Udege Forest Management (Kamtchatka – Russia)
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 Detailed information
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Outstanding Features
The Korean pine, broad leaf deciduous forests, or as they are called regionally, the Ussuriiskii Taiga, which spreads across the central portion of the Bikin watershed, are analogous to the pre-glacial age broad leaf deciduous forests of the Eurasian continent; similar ecosystems in this region have either been nearly completely transformed or have disappeared entirely.
The Central Sikhote-Alin Region is the most forest-covered territory of the Russian Far East, it is characterized by a uniquely diverse set of natural conditions and resources. As to the combination of vegetation communities, the region differs greatly from the northern taiga and southern maritime areas. In Ussuriland, located at the juncture between the northern boreal and the southern subtropical forest ecosystems, tropical plants and northern coniferous trees are found wrapped around each other.
The Bikin River watershed, which is located in the Central Sikhote-Alin mountain Ridge, covers nearly 1.6 million hectares. This river is the only large watershed on the western slope of the Sikhote-Alin mountain range (46 deg15min N., 135 deg. 15 min. E.) that has not undergone extensive anthropogenic impact. It is a typical Priamur salmon-bearing river in which optimal conditions for the reproduction of autumn chum salmon populations are found.
The Amur tiger (known to the West as the "Siberian" tiger) is a symbol of the Ussuriland forests in the Russian Far East. It is the world's largest cat and the only tiger subspecies that inhabits temperate forests. There are approximately 70 species of mammals, over 250 species of birds and a great number of invertebrates. The flora of vascular plants numbers about 1500-1700 species including about 200 tree and bush species.
List of important species in Primorsky Krai:
Animals:
• Mammals: Amur (=Siberian) tiger, wild boar, elk, roe deer, musk deer, spotted deer, Himalayan black bear, tiny shrew, leopard, sable
• Birds: Blackstone's fish owl, white stork, black stork, black crane, Daursky crane, Japanese crane, mandarin duck, red-footed moyevka, fisher, red-faced cormorant, reed sutora, scaly-sided merganser
• Reptiles: There are no less than fourteen species of reptile including the tiger grass-snake, the Shrenka grass-snake, and the rock shchitomordnik; two lizard species; the Ussuri tortoise;
• 7 species of tailless amphibians (e.g. the wood frog); 2 species of tailed amphibians (Siberian uglozub and the non-pulmonary triton).
• Fish: autum chum salmon, kharius, lenka
• 50-60,000 insect species: -two-thirds of those found in Russia, 60 Red Book species (e.g. Sailor Maak Butterfly, brazhnik, wary pavlinoglazki, pavlinoglazki artemidy, ordenskie lenty, zephyrs, Dybovsky stag-beetle, giant relic capricorn beetles, emerald ground-beetles, Japanese beetle, shrenka beetle, relic grilloblatina and ancient relic cockroaches)
Plants: Some ancient, having originated in the Tertiary period can be found in the region (e.g. yew, aralia, ginseng). There are many edible or medicinal plants (e.g. Limonnik, Schisandra chinensis).
Wild berries: Bog whortleberry (Vaccinium uliginosum), Cowberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea), Actinidia (Actinidia), European cranberry (Oxicoccus palustris), Honeysuckle (Lonicera), Limonnik (Schisandra chinensis), Dogrose (Rosa canina), Black currant (Ribes nigrum)
Trees and other typical plant species: Korean pine tree, fir, oaks, Olginskaya larch, thick-leafed pine, yellow birch, alder, Komar lotus, Shreber brazenia, frightening evrial, Japanese arizem, pointed yew, zamanikha Panax horridus, kalopanaks, Manchurian kirkazon, Rosa violet, May rose (Viburnum opulus), tree like lianas, all species of wild azalia, dioskoreiny and kirkazon (Aristolochia clematitis) and almost all species of aroid, birch, elm, maple, lime and grape
Mushrooms: e.g. Milk mushrooms
The Middle and Upper Bikin are main part of the traditional homelands of three indigenous peoples: Udege, Nanai and Oroch. Of all Manchu-Tungus peoples, the Udeges of the Sikhote-Alin Mountains and the Sea of Japan coast lived in the greatest isolation until the 19th century. Essentially hunters, they were less sedentary than the other Amur peoples.
Close to 1930-ies an attempt was made to bring the Udege hunters into collectives, the composition of which was to a great extent dictated by clan allegiances. In the Bikin valley the Soviet authorities decided to bring about a social transformation by making the Udege cultivate the land. After more than 30 ears of unsuccessful farming the Udeges were allowed to revert to the traditional occupation of hunting.
