The main result over the years of the existence of this specially protected natural area was that “Russian Lapland remains the same as it was hundreds of years ago, despite the changes that took place around the reserve,” Sergey Shestakov, Director of FSBI Lapland State Natural Biosphere Reserve, said at a meeting with reporters.
According to him, despite the fact that since the end of the 20s of the last century, the population living near the reserve has increased from 5 thousand to 200 thousand people, despite the fact that large industrial enterprises of PJSC Norilsk Nickel are located near the reserves, the Kola NPP and others, on the territory of Russian Lapland still lives the only protected population of wild reindeer in the Barents region, numbering about a thousand animals.
The territory is represented by a variety of landscapes characteristic of the Kola Peninsula, except for the sea coast and tundra. About 55 percent of the reserve’s territory is occupied by forests, 32 percent - mountain tundra and rocks. The reserve has eight lake-river systems. A part of the watershed of the White and Barents Sea passes along.
One of the main values of the reserve is virgin old-growth forests. The age of the trees reaches 500-600 years, the height is up to 30 m, and the diameter of the trunks is up to 70 cm, which is a unique phenomenon for such high latitudes.
According to scientists, two key botanical territories of the European level have been identified in the reserve: the Salni Tundra massif and the northern end of the Montche tundra ridge. Here, unique finds of lichens, new to Russia, Absconditella annexa, Absconditella trivialis, Ainoa mooreana, Stereocaulon tornense, Stereocaulon leucophaeopsis, one of which - the Candelariella aggregate - was first found in Eurasia, were previously known only in North America, were discovered. Unique findings include Arctoparmelia subcentrifuga (Oxner) Hale, a species new to Europe. The flora of hepatic mosses is the richest among all nature reserves in Russia.
Shestakov said that on the territory of the Chunozersky estate, in addition to excursions for children and adults, a new project “In the Land of the Flying Stone” is being implemented, which involves the creation of a Sami exhibition on the life and culture of the indigenous population of the Kola Peninsula. In 2020, it is planned to hold the nature festival "Gone to the Tundra."
The total area of the Lapland Reserve, covering the migration routes of deer and reindeer pasture, is 278,436 ha. This is one of the largest conservation areas in the European part of Russia. The reserve is protected by UNESCO and has the status of a Biosphere Reserve.
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