Sergei Mihaylovich Prokofiev
Since the 1970s there has been organized the main operations on creating special protected territories in the Republic of Khakasia. In 1981 a special expedition, organized by the Developmental Morphology and Ethnology Institute of Academy of Sciences of the USSR, under the general direction of academician E.E. Syroechkovsky, conducted a research of steppe areas of Khakasia and Tuva for the purpose of creation steppe reserves. But these plans were not realized. The administration of the Republic of Khakasia worried about the increasing the livestock population at that time. Nevertheless, the designing of the reserves started at the end of 1980s. By that time all the steppes of Khakasia were occupied with agricultural holdings. It cost the designers of the future reserve (candidate of biological sciences U.I. Kustov and S.M. Prokofiev) a lot of effort and persistence to withdraw at least some lands from agricultural circulation. As a result 8 separate sections in steppe and forest-steppe zones, scattered all over the northern and central parts of the Republic of Khakasia, were projected. There was out of the question to create a monolithic reserve. The biggest of the sections was more than 5 thousands of hectares in area extent. The steppe areas, lake and water-marsh lands, which were unfit for agricultural holding, were assigned to the reserve. The directors of collective and state farms agreed to allocation their pasture lands only on condition that the plan of increasing of sheep population, which numbered nearly millions head in Khakasia at that time, was cut.
Some of the projected sections were in the immediate vicinity of settlements, adjoined the highways and railways. Recreation centers, underground pipelines, dumps of household rubbish, transmission facilities were in the possession of the reserve.
Finally, the first reserve of the Republic of Khakasia was established in 1991. In August the resolution of the Council of Ministers of RSFSR declared the establishment of the state natural reserve “Chazy”. The reserve was set up in 7 sections in four administrative districts, with the total area of 24,1 thousands of hectares.
Yuri Ivanovich Kustov
At that time the reserve came across into a lot of difficulties like impossibility of closing dumps for the lack of money for building a new one, the roads continued functioning, etc.
The unique Lake Ulug-Kol, which is the place of nesting of Red Book waterfowl and water-mash birds, couldn’t be included into the reserve’s scope during the projecting. At first a preserve of the republican significance was established there. This territory became completely neglected because of lack of financing of its maintenance. It took almost 6 years to join this territory to the reserve.
Expedition on purpose of the organization of “Maly Abakan” reserve in 1991
In 1998 an additional territory “Lake Ulug-Kol”, included in International List of Key Ornithological Territories of Asia, was attached to the “Chazy” reserve and the total area of the reserve grew to 27,3 thousands of hectares.
Right after finishing the projecting of “Chazy” reserve, the projecting group started designing the mountain taiga (cedar) reserve “Maly Abakan”. By the end of 1970s a justifiable threat to the unique cedar and cedar-fir tree forests of the Western Sayan Mountains in the basin of the River Maly Abakan arose. In 1979 on instructions of Glavohota of RSFSR a special projecting group under the direction of F.R. Shtilmark and N.G. Obushenkov started their work. They projected and in 1980 established a republican preserve “Maly Abakan”. The total area of the reserve was 119 thousands of hectares. Disafforestation was suspended, but the forests of the preserve were not withdrawn from the state forest resources and the threat of resumption the deforestation remained. Works on formation the reserve continued in 1990. Scientific officers of the “Azas” reserve (Tuva) and specialists of the Environment Protection Committee of the Republic of Khakasia took part in these works. In 1992 the project was completed and in September of 1993 a state nature reserve “Maly Abakan”, established in accordance with the resolution of the Council of Ministers of RSFSR from 08.09.1993 № 816, was founded on the part of the reserve’s territory. The total area of the assigned territory was 104,5 thousands of hectares. The territory was chosen successfully: the high-bonitat cedar forests and highlands as places of rare animal species habitation were found to be a constituent part of the reserve. In addition, its location was remote from the human settlements and difficult to access.
Workers of the United Directorate of the “Chazy” and “Maly Abakan” reserves
In 1993 the “Chazy” and “Maly Abakan” reserves were united into the United Directorate of the “Chazy” and “Maly Abakan” Reserves managing organization, which has been functioning till the end of 1999.
In November of 1999 the “Chazy” and “Maly Abakan” reserves were united into one “Khakassky” state natural reserv. At that time the workers of the reserve had an idea of restoration of the Altai reserve’s territory in Khakasia. The restoration of the whole territory allowed creating a huge transboundary protected territory. It would be bordering upon the Altai reserve from the west side, to the “Ubsunurskaya Hollow” reserve from the south side. The arrangement of such protected section would allow keeping under guard the habitats of such rare animal species as snow leopard, ibex, and reindeer. The project of assigning this territory to the reserve was accepted, except the territory where deposit of iron ore was found. In May of 2001 the Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation “About the expansion of the “Khakassky” state natural reserve at the expense of projected additional section “The Lykovs squatting” was signed.