How we stopped the Ladoga Nature Reserve from burning down
I first went to Ladoga Skerries in 2008. It’s a unique landscape on the shores of Europe’s biggest lake, in Karelia, northwest Russia.
Dozens of small rocky islets are scattered among islands that are covered in trees and colourful mosses. It looks a bit like the Norwegian fjords. This is an atypical Scandinavian landscape for Russia.
Life is very fragile here: the soil layer is thin, and the trees, to resist the wind, are braided with rocks, breaking the stones with their roots.
The first time I went, I didn’t know about the 18 year long struggle to create a national park here. But I soon realised that it we needed to fight to protect this beautiful part of the world.
Since 2008, Greenpeace Russia has been organising a firefighting camp every year to look out for forest fires here. During July and August when the water warms up, tourists flock to the islands. They arrive by boat and often leave campfires unattended, starting forest fires which can rapidly spread out of control.
One campfire can destroy an entire island. It would take several centuries to restore, if it burnt down.
Because of the rocks and bluffs, the landscape is difficult to get around — you need a boat or a helicopter. During the fire season we patrol the territory every day to detect fires. We communicate with locals and tourists, distributing our cards so that people can call us to report a fire. In the last 10 years, we’ve managed to stop over 80 wildfires. 2010 and 2014 were very bad years. We were putting out fires almost twice a day.
Sometimes the Avialesookhrana (Aerial Forest Fire Centre) asks us to check and put out a fire, because they don’t have capacity. Municipal authorities are struggling to protect the area: they don’t have enough transport equipment nor money, and they can only work on the shore. There is a risk that the islands will burn away.
But now, after 27 years of hard campaigning, Greenpeace Russia is celebrating the establishment of a national park in Ladoga Skerries. A huge area of 122,000 hectares is now protected.
When I got the news, I didn’t believe it.
The area of the new national park is large and there is no clear vision of how to protect it. But I hope that more funds will be allocated for patrolling and preventing wildfires. We’ll be sharing our experience in firefighting and prevention with the authorities.
Now we can save this beautiful area not only from logging and land grabbing but also from the threat of fires.
This small part of the Great Northern Forest is protected. Let’s protect the rest too.
Vasily Aksenov is Chairman of the Board of the Voluntary Forest Firefighters Society, St. Petersburg
