Employees of the Federal State Budgetary Institution «Zapovednoye Podlemorye» and the V.B. Sochava Institute of Geography SB RAS have been conducting field research on the territory of the Trans-Baikal National Park on the Holy Nose Peninsula for the second year as part of the project «Educational tourism as a tool for nature complex conservation under conditions of pyrogenic and anthropogenic load». This project became the winner of the grant competition of Lake Baikal Foundation called «Baikal Initiative».
Within 12 days, within the framework of field expedition work, the scientists covered a total of more than 50 kilometers. The team conducted an overview survey of the territory using an unmanned aerial vehicle, performed more than 30 detailed geobotanical descriptions on conventionally undisturbed reference and pyrogenic-disturbed sites, studied the distribution features of various species of animals and plants, collected information to form a database on various characteristics of natural complexes on the study area. All collected materials will be used for geoecological justification of the new projected educational ring ecotourism route. It will start from the isthmus of the peninsula along the currently existing «Challenge Trail», pass through the picturesque places of the plateau of the Holy Nose peninsula with a view of the Barguzinsky and Chivyrkuysky bays of Lake Baikal and Ushkany Islands and end with an exit to the Krestovaya River on the trail «To the Zmeinaya Bay».
Now the researchers will have a long-term cameral processing of photo and video materials, archival, cartographic and collected full-scale field descriptions, identification of animal and plant species, assessment of the possibility of using the surveyed sites for the development of tourist infrastructure, creation of a geoinformation database and a set of thematic maps as the basis for studying the possibilities of developing cognitive tourism in specially protected natural areas, preparation of recommendations for the further preservation of monitoring objects in conditions of pyrogenic and enhanced anthropogenic impact.