The rustles felling of virgin forest left little hope for the remnant Udege, until the Supreme Soviet and the local soviet of the Maritime Region persuaded the USSR State Forestry Committee in March 1990 to hand over the upper and middle part of Bikin river to the Udege as territory of traditional resource use.
Overall ingenuity and remarkability of Udege people management is contained in their ability to protect and conserve the ecosystem of the Bikin River and the boreal forests and taiga through historical and traditional knowledge inherited from their ancestors.
The distinctive features of the Udege's way of life are:
• a close connection of the ethnos with renewable biologic resources and a rigid dependence upon ecosystem conditions in the region;
• a gatherer (including hunting and fishing) type of production mentality combined with elements of a natural way of life that plays an important role in structuring the day to day activities;
• a collective ‘group'-psychology in relationship to natural resources, land ownership, close relational connection within the clan.
At present the Udege concentrate in several villages of Primorski and Khabarovsk Krays, with most Udege living in Krasny Yar, Gvasiugi and Agzu, they share these settlements with the Russians and other people from the North.
Goods and Services Provided
Sustainable natural resource use is a historic characteristic of the indigenous people of the Russian Far East. Traditional activities, like hunting, fishing and gathering of non-timber forest products, have to date supplied most local needs.
Recognized by the IUCN as a Center of Plant Diversity, the Ussuriland forests naturally provide many products that are edible or medicinal.
The collection of forest products, such as nuts, berries, mushrooms, fern, and medicinal plants; and beekeeping, are profitable enterprises that should be considered as alternatives means of economic development. The forest products of the Russian Far East were prized commodities throughout the entire former Soviet Union.
Fish stocks are for the most part concentrated in the middle portion of the Bikin River in spawning and wintering holes. They are a most significant resource for local people. Wild meat provides more than 70 percent of the protein for many forest dwellers of the Russian North, Siberia and the Far East, and is often a mainstay of their subsistence and cash economy.
List of species and products of the forest based system:
Medicinal: Fern, Honey, propolis; Herb tea mix; Wood juices
Plants used as food: Nuts (Pine, Manchurian, Hazel, Dwarf Pine); Berries (Red whortleberry, Bog whortleberry, Guelder rose, Actinidia, Vine, Cranberry, Limonnik, Dog rose); Fruits (pear, wild plum, hawthorn); Mushrooms; Ramsons
Other products from beekeeping, e.g. wax; meat and fur from animals
Threats and Challenges
At present, broad-leaved Korean Pine forests, especially their southern part, are badly disturbed. Only 3 large tracts of virgin forests still exist in Khor, Bolshaya Ussurka and the Bikin river basin. Only an estimated 200-250 Amur tigers are left throughout their habitat. The remaining tigers are threatened both by poaching and habitat destruction. In recent years, high demand for the supposed medicinal properties of tiger parts has stimulated tiger poaching in the Russian Far East. Enforcement of antipoaching regulations has not been successful mainly due to corruption.
The forests of the Russian Far East are threatened by large-scale logging, as the regional and local governments struggle to find short-term answers to their severe economic problems. With the new logging technologies, the Russian timber industry is able to clearcut large swaths of forest. Although the Southern Korean Hyundai Corporation has thus far been blocked from logging the virgin forests of the upper Bikin River watershed, Hyundai continues to clearcut in the area around Svetlaya along the coast of the Russian Far East. The logging roads, moreover, cross the migration ways of animals.
Yet protecting forests alone is not enough since over-hunting in Russia is seriously depleting populations of many forest animals (the “empty forest” phenomenon). Loss of wildlife threatens the survival of the whole forest ecosystem as crucial pollinators, disperses and browsers are lost, thereby reducing species diversity and curbing the ability of the forest to maintain itself, and to regenerate after disturbance. It also adversely affects rural communities who rely on forest wildlife for food, income and their culture.
Hunting rules of Primorsky region, based upon the federal legislation, seem to give the Udege real privileges for free hunting in their traditional areas. But, quotas for these free Udege licenses are established by the same Hunting department, directly interested to sell more licenses for self-financing and authorized for hunting control as well.
