Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Dear Friends!

Pleistocene Park team wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 

For many of us it been a complicated year and we all hope that new 2021 will indeed be a happy and successfull year.

For Pleistocene Park 2020 was a mixed year. From one side we did not succeed much in the practical development of the project. We hoped to bring more animals, and accomplish numerous tasks in the  Park. Some of those plans got cancelled, some got postponed, and in some cases we did much less than we wanted. Can't blame everything on COVID, but it did play inderect roles. 

Of the positive efforts can name that we brought a new group of horses in the spring of 2020, and we started the preparations for the massive fence reconstruction which we plan to finish in 2021. 

Female group of young horses which are spending their first winter in the Pleistocene Park.

However  Pleistocene Park is not only a practical project which creates "National Park" in Siberia. It is also a scientific theory, and even a philosophy. Our goal is to spread the ideas that rewilding in the Arctic, will benefit everyone and to get as many people involved as possbile. And here I think 2020 was a good year for us.  

First of all in February we started this Patreon campaign.  Now there is more than 350 people supporting us, and money we raise is already sufficient to cover most running expenses of the project.  This enables us to make a bigger plans for future years. And I am extremely greatful to all of you for this support. Park was always funded from the money which we raised on the research station and later is not the most stable source of income. So I was always afraid that in case of some bad years we will have to shut the project. Now this will not happen

Additionally we started to get attention from different influential people in media, business and politics. This stands true for both Russia and outside world. Which is very important for us and I hope that in the future this trend will grow.  

We want governments to switch from "conservation approach" in the Nature policy to "restoration approach", and that where public outreach and education is getting important. 

In the end, here is couple of links to media about the Pleistocene Park which appeared this year.

Private documentalist visited Pleistocene Park and the Kolyma region and I think he did a good and very kind movie. It is in Russian, but english subtitles are available. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkMX_hYdo-w&t=951s

And just few days ago in the "Christmas Special" of The Economist appeared a very good article about Pleistocene Park and its Founder Sergey Zimov.          https://www.economist.com/christmas-specials/2020/12/19/one-russian-scientist-hopes-to-slow-the-thawing-of-the-arctic?fbclid=IwAR14eCepgxAex3TwbHirBScTTXuubQqwZUrc8oxq9JVIgzs0e3z_dqkxQNY   

Once again, wish you all the best in the upcoming year!

Best regards

Nikita Zimov