Primorsky Krai, informally known as Primorye and translated in full as Maritime Territory, is a federal subject of Russia, located in the Far East region of the country and is a part of the Far Eastern Federal District. The city of Vladivostok is the administrative center of the krai, and the second largest city in the Russian Far East, after Khabarovsk. The krai has the largest economy among the federal subjects in the Russian Far East, and a population of 1,956,497 as of the 2010 Census.
The Russian Far East is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is administered as part of the Far Eastern Federal District, which is located between Lake Baikal in eastern Siberia and the Pacific Ocean. The region's largest city is Khabarovsk, followed by Vladivostok.
The Far Eastern Republic, sometimes called the Chita Republic, was a nominally independent state that existed from April 1920 to November 1922 in the easternmost part of the Russian Far East. Although theoretically independent, it largely came under the control of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), which envisaged it as a buffer state between the RSFSR and the territories occupied by Japan during the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922. Its first president was Alexander Krasnoshchyokov.
The Siberian tiger or Amur tiger is a population of the tiger subspecies Panthera tigris tigris native to the Russian Far East, Northeast China and possibly North Korea. It once ranged throughout the Korean Peninsula, northern China and eastern Mongolia. The population currently inhabits mainly the Sikhote-Alin mountain region in southwest Primorye Province in the Russian Far East. In 2005, there were 331–393 adult and subadult Siberian tigers in this region, with a breeding adult population of about 250 individuals. The population had been stable for more than a decade because of intensive conservation efforts, but partial surveys conducted after 2005 indicate that the Russian tiger population was declining. An initial census held in 2015 indicated that the Siberian tiger population had increased to 480–540 individuals in the Russian Far East, including 100 cubs. This was followed up by a more detailed census which revealed there was a total population of 562 wild Siberian tigers in Russia. As of 2014, about 35 individuals were estimated to range in the international border area between Russia and China.
The Sikhote-Alin is a mountain range in Primorsky and Khabarovsk Krais, Russia, extending about 900 kilometres (560 mi) to the northeast of the Russian Pacific seaport of Vladivostok. The highest summits are Tordoki Yani at 2,077 metres (6,814 ft) above sea level, Ko Mountain (2,003 m) in Khabarovsk Krai and Anik Mountain (1,933 m) in Primorsky Krai.
The East Siberian taiga ecoregion, in the Taiga and boreal forests biome, is a very large biogeographic region in eastern Russia.
The Eastern Siberia–Pacific Ocean oil pipeline is a pipeline system for exporting Russian crude oil to the Asia-Pacific markets. The pipeline is built and operated by Russian pipeline company Transneft.
Wildlife Alliance is an international non-profit forest and wildlife conservation organization with current programs in Cambodia. It is headquartered in New York City, with offices in Phnom Penh. The logo of the organization is the Asian elephant, an emblematic species and the namesake for the Southwest Elephant Corridor that Wildlife Alliance saved when it was under intense threat of poaching and habitat destruction in 2001. It is today one of the last remaining unfragmented elephant corridors in Asia. Due to Government rangers' and Wildlife Alliance's intensive anti-poaching efforts, there have been zero elephant killings since 2006. Dr. Suwanna Gauntlett is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Wildlife Alliance, and one of the original founders of WildAid. The organization is governed by a Board of Directors and an International Advisory Board that provides guidance on strategy, fundraising, and outreach.
Kedrovaya Pad is a nature reserve on the territory of Khasansky District in the south of Primorsky Krai, Russia. As of 2011, it occupies an area of 178.97 square kilometers (69.10 sq mi), about one thousandth of the total area of Primorsky Krai.
The wildlife of Russia inhabits terrain that extends across 12 time zones and from the tundra region in the far north to the Caucasus Mountains and prairies in the south, including temperate forests which cover 70% of the country's territory. Russia's forests comprise 22% of the forest in the world as well as 33% of all temperate forest in the world.
The Amur leopard is a leopard subspecies native to the Primorye region of southeastern Russia and northern China. It is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List as in 2007, only 19–26 wild leopards were estimated to survive in southeastern Russia and northeastern China. It is considered one of the rarest cats on Earth.
