Goose-Migration Center Under Hunt Threat
By Anders Mård
Special to The St. Petersburg Times
OLONETS DISTRICT, Northwest Russia - The Olonets district in southern Karelia hosts the largest springtime stopover of migrating geese in Europe, when hundreds of thousands of white-fronted and bean geese rest and feed on their way to their summer home in the Arctic. However, the birds' traditional haven is under threat from a controversial annual hunt that is running wild. The beginning of May usually represents the peak time for the migrating geese, with over 100,000 birds per day arriving to the district. In total, over 1 million birds pass through annually. This period also witnesses a hectic, 10-day hunting season. Every year, over 50 hunters from Finland - where hunting migrating birds during the spring migration is fobidden - join numerous Russian hunters in Olonets, 300 kilometers northeast of St. Petersburg. This form of tourism provides much-needed income for the small town of Olonets, one of the oldest settlements in Russia, but struggling to survive since the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, environmental organizations are concerned because of the disturbance caused to the birds' reproduction patterns and rest time. This year's hunt has been further complicated by the late arrival of spring, according to Dr. Vladimir Zimin, chief ornithologist from the Academy of Sciences in Petrozavodsk. "Because spring is late this year, we are seeing ten times fewer birds than usual at this time," Zimin said on a recent early-morning trip out to the fields. The steppe-like fields near Olonets, just a few kilometers from Lake Ladoga, provide perfect conditions for the tired and hungry geese on their way from Africa and Western Europe. Early each morning, the birds fly in from the lake to replenish their fat levels in preparation for a testing time in the Arctic - where no food is available before summer - and fly back to the lake to roost in the evening. After about a week at Olonets, the flocks - numbering more than 3,000 birds on occasion - head north again. The white-fronted goose (Latin name anser albifrons) is the most commonly seen bird in the field. Measuring about 70 centimeters in length, it has an average wingspan of 150 centimeters. This year, the hunters are mostly upset about the new arrangements imposed after the formerly state-owned Olonets-based hunting club was taken over by a private company based in Petrozavodsk in Moscow. As a result, the cost of a license rocketed from 100 euros to 380 euros per person for the 10-day hunt. Moreover, as the takeover was finalized just three months before the hunt, many hunters have not been informed of the new regulations, and have been hunting in forbidden areas. "If this becomes a tradition, the hunt will have to close down," said Alexander Rumyantsev, owner of a hunting tourist agency in St. Petersburg. "This year, we lack the safety and discipline that every hunt needs." The Swedish branch of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has been supporting ornithological studies in the Olonets area since 1998. The studies, run by Zimin, show that the geese depend on the area's grasslands for their migration to be successful. The migration is such an event in the area that Olonets holds a festival every May called "Olonets - the Goose Capital" that galvanizes the town's entire population of 11,000 into action. Most of the action takes place under a small statue of Vladimir Lenin in the run-down town center, which becomes the site of a market of colorful tents selling everything from shoes to meat. The main event of the festival is a goose race, won this year by a bird called Shlyapa ("Hat") and her energetic coach, Vladik Ilnitsky. Olonets, settled in the 12th century, was declared a city in 1649, after the construction of a fortress. The city is a center of Karelian culture, and most residents can speak the local language, a dialect related to Finnish. Now, the city is economically depressed, work is hard to find and most young people are moving to Petrozavodsk or St. Petersburg. The biggest local employers are the sawmill and the Ilinsky state farm, with 350 and 320 employees, respectively. The Olonets district is the main agricultural-goods producer in the Karelian Republic, but agriculture in the region has been hit hard by post-Soviet economic conditions. As a result, many key fields have become overgrown, which is bad for both the geese and the cows that are one of the region's agricultural mainstays. To help resolve the situation, since 2000, the Swedish WWF has been supporting the Ilinsky state farm with advice and $11,000 per year. The result has been better grass and conditions for the geese, more and better quality milk from the farm's 850 cows, and more employment for the depressed local economy. "We are now trying, as far as possible, to become self-sufficient," said Ilinsky boss Nikolai Pitelin. "The cooperation with the WWF really helped us to get back on our feet." In 2002, Ilinsky was one of only two state farms in Karelia to turn a profit, prompting the Karelia administration to back the joint ornithology-farming project with $100,000 in investment. After the success of its agricultural projects, the Swedish WWF started a larger rural-development project in January, helped by $100,000 funding from the Swedish government. In Olonets, the project includes agriculture, small-scale tourism, environmental education and public-awareness schemes. - Photos by Alexander Belenky
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