A path to raise awareness of environmental issues, named Following the Snow Leopard’s Tracks, will be laid in Sayano-Shushensky Nature Reserve as part of an ambitious programme to study and monitor the population of snow leopards. The project, which received a grant from the Russian Geographical Society this year, was developed by a team of collaborators, including researchers working in the reserve’s protected area and from the Strana Zapovednaya Foundation, as well as members of the Russian Geographical Society’s Republic of Khakassia Chapter.   

The path will run through the reserve’s protected area close to Shugur Cordon. The design draws on requirements and recommendations for environmental paths, including minimising the burden on soil and vegetation. It incorporates modern approaches to building infrastructure in protected nature areas and borrows from the experience of the Baikalsky, Khakassky, Kronotsky and other nature reserves, which have already carried out this type of project. The new path will have decking with guardrails on its rougher sections, an observation area, as well as information boards and interactive elements along its entire route.

The path is designed to educate the public on environmental issues, helping visitors to learn more about the federal programme to protect and study snow leopards living in the south of Siberia and Sayano-Shushensky Nature Reserve, which is the northern boundary of the predator’s habitat in Russia. Initially, the path will only be open when the Sayano-Shushensky water reservoir is free of ice. Later, a plan to make the environmental path accessible to visitors throughout the winter will be considered.