In many areas of Russia, traditionally inhabited by indigenous peoples, hunting has become unsustainable. Newcomers tend to hunt a narrower range of species, disregard local hunting customs and official regulations, and convert the forest to other land uses. Social taboos against hunting certain species are breaking down, systems of traditional hunting territories are disappearing, and traditional hunting methods and practices, like hunting only in the appropriate season, are declining. Advances in hunting technology, especially the spread of rifles and wire snares, result in hunting being less discriminating and more efficient. These technologies require money for purchase, which often comes from selling wildlife meat, skin, fur, etc., thereby establishing a spiral of increasing harvest rates. Increased income of consumers also changes hunting patterns. In many areas of Russia increased income leads to an increased demand for wild meat, fur, skin, bones.
The Udege face serious socio-economic and environmental challenges. Most are unemployed. Supply of electricity is limited There is excessive alcohol consumption and drug abuse. The incidence of tuberculosis among the indigenous population is 5-6 times higher than among the Russians. Indigenous women have suffered particular hardships and human rights abuse.
The state of environment in the Lazo district where the Khor Udege live is critical due to massive destruction of forests, and activities of the Chor hydrolytic factory and other industrial enterprises. The overall state of the environment in the areas of the Bikin and the Samargin Udege is better, though far from safe. As a result of excessive fishing in the Lower Amur and hydrologic changes, the Siberian salmon has virtually disappeared.
Policy and Development Relevance
Wellbeing and sustainable development of the indigenous people living in the Siberian boreal forests ecosystem depends on finding a balance between traditional and contemporary management. The Bikin, which should be included in a list of UN World Heritage sites, cannot be turned into a reservation where human activities are prohibited; instead an approach must be developed that ensures the region's natural resources are used sustainably.
In 1992 the authorities of Primorye Krai granted the Udeghe the right to be considered on a preferential basis with regard to contracts and licenses on the use of natural resources within the territories of their traditional settlements. Moreover some territories were given the status of ‘territory of traditional land use of indigenous people' (TTP): such territories cannot be used for commercial activities and/ or sold without the permission of the Udeghe and other indigenous groups. In practice the TTP are a kind of ethnic territory.
To protect this region from commercial timber harvest the first biodiversity protection plan for the Asian portion of Russia was developed between 1994- 1996. The plan was designed to protect the traditional activities of local peoples and advanced the development of ecotourism and new approaches to the harvest and processing of non-timber forest products.
With the collapse of transportation and economic infrastructures through the former Soviet Union, village enterprises involved in collecting and processing non-timber forest products have also collapsed. Villagers still gather mushrooms, berries, and medicinal plants for their own use. Non-timber forest products gathered for selling in larger markets, however, go unused. Demand for the plants, berries and mushrooms still exists –both within Russia, as well as in other countries. New efforts to organize production and marketing of non-timber forest products are just beginning; villagers throughout the Russian Far East hope to develop an economy based on non-timber forest products - allowing them to avoid the path of resource destruction.
Hunting, as one of the traditional activities of local peoples, logically reflects a basic land use in the territory. The TTP has a buffer zone where it is suggested that processing operations for non-timber forest products, milling of timber, sport hunting and tourism shall be developed.
The national government should: establish a network of effectively managed territory of traditional use and protected areas, including areas where hunting is not allowed or strictly limited; protect additional areas as extractive reserves to supply the subsistence needs of local hunting communities; ensure that the legal, technical and administrative mechanisms and trained personnel are in a place for enforcement of protected areas regulations; include local communities in decision making and management regarding hunting, while ensuring that checks exist to prevent over-exploitation; ensure that laws exist to protect vulnerable species from hunting and prevent or strictly control wildlife trades and sale of modern hunting technologies; minimize building of roads through protected areas; establish regulations so that logging companies are responsible for preventing hunting by their staff; support research and monitoring into the effects of hunting, with results influencing the management decisions to promote sustainability; and promote education and awareness programs on conservation of wildlife at all levels.
Global Importance
The fir and spruce forests on the western slopes of the Sikhote-Alin mountain range are representative of what was the ancient, pre-glacial age forest once spread across Eastern Asia.
Russia's "Ussuriland" is recognized as the most biologically diverse area in all of the former Soviet Union. The Khor and Bikin River valleys are ecoclines between the northern boreal biota and the southern Manchurian biota –a unique and ecologically special mix in the Far East and the whole world. The territory is one of the last intact, large scale watersheds in not only the Russian Far East but in the northern hemisphere
A decrease in the diversity of any of the components of the traditional forest based system could lead to a loss of traditional knowledge which would diminish humanity's capacity to conserve and sustainably use many of the Arctic's vital ecosystems.
Lessons learnt in this region offer many opportunities for replication in other locations around Russia and the world.
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