The residents of Arkhangelsk held several one-person pickets demanding the cancellation of the Federal Forestry Agency’s (Rosleskhoz) decree, according to which several thousand hectares of spawning forests along the rivers of Arkhangelsk Oblast are losing their protecting status. This was reported by movement "Pomorye Is Not a Dump!" on June 9.
The residents of Arkhangelsk called Decree 1497 of the Federal Forestry Agency, eliminating spawning forests in Ustyansky forestry along the rivers Volyuga, Veryuga, and Padoma, a crime. Valuable fish species spawn in these rivers, so forest clearing along the rivers was prohibited until December 27, 2019, when they were transferred to the exploitable category.
At least nine people participated in the action. They came out with posters "Forest clearing along rivers is an environmental crime", "Rosleskhoz, do not kill our defense lands", "Extinction of fish is a new achievement of Rosleskhoz", and others.
Ecologists from Greenpeace Russia and WWF believe that forest clearing will lead to deterioration of the living conditions of valuable fish and to river shallowing, that is why they appealed to Dmitry Kobylkin, the Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology, with a demand to restore the status of spawning forests in Arkhangelsk Oblast on June 4.
Spawning zones are a special category of forests created in 1958 in order to preserve riverfronts near water reservoirs where valuable and highly valuable fish species, such as salmonids, sturgeons, and others, come to spawn. They protect riverbanks from soil erosion, spring floods, and the decrease of river discharges in summer.
