As part of the Earth Hour 2020 campaign, corporate partners and other supporters of WWF Russia  managed to raise  five million roubles for the implementation of important environmental projects. 3.8 million roubles of these funds will be used to complete the arrangement of the ecological trail off the Severo-Zapadnoye rookery of marine mammals on Bering Island.

The first stage of arranging the ecological trail was completed back in 2017. Thanks to donations, two new viewing platforms with information boards and an entrance group appeared here. In 2019, on the most difficult section of the route, the employees of the reserve  installed the  42-meter staircase.

However, the institution ran out of funds to continue the project.  Representatives of the CINBR appealed to the World Wide Fund (WWF Russia) asking for support. The raised funds will be enough to cover all the necessary expenses associated with the completion of the construction of the eco trail.

Observation deck on the eco trail at the Severo-Zapadnoye rookery. Photo by Dmitry Strakhov

“We are grateful to WWF Russia, supporters of the foundation and business - everyone who financially and informally supported the development of the ecological trail along the Severo-Zapadnoye rookery. The fact that we managed to collect the necessary sum so quickly emphasizes that this project of the nature reserve will be in demand among tourists and is necessary for awareness rising for both guests of the reserve and residents of  Nikolskoye Village on Bering Island. We plan to complete eco trail project this year. However, now we will have to take into account the difficulties arising from the pandemic of the coronavirus infection,” said the acting Director of the reserve Evgeny Mamaev.

The reserve hopes that the ecological trail on the most popular tourist route on Bering Island, equipped with information boards, staircases, observation platforms and decks, will ensure the safety of tourists and minimize the anthropogenic burden on the coastal ecosystem at the same time.  The Fund’s specialists are confident that the development of eco-tourism on the island will help to attract more attention to the protected areas, as well as stimulate the flow of funds for important environmental work.

Fur seals on the rookery of Bering Island. Photo by Aleksey Perelygin

The Commander Islands is a remote partof our country in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, where untouched wildlife is preserved in its pristine beauty. Under the protection of the nature reserve, thousands of sea otters and harbor seals live, hundreds of thousands of northern fur seals and hundreds of sea lions stay on the rookeries. In the protected area off the coast of the islands you can regularly see about a dozen species of cetaceans: sperm whales, killer whales, humpback, north pacific right whales and other species.