tundra, and lakes in northern Siberia|
|Rdeysky||Novgorod Oblast||369 (142)||1994||Borders with Polist Zapovednik; part of largest raised-bog system in Europe|
|Rostov||Rostov Oblast||95 (37)||1995|
|Sayano-Shushenski||Krasnoyarsk Krai||3904 (1507)||1976||Includes part of the Sayan Mountains|
|Shulgan-Tash||Bashkortostan Rep.||225 (87)||1986||Formerly part of Bashkirski Zapovednik|
|Sikhote-Alin||Primorsky Krai||4010 (1548)||1935||Part of Sikhote-Alin World Heritage Site|
|Sokhondo||Chita Oblast||2110 (815)||1973|
|Stolby||Krasnoyarsk Krai||471 (182)||1925||Includes part of the Sayan Mountains|
|South Urals||Bashkortostan Rep.||2530 (977)||1978||Includes part of the southern Ural Mountains|
|Taymyr||Krasnoyarsk Krai||17819 (6880)||1979||Includes part of the northernmost forest in the world, Lake Taymyr, and Arctic desert on spurs of the Byrranga Mountains|
|Teberda||Karachay–Cherkessia||850 (328)||1936||Consisting of 2 sites of forest and glaciers in the Caucasus Mountains|
|Tigirekskiy||Altai Republic||407 (157)||1999|
|2970 (1147)||1995||Site of the 1908 Tunguska event|
|Ubsunurski Depression||Tyva Republic||3230 (1247)||1993||Part of Uvs Nuur basin World Heritage Site, together with Uvs Nuur State Nature Reserve in Mongolia|
|Upper Taz||Yamalo-Nenets Okrug||6313 (2437)||1986||Includes bogs and taiga on the upper portion of the Taz River|
|Ussuri||Primorsky Krai||404 (156)||1932||Includes western spurs of Sikhote-Alin Mountains draining into the Ussuri River|
|Vishera||Perm Krai||2412 (931)||1990||Includes part of the northern Urals in the Vishera River basin|
|Visim||Sverdlovsk Oblast||135 (52)||1946|
|Vitim||Irkutsk Oblast||5850 (2259)||1982||Consisting mountains of the Kodar Range in the Vitim River basin|
|Volga-Kama||Tatarstan Rep.||101 (39)||1960||Consisting of 2 sites of forest along Volga River|
|Voronezh||Voronezh Oblast||311 (120)||1927||Includes half of Usmanski Forest along the Voronezh River|
|Vorona||Tambov Oblast||103 (40)||1994||Includes forest, steppe, and wetlands in the Vorona River valley|
|Wrangel Island||Chukotka Okrug||22260 (8595)||1976||Part of 'Natural System of Wrangel Island Reserve' World Heritage Site|
|Yugan||Khanty–Mansi Okrug||6490 (2506)||1982|
|Zeya||Amur Oblast||994 (384)||1963||Includes part of the Tukuringr Range and the Zeya River basin|
|Zhiguli||Samara Oblast||231 (89)||1927||On Samarskaya Luka Peninsula and islands in Volga River|
- Source:"Current zapovedniks of the Russian Federation". Russian Nature Press Information Service. Retrieved 2008-01-24.
World Heritage Sites
- Lake Baikal (includes Barguzin Zapovednik);
- Western Caucasus (includes Caucasus Biosphere Reserve, parts of Teberda Biosphere Reserve and Sochi National Park);
- Sikhote-Alin (includes Sikhote-Alin Zapovednik);
- Golden Mountains of Altai (includes Altai and Katun zapovedniks);
- Volcanoes of Kamchatka (includes Kronotski Zapovednik and three national parks);
- Curonian Spit (includes Curonian Spit National Park);
- Virgin Komi Forests (includes Pechora-Ilych Biosphere Reserve);
- Uvs Nuur basin (includes Uvs Nuur Nature Reserve);
- Wrangel Island (includes Wrangel Island Zapovednik).
Typically, a nature reserve occupies only a part of the much larger World Heritage site.
- Filonov, K.P. & Nukhimovskaya, Yu. D. (1990) Letopis' prirody v zapovednikakh SSSR: metodicheskoye posobiye. Moscow: Nauka. ISBN 5-02-005470-4.
- Kokorin, A.O., Kozharinov, A.V. & Minin A.A. (2001) Climate Change Impact on Ecosystems. Moscow: WWF. ISBN 5-89932-024-9.
- Leopold, Aldo (1968) Sand County Almanac. London (&c): Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-500777-8.
- Montgomery, D.R. Dirt: the Erosion of Civilizations. Berkeley (&c): University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-24870-8.
- Shtil'mark, F.R. (2003) History of the Russian Zapovedniks 1895-1995. Edinburgh: Russian Nature Press. ISBN 0-9532990-2-3.
- Volkov, A.E. (ed.) (1996) Strict Nature Reserves (Zapovedniki) of Russia: Collection of Chronicle of Nature data for 1991-1992. Moscow: Sabashnikov Publishers. ISBN 5-8242-0051-3.
- Weiner, D.R. (1999) A Little Corner of Freedom: Russian Nature Protection from Stalin to Gorbachev. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-23213-5.
- Weiner, D.R. (2000) Models of Nature: Ecology, Conservation & Cultural Revolution in Soviet Russia (2nd edition). Pittsburgh Pa: University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 0-8229-5733-7.
- Zapovedniks, under "Russian Protected Areas," at russianconservation.org, retrieved December 19, 2005.
- Tsentr dickoy prirody
- Shtilmark (2003) p.2.
- Weiner (2000), p.91.
- Shtilmark (2003), pp.12-13.
- Shtilmark (2003), pp.17-18.
- Leopold (1968), pp.196-7.
- Shtilmark (2003), pp.10-13;Weiner (2000), p.12.
- Shtilmark (2003), p.25.
- Shtilmark (2003), pp.24-25.
- Shtilmark (2003), p.29.
- Shtilmark (2003), p.30; Weiner (2000), p.27.
- Shtilmark (2003), p.34; Weiner (2000), p.28.
- Weiner (2000), p.251.
- Shtilmark (2003), p.206.
- Shtilmark (2003), p.118; Weiner (1999), p.102.
- Shtilmark (2003), p.135; Weiner (1999), p.296.
- Shtilmark (2003), p.137.
- Shtilmark (2003), p.71.
- Shtilmark (2003), p.67.
- Shtilmark (2003), pp.67, 84, 96; Volkov (1996), p.9.
- Filonov & Nukhimovskaya (1990).
- Montgomery (2007), pp.150-8, 172-4.
- Kokorin et al.
- List of biosphere reserves / Europe
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nature reserves in Russia.|
- Wild-russia.org: Descriptions of 47 Zapovedniks and National Parks — text and images, arranged by bio-region.
- (English)—Rusnatpress.org: List of Russian Zapovedniks — with brief descriptions, contact details, and map coordinates.
- (Russian)—Oopt.info/zp: Tsentr dikoy prirody — lists all Zapovedniks, with maps and images.
- Isar.org: "Russia's Zapovednik System Reaches Out."
- Russianconservation.org: "Taking the Future of Russia's Protected Areas in Their Own Hands: Zapovednik Directors Meet in Vladivostok."
- (English)—Altai-republic.ru: The Altai Reserve