Russia

WCS in Russia
The WCS Russia program works to save the extensive forest and tundra ecosystems of Northeast Asia and the Russian Far East and the wildlife that depends upon these healthy, functioning ecosystems.  WCS began working in Russia in 1990 through a collaborative effort with the Hornocker Wildlife Institute with initiation of the Siberian Tiger Project, a joint effort between scientists from WCS and Sikhote-Alin Zapovednik. WCS seeks to use information derived from such research as a foundation for implementing conservation actions for numerous species of wildlife that reside in Northeast Asia, including tigers, leopards, lynx, and brown bears.  These large carnivores require vast tracts of intact wild ecosystems, and therefore act as indicators of ecosystem health.   

The Human Aspect
Nearly four million people inhabit the southern Russian Far East, and even more live in nearby Northeast China.  Exploitation of resources in Russia and in Kamchatka Peninsula is ever increasing.  A large percentage of the people living in this region rely on harvesting natural resources to provide food and income for their livelihood.  Research on large carnivores has demonstrated that land area requirements for viable populations of large carnivores are much greater than existent (or proposed) protected areas, necessitating co-existence of people and these species on multiple-use lands as a prerequisite for their survival.  Based on these findings, WCS-Russia works with local governmental agencies and local communities to implement management regimes for multiple-use lands that benefit both large carnivores and local rural communities.

Threats
The main threats to biodiversity and large carnivore conservation are habitat loss/degradation, poaching, and decimation of the prey base through human overharvest.  WCS works with protected area staff and managers of private hunting leases to improve management and provide alternative sources of income for rural peoples.  Tigers are seen as a threat to domestic livestock and dogs and as competitors to hunters. Our research has demonstrated that roads are also major threats as they provide access to remote areas, dramatically increasing poaching of tigers.

WCS Activities
The WCS Russia Program is one of the largest field programs in Asia and works both with wildlife and the human communities that share the landscape.  The following projects represent a sample of work undertaken in the field:
Siberian Tiger Project
· Cooperative research on ecology and conservation needs of the Amur (Siberian) tiger
· Mapping tiger habitat in northeast Asia – understanding where tigers live and what they require for long-term survival.
· Working with privatized hunting leases to improve wildlife management on multiple-use lands, and demonstrating that coexistence of large carnivores and people is possible.
· Training and working side-by-side with a government response team to resolve tiger-people conflicts via two primary goals: to ensure human safety in areas where tigers exist, and to reduce human-caused mortality of tigers (80% of tiger mortalities in Russia are presently caused by humans).
Russia-China Transboundary Tiger and Leopard Project
· Surveying tigers and leopards in Jilin and Heilongjiang Provinces.
· A monitoring program for Hunchun Tiger-Leopard Protected Area.
· Surveying prey populations in Hunchun Tiger-Leopard Protected Area.
· Implementing a compensation program for tiger depredation of livestock in Hunchun Tiger Leopard Protected Area.
Large carnivore research and management
· Conservation, distribution and status of the Far Eastern leopard (one of the most endangered populations of big cats in the world, only 30 individuals survive along the Sino-Russian border)
. Ecology and conservation of sympatric brown bears and Himalayan black bears in Sikhote-Alin Reserve.
· Survey of tigers and ungulates in Primorski and Khabarovksi Krai.
· Ecology of lynx in Sikhote-Alin Reserve.
· Conservation and Management of the Bears of Kamchatka.
· Making "nature parks" out of "paper parks": conserving the volcanoes of Kamchatka World Heritage Site, Russia.
Other Projects
· Effects of logging on bird communities in the Russian Far East.
· Assessment of the Sakhalin sturgeon population in Khabarovski Krai, Russia.

Important Next Steps
Building on 13 years of research in the region, WCS is working to increase the success of this program and ensure the future of the spectacular wildlife of Russia by:
· Assisting in creation of transboundary protected areas to secure corridors for tigers, leopards and their prey, to enable them to move safely between Russia and China.
· Collecting data on poaching, especially of tigers and brown bears, in order to make effective recommendations for conservation.
· Working closely with local governments, communities, and individuals to increase awareness of conservation issues and activities in the region.   
· Continue training scientists in China and Russia to increase the capacity to monitor and protect carnivores and their prey, using rigorous methods and on-the-ground science.