Baikal Looks to Tomorrow

V. Ermolaev, Protecting Lake Baikal’s Ecosystem. September 8, 1980

 

Original Source: Pravda, 8 September 1980, p. 7.

“The local ecosystem,” notes G. I. Galazii, corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences and

Director of the Limonological Institute of the Academy’s Siberian Division “is unique: Eighty-four percent of the animals inhabiting the lake’s open regions are endemic; they live only on Baikal …

“We must maintain vigilance to prevent Baikal’s ecosystem from being damaged.” … In view of this consideration, in 1971 the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers adopted the resolution “On Additional Measures to Ensure the Rational Utilization and Conservation of the Natural Resources of the Lake Baikal Basin.”

Since that time, the struggle to preserve the pearl of Siberia has been stepped up appreciably and is yielding good fruits … Recommendations for improving the technology of pulp production have been worked out, and some of them have been introduced. The loose floating of timber on rivers has been stopped. The rivers have become cleaner. Now schools of spawning cisco, grayling and lenok [a small-mouthed salmon], which had long shunned the Barguzin and Goloustnaia Rivers, have again appeared in their waters.

The pledges made by a number of BAM subdivisions provide for environmental-protection measures. Plans for building the section of the railroad north of the lake have been changed: It has been decided to lay the rails farther from the shore. The construction of additional tunnels has begun …

And how is the Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Combine, which has been the subject of heated discussion more than once, getting along with the lake? “We’re protecting Baikal and producing pulp on the side,” the enterprise’s representatives joke. But, all joking aside, how do matters stand?

“Our pollution-treatment facilities are the most up-to-date in the branch,” says N. V. Krevtsov, the combine’s director. “The amount of contaminants is between one-fourth and one-third what it used to be.” .

When it was established that the Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Combine’s dust and gas “streamers” were also contributing to the lake’s pollution, it became necessary to restrict not only the discharge of pollutants along with wastewater but also emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere.

In accordance with the resolution “On Measures to Further Ensure the Conservation and Rational Utilization of the Natural Resources of the Lake Baikal Basin,” which the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers adopted in 1977, such restrictions have been introduced first of all for the Baikalsk Pulp and Cardboard Combine. When the inventory that is now being made of sources of pollution and harmful discharges has been completed, the restrictions will be extended to all enterprises in the lake’s basin.

By way of implementing this resolution, a program of scientific and technical work has been drawn up to demineralize the industrial effluents of the Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Combine and to fully salvage the pollutants contained in these effluents or convert them to nontoxic substances.

A shift to a closed water-supply system is planned for 1985. This is especially important, because effluents that have been so thoroughly treated still contain toxic substances. They are present in minuscule amounts and would not harm ordinary bodies of water, but in the conditions of this ecosystem they are undesirable. This is why the original norms for allowable discharges of pollutants in wastewater were revised and made much more stringent. However, one cannot fail to note that violations of these norms by the pulp mill have become more frequent lately. In all fairness, let me add that the pulp workers are being “helped” by the city of Sliudianka, which does a poor job of treating its sewage.

Ships, which are becoming more and more numerous on Lake Baikal, are making an increasingly noticeable “contribution” to the lake’s pollution with petroleum products …

Effluents from the Selenginsk Pulp and Cardboard Combine and the Ulan-Due industrial center create additional trouble. These discharges into the Selenga River, 120 kilometers from the “glorious sea” and further along the river’s route to the lake, create a serious threat to the cisco’s roe in that fish’s natural spawning grounds below Ulan-Ude. Some of the pollutants find their way to Lake Baikal.

The CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers have ordered the Ministry of the Pulp and Paper Industry to shift the Selenginsk combine to a closed water-supply system. However, this work is still far from completion.

Other problems also await solution. For example, it would be a good idea to rid Lake Baikal of rafts-every year about 2 million cubic meters of timber is shipped in this form. The leaching of the timber in the water leaves behind hundreds of tons of organic compounds. A persistent effort must be made to restrict the shipment of timber to dry-cargo vessels. BAM’s builders don’t always take a solicitous attitude toward the pearl of Siberia. In Severobaikalsk, Goudzhekit, Novyi Uoian and Tonnel’nyi, a number of facilities have been put into operation without pollution-control equipment, although a special resolution of the Buryat Autonomous Republic Council of Ministers forbids this bad practice.

Back in 1966, experts working for the USSR State Planning Committee arrived at the opinion that no more industrial facilities should be built near the lake. Life has confirmed the correctness of this conclusion. But some people have already started to forget it. In particular, it has been proposed that the temporary petroleum storage depot between Severobaikalsk and Nizhneangarsk be turned into a permanent one and expanded. But this is no place for it.

All necessary steps must be taken to prevent the pollution of the lake’s water at all stages of work-from the resolution of questions of the territorial placement of enterprises and other facilities and the selection of ecologically acceptable production processes to supervision over the implementation of design solutions and the correct operation not only of environmental-protection installations but also of basic equipment.

