By Mark Pestov and Vladimir Anufriev
The Nizhny Novgorod Society for the Protection of Amphibians and Reptiles (NNSPAR) was formed in 1998 as a department of the large nonprofit organization "Dront" Ecological Center. NNSPAR now has more than 50 members. It is one of the largest organizations of its type in Russia.
Nizhny Novgorod province is situated 400 km east of Moscow. Its total area is 42,000 km2. The vegetation varies from the southern taiga subzone to the semi-steppe zone. There are 12 species of amphibians and 7 species of reptiles recorded on the province’s checklist.
During the last 10 years, 5 species of amphibians have been listed as threatened in the red list of Nizhny Novgorod province (Salamandrella keyserlingii, Triturus vulgaris, T. cristatus, Bombina bombina & Pelobates fuscus). Declines have taken place in districts with high levels of habitat destruction, especially around the towns. Other problems include pollution in freshwater streams and ponds. Some species like Triturus vulgaris and especially T. cristatus are caught by children in spring and many of them die. Many people have a negative image of more common species like frogs and toads.
We started our activities with the "Frog Princess" project (the Frog Princess is a hero of popular Russian folklore). The project includes research, publications in the mass media, children's pictures, photos, stories about amphibians and reptiles & practical activities for the protection of amphibians and reptiles.
Nizhny Novgorod Provincial Government (through the Department of Nature Protection and Management) financially supported the project in its initial stages (1999). In 2000 we got a grant from the ROLL project for the continuing of our activity (ROLL is a joint project of the US Agency for International Development and the Institute for Sustainable Communities). During its development, more than 1000 people from 40 districts (especially pupils) were involved in the project. In 2001, we were successful in the new round of the ROLL project. We got a grant (about $30,000) for the dissemination of our experience in the Frog Princess project for another 5 Russian provinces.
Since 1999, members of our Society have begun a special research program to determine the status of amphibian and reptile populations in the province. The Department of Nature Protection and Management and the ROLL Project have also financed this program. The results will be published as a book in spring 2001 (in Russian).
Another recent project was the "Children’s Garden for the Siberian Newt". There are only 30 isolated populations of this species in European Russia. Two of them are recorded in our province and are separated from each other by 100 km. The abundance of this species in the province is now extremely low. In 1999-2000, only 200 breeding pairs were observed in both populations. Last summer, our Society constructed 19 artificial ponds (like anti-fire ponds for forestry) along the depressions of forest roads, which are used for the reproduction of the Siberian newt in both populations (8 ponds for one population and 11 for the other). All ponds are 10-200 m2 in area and 1 m deep. We hope to communicate the results of this action through Froglog in the future. We would like to conserve the Salamandrella keiserlingii population through the making of new artificial populations of this species in one of the nature reserves in the north part of the region too.
Another planned project is for Hyla arborea arborea. It would be a great success to reintroduce this species into the southern part of our region. Unfortunately, there is no information about this species in the fauna of our province. It was known to live to the west and east of our region (Perm and Moscow provinces) 100-200 years ago. A very interesting reserve landscape exists for it. It is karst with a lot of small caves and untypical (more southern) vegetation and a specific microclimate. We also plan to make some films about the most interesting species of amphibians and reptiles and about the problems of species conservation in our region too.
We are especially interested in contacting colleagues who have practical experiences with the problems of amphibian conservation and protection (including reintroduction and management), and persons who are interested in natural history film-making in Russia.
For more information contact: "Dront" Ecological Center, Kostina str., 2, Office 164, 603134, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.
Web site: www.dront.ru (in Russian).