The Tokinsko-Stanovoy National Park established in Amurskaya province
The new federal protected area appeared in Zeyisky district of Amurskaya province on the site of the Tokinsky Wildlife Refuge having slightly increased in size.
The initiators of this protected area are well-known researchers of Priamurye: geographer Veniamin Gotvansky, zoologist Yury Darman and botanist Valentina Starchenko. Back in the early 1990s they proposed the creation of a national park on the Stanovoy Range and organized several research expeditions there. But that time the scientists’ plans were not realized.
In 2009, WWF Russia supported the expedition and the preparation of the environmental and economic feasibility study of the wildlife refuge on the Stanovoy Range, and in 2010 the refuge of provincial level was created. However, the provincial status of protected area was not enough to protect the population of mountain sheep in Amurskaya province and Evenki indigenous peoples carry out traditional reindeer herding.
It took another 10 years to upgrade the status of the provincial protected area to the level of the national park. Thanks to the expedition of specialists of Zeyisky Nature Reserve organized in summer 2018 with support of WWF Russia Amur branch, the national park was established.
The Tokinsko-Stanovoy National Park will protect the habitat of a mountain sheep listed in the IUCN Red List, the Red Books of Yakutia and Amurskaya province, preserve mountain forests and unique alpine tundra with rare plants. Moreover, the interaction with Evenki indigenous communities who carry out traditional nature management on this territory such as deer hunting and grazing, will become one of the leading activities of the national park.