“Bear Island” – Polar Bear Nature Reserve
As part of the national project ‘Ecology’, the Bear Island reserve will be created in the Russian Republic of Sacha on the basis of the regional reserves. The nature reserve will be located on the archipelago in the East Siberian Sea, north of the estuary of the River Kolyma.
According to scientists, up to 26 polar bear cubs are born here every year. The decision to create this reserve will be signed by the end of 2020 – the beginning of 2021. Funding for the national park will come from the federal budget, said Sakhamin Afanasyev, Minister of Ecology.
In his opinion, the archipelago is one of the most important places for the formation of polar bear caves in Yakutia today. In April this year, experts counted eight caves, 14 adult polar bears and 11 juveniles on the archipelago. The animals were well fed and did not pose a particular threat to humans.
Other nature parks in Yakutia
In 2018, the Lena Pillars National Park was founded in Yakutia. The park, which covers more than 1.2 million hectares, is home to 38 species of large mammals, and more than 100 species of birds nest, including such species listed on the Red List. In addition, the Lena Columns are themselves geological deposits with an age of about 500 million years. The park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
In 2019, Kytalyk National Park, with an area of more than 1.8 million hectares, was created in Yakutia on the basis of existing reserves to preserve tundra landscapes, a population of white cranes and reindeer.
Heiner Kubny, PolarJournal