This is not a question of slowing or restricting the development of natural resources in the zone of the pearl of Siberia or of keeping the lake in hothouse conditions. To the contrary-Baikal’s treasures should be used more fully. More facilities must be built, and built faster. But it’s mandatory that this be done in accordance with a general plan for the development of productive forces. Highly competent organizations have drawn one up, but it has still not been approved. The approval process must be expedited …

2. The Pearl Needs a Setting.-… The protection of the greatest source of crystal-clear water on earth and its ecosystem includes concern for the rivers that feed the lake, the cleanliness of its shores, and the green necklace that surrounds Baikal.

So far there are only two relatively small nature reserves on the lake’s shores. The Barguzin Nature Reserve, founded in 1916, is in Podlemor’e. At the time it was founded, it had the narrow objective of restoring the population of the renowned sable, which had been almost completely wiped out: Only 30 of the little animals were left. Now there are 1,200 of them in the reserve alone. With the help of specialists, this valuable animal has been reacclimatized everywhere that it formerly lived. Kamchatka marmots, bears, Siberian chipmunks, pikas, squirrels, musk deer, elk, marals, gluttons and otters live in Podlemor’e. Wild deer graze in alpine meadows.

Unfortunately, the nature reserve’s area has been sharply reduced. Even sables living in its center, animals that range up to 25 km. a day, cross the protected zone’s boundaries. However, for effective reproduction such a zone should allow room for 10 days’ migration. Specialists believe that the reserve’s former boundaries must be restored and that part of the eastern shore, from the Sviatol Nos Peninsula to Tompa, plus the Ushkanyi Islands and the western shore from Cape Rytoi to Cape Kotelnikovskii, should be incorporated in it.

Ten years ago a nature reserve, unjustifiably called the Baikal Nature Reserve, was established in Khamar-Daban. It’s so small that it’s capable of preserving only vegetation-not animals, which range beyond its narrow boundaries.

Unquestionably, both the size of protected areas and the number of nature reserves must be increased in the region surrounding Lake Baikal …

The time has come to carry out another important idea: to declare the lake and the forests within 15 km. of it a national park. The creation of a park would make it possible to use the natural resources of the “glorious sea” primarily for organizing human recreation and therapy. The possibilities here are truly colossal.

Nature in the environs of Lake Baikal is remarkably beautiful and varied. There are geological faults, waterfalls, glaciers, singing sands and hot springs. Caves and dwelling sites of ancient man and rock pictures can be found along its shores …

The remains of an enigmatic wall built of stone slabs can be seen on Olkhon Island’s Cape Shibetei. Numerous burial sites there are covered with similar slabs. The half-forgotten Krugobaikalsk Railroad is another open-air museum. It is a remarkable monument to Russian engineering art; all types of railroad structures, including 38 tunnels, are represented in it.

Sailing, skiing, skating, ice boating and tourism could be developed on or near Lake Baikal. So could mountain climbing: Nearby are bare mountain peaks and tracts of mountainous tundra. Many people could be drawn to the area to gather mushrooms and berries, fish or hunt.

More and more people are coming here … Thousands of vacationers stay at the tourist bases. Alas, there aren’t enough of them, and those that do exist are poorly equipped.

And here is the result: Over 300,000 “wild” tourists [i.e., people who do not belong to organized groups] make their way to the lake area’s most remote places. Many really do behave wildly. Not content with defacing rocks and trees with such classic inscriptions “I was here,” they leave behind more noticeable traces. Up to 70% of the trees at parking areas are damaged, and “nature lovers” are to blame for up to 98% of the forest fires. They are even responsible for burning down 3,000 hectares of taiga in the Barguzin Nature Reserve itself.

Unsightly dachas, sheds and huts without sewage-treatment facilities have been springing up like mushrooms amidst the gorgeous landscapes of Olkhon Island Peschanaia Bay and elsewhere. The “mosquito fleet” of’ private motorboats and launches does great damage. They usually sail along the shore, in places where fish feed and in their migration routes. Limiting motorboat traffic would mean saving the lake from harmful discharges and poachers .

Up-to-date tourist bases and complexes, resorts and sanatoriums ought to be built along Lake Baikal in accordance with a unified plan … One would like to hope that Mukhor Inlet, which is surrounded by pine forest, will become the Siberian Artek. If a swimming pool with a glass roof is built there, the sun itself will warm its water to 30 degrees centrigrade for six months out of the year. The construction of swimming pools in this region should not be considered a luxury. After all, they’re even built on the Black Sea!

About 100 hot springs have been discovered along the lake’s shores and in the surrounding mountains. Their temperature ranges from 30 degrees to 90 degrees.

“In its abundance of mineral springs,” notes Prof. Ye. V. Pinneker, Deputy Director of the Institute of the Earth’s Crust of the USSR Academy of Sciences’ Siberian Division, “the Baikal region is on a par with the renowned resort regions of the Caucasus and Central Europe.” …

At present, there are several small water-cure resorts. This is clearly not enough …

A large national park and up-to-date tourist, museum and sanatorium-resort complexes-all these should be important parts of future construction in the Baikal zone.

Source: Current Digest of the Soviet Press, Vol. XXXII, No. 36 (1980), pp. 9-10.

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