MURAVIOVKA PARK FOR
SUSTAINABLE LAND USE
INVITES INTERNATIONAL
VOLUNTEERS
TO PARTICIPATE IN OUR PROJECTS IN 2019
Those who have already visited the park can
tell you why people call it “The Island of Hope” and “The Land Where Crane
Dance and Children Laugh,” why people write poems and songs about this place, and
why in 1998 its volunteers from different countries established the first
international group in support of a natural area in Russia – the Friends of
Muraviovka Park. Read Zhuravl. FOMP annual bulletin at:
https://birdsrussia.ru/news/novosti-prirodookhrannogo-dvizheniya/novyy-vypusk-vestnika-muravevskogo-parka-v-amurskoy-oblasti-zhuravli/
Muraviovka Park was
established in 1994 on 16 000 acres of wetland and arable lands leased by the
International Socio-ecological Union in 45 km south of the city of
Blagoveshchensk, the capital of the Amur Region, as the first in Russia area
for sustainable land use to benefit both wildlife and people. It includes
wetlands, meadows and crop fields in the Amur River Basin, with trees and
shrubs representing just a little over 1% of the park area. Although there is
no strict legal protection, biodiversity on these “working” lands is comparable
to much larger governmental nature reserves with landscape that is more diverse
and where economic activities are excluded.
The park is one of the most important
breeding areas of the White-naped (Grus
vipio) and Red-crowned (Grus
japonensis) Cranes, Oriental Stork (Ciconia
boyciana), Yellow-breasted Bunting (Emberiza
aureola), Swinhoe's Rail (Coturnicops
exquisitus) and a number of other endangered or threatened species. During migration seasons thousands of Hooded (Grus monacha), hundreds of White-naped Cranes and Oriental Storks,
and dozens of Red-crowned and Siberian Cranes stop here for several weeks. A number
of plant species are found only in this place in the Amur Region. All this attracts
here researchers and nature lovers from all over the world.
Muraviovka Park is an NGO with
a very small staff, which cannot function to its full capacity without
involvement of volunteers. In 1998, those who wished to help the park
established Friends of Muraviovka Park
(FOMP) – the first international group in support of a wildlife area in Russia.
Thanks to FOMP we were able to build and equip a duplex with an office, a library,
an apartment for staff, and guestrooms for visitors; sauna and showers; a 2-story
nature center; campgrounds for children – participants of our summer ecological
schools (annual since 1994); facilities for captive breeding of endangered
cranes and geese We also develop 1000 hectares of fields to grow organic
soybeans and small grain crops; conduct long-term Giltchin River Watershed
research program; run reforestation and fire prevention & suppression
programs; launch a program to support wild population of the endangered
Red-crowned Crane; initiated ecological camps in Primorski and Khabarovski
Regions, and China; organize training of Russian teachers and students in other
regions of Russia and abroad; develop nature tourism, and many other programs
and projects.
People all ages and many
nationalities participate in the park’s activities. Some come to help for a day
or two, some – for a month or longer, other help the park remotely, by
providing advice on administrative and legal issues, finding good but
inexpensive equipment, shipping birds for our captive breeding program,
designing souvenirs for our gift shop and layout for our publications, posting
information about the park on their websites and social media, etc. Some volunteer’s
proposals initiated our new activities or projects. For example, two students from
Wisconsin had proposed to start language and ecology camp sessions, which allow
participants to improve significantly their English language skills while
evoking interest and care about wildlife in those who hardly paid any interest
to it before the camp.
In 2018, volunteers from the
Amur Region, Khabarovsk, Moscow, and the states of Wisconsin, Georgia, and Alaska
helped us prepare the park’s Headquarters and Campgrounds for the summer season,
raise two chicks of Red-crowned Cranes in our pens, renovate the duplex and
nature Center, produce new souvenirs with the park’s theme, conduct two
traditional crane festivals in June and September, attended by over 600 people,
and implement many other important projects.
In April-October, volunteers
are accommodated in the Headquarter duplex guest rooms, in May-September – in
summer cabins at the campgrounds. There are no poisonous snakes or any other
dangerous animals in the park area.
The park provides volunteers with a gas
stove, dishes and a refrigerator, as well as supplies, tools, and equipment for
work projects. There is a good drinking water well and you can use its water
without boiling. In other areas, water
may be of poor quality so you should not drink it without boiling, or use
sealed bottled water!
Indoor hot and cold water shower stalls
are attached to the sauna cabin, and toilets are outhouses. All facilities,
except the toilets, have electricity but it would be useful to bring your own
flashlight with spare batteries. Wireless internet access is available via
flash modem, which volunteers can purchase in the city.
Volunteers cook for themselves together,
taking turns, and buy their groceries in Blagoveshchensk, or they can give a
shopping list and money to a staff person who is going to the city. Their workday
does not exceed 6 hours and they are entitled to days off, as long as it does
not interfere with an important event or field work. Some activities, such as giving
tours to visitors, do not happen every day or last up to 3 hours a day, so
volunteer tour guides assist with other projects when there are no visitors.
Sergei M. Smirenski
sergei@savingcranes.org