The Altai-Sayan region is an area of Inner Asia proximate to the Altai Mountains and the Sayan Mountains, near to where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan come together. This region is one of the world centers of temperate plant diversity. Its biological, landscape, historical, cultural and religious diversity is unique. 3,726 species of vascular plants are registered in the region including 700 threatened or rare species, 317 of which are endemic; fauna consists of 680 species, 6% of which are endemic. Its ecosystem is comparatively unchanged since the last ice age, and it is the host of endangered species that include the saiga, nerpa, and snow leopard. It is the focus of ongoing international and regional environmental conservation initiatives.
The temperate rainforests of the Russian Far East are within the Russian federal subjects Primorsky Krai and Khabarovsk Krai and contains the Sikhote-Alin mountain range. Found within the Russian Federation, this area is one of the most productive and diverse forests in the world and also contains one of the highest endangered species densities on Earth. While most temperate rainforests around the world have retained only a fraction of their historical range, these forests maintain the majority of their former range and almost all of their historical biodiversity. The region is also notable for having what has become the last remaining large tract of viable habitat for the critically endangered Amur tiger and Amur leopard.
International Tiger Coalition is an alliance of over forty non-governmental organizations representing over one hundred international organizations dedicated to stopping the trade of tiger parts from all sources, including those from tiger farms.
The Siberian Tiger Introduction Project involves reestablishing populations of the Siberian tiger, also known as the Amur tiger, in their former range and also expanding their range by introducing them as replacements of their genetically similar relative, the extinct Caspian tiger, which inhabited Central and Western Asia. Currently, the Siberian tiger inhabits the cold mountains of the Russian Far East and northern China.
Zov Tigra National Park, is a mountainous refuge for the endangered Amur Tiger. The park encompasses an area of 83,384 hectares on the southeast coast of Russia's Far East in the federal district Primorsky Krai. The park is about 100 km northeast of Vladivostok, on both the eastern and western slopes of the southern Sikhote-Alin mountain range, a range that runs north-south through the Primorsky Krai. The relatively warm waters of the Sea of Japan are to the east, the Korean peninsula to the south, and China to the West. The terrain in rugged and difficult to access, with heavily forested taiga coexisting with tropical species of animals and birds. The park is relatively isolated from human development, and functions as a conservation reserve. Tourists may visit the portions of the park marked for recreation, but entry to the protected zones is only possible in the company of park rangers.
Anyuysky National Park covers the basin of the Anyuy River, on the west slope of the Central Sikhote-Alin Mountain range in the Russian Far East. The Anyuy flows west into the Amur River, the main river of the region, as it flows northeast into the Sea of Okhotsk. The park is important because it creates an ecological corridor from the low floodplain of the Amur, to the high forested mountains of the Sikhote-Alin. The park is in the Nanaysky District in Khabarovsk Krai, about 50 miles downstream of the city of Khabarovsk. The area is remote, with few towns and sparse population. The area has historically depended on salmon fishing, logging, and hunting. The local indigenous people are the Nanai people, representing about a quarter of the nearby settlements.
Udegeyskaya Legenda National Park covers the richest coniferous-deciduous forest on the western slope of the Central Sikhote-Alin mountains of the Russian Far East. The Sikhote-Alin is a range that runs north-south through Primorsky Krai. The park is designed to protect west-slope river valley habitat, and to support the remnant of the indigenous Udege people. The area is known for abundant fishing and boating on the streams and rivers. It is also a refuge for the endangered Amur tiger. The park is roughly midway between the city of Vladivostok, and Khabarovsk. The relatively warm waters of the Sea of Japan are to the east, the Korean peninsula to the south, and China to the West.
Land of the Leopard National Park is a national park in Primorsky Krai in the Russian Far East, covering an area of 2,799 km2 (1,081 sq mi) west of Razdolnaya River. It was gazetted in April 2012. It was established to protect the Amur leopard which was at the time the world's rarest cat with an estimated population of 30 individuals. The park was created from the merger of Kedrovaya Pad Nature Reserve, Barsovy Federal Wildlife Refuge and Borisovkoye Plateau Regional Wildlife Refuge, and a new territory along the border with China.
Steven R. Galster is an American environmental and human rights investigator and counter-trafficking program designer. Since 1987, he has planned and participated in investigations and remedial programs to stop wildlife and human trafficking and to mitigate corruption and build governance in Asia, Africa, Russia, South America and the USA.
