Kedrovaya Pad (, lit. ''

Korean Pine ''Pinus koraiensis'' is a species of pine known commonly as the Korean pine. It is a relic species of the Tertiary, identified as a rare tree species by United Nations. It is native to eastern Asia: Korea, northeastern China, Mongolia, the tempe ...

Valley'') is a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

(''gosudarstvenny prirodny biosferny

zapovednik A zapovednik is an established term on the Post-Soviet states, territory of the former Soviet Union for a protected area which is kept "forever wild". It is the highest degree of environmental protection for the assigned areas, which are strictly ...

'') on the territory of

Khasansky District Khasansky District () is an administrativeLaw #161-KZ and municipalLaw #187-KZ district (raion), one of the twenty-two in Primorsky Krai, Russia. It is located in the southwest of the krai, wedged between the Tumen River and the Peter the Great ...

in the south of

Primorsky Krai Primorsky Krai, informally known as Primorye, is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (a krais of Russia, krai) of Russia, part of the Far Eastern Federal District in the Russian Far East. The types of inhabited localities in Russia, ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. As of 2011, it occupies an area of , about one thousandth of the total area of Primorsky Krai. In March 2019, a wounded and emaciated leopard was found on the territory of Primorsky Krai, near the Kedrovaya Pad Nature Reserve. It was not possible to return him to the wild due to the consequences of his wounds. Veterinarians claimed that the beast was badly damaged from a hard fight with a fellow tribesman. Svetlana Radionova became the keeper of the leopard. The beast was named Elbrus in honor of the highest mountain in Russia.

Topography

Kedrovaya Pad is at the coastal spurs of the

Manchuria Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...

n mountains. The reserve's boundaries approach Barabashevka River (until 1973 Mongugay or Bolshoy Mongugay) in the northeast, and

Narva River The Narva, formerly also Narwa or Narova, flows north into the Baltic Sea and is the largest Estonian river by discharge. A similar length of land far to the south, together with it and a much longer intermediate lake, Lake Peipus, all togeth ...

(until 1973 Sidimi) in the southwest. In the southeast, the

Far Eastern Railway Far Eastern Railway () is a railway in Russia that crosses Primorsky Krai, Khabarovsk Krai, Amur Oblast, Jewish Autonomous Oblast, and Sakha Republic, Yakutia. Information The railway administration is located in Khabarovsk. The Far Eastern Rail ...

separates it from

Amur Bay Amur Bay (, ''Amurskiy Zaliv''), a major bay within Peter the Great Gulf of the Sea of Japan, has an approximate length of , a width of to , and a depth of . It is part of a larger bay formed with Ussuri Bay, to which it is connected by the ...

which is less than 5 km away. In the northwest, the A189 (

AH6 AH6 may refer to: * Boeing AH-6, an American helicopter gunship *AH6 (highway), a highway in the Asian Highway Network The Asian Highway Network (AH), also known as the Great Asian Highway, is a cooperative project among countries in Asia and ...

) road separates it from the Chyornye Gory range, whose watershed defines the Sino-Russian border and is less than 20 km away. Sukhorechensky Ridge covers the southern half of the reserve, reaching at Gora Uglovaya (or Zapretnaya) in the west. North of it, Kedrovaya River forms a gorge as it flows east from its source in the western part of the reserve. While some kind of nature protection measures have been in effect in the area since 1916, the reserve was officially established in 1925, making it the oldest nature reserve in the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East ( rus, Дальний Восток России, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in North Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asia, Asian continent, and is coextensive with the Far Easte ...

Ecoregion and climate

The reserve is located in the

Manchurian mixed forests The Manchurian mixed forests ecoregion (WWF ID: PA0426) covers the forested hills surrounding the river plains of northern China, Russia, North Korea, and South Korea. The ecoregion supports a number of rare species due to the relative isolation ...

ecoregion. The climate is '' Humid continental climate, warm summer subtype'' (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

'' (Dwb)'').

Flora and fauna

The nature of the reserve is unique in a sense that its high biodiversity represents an overlap of southern (subtropical forests) and northern (coniferous-broadleaf forests) species and animals. Some of the species endemic to the area include the

Siberian tiger The Siberian tiger or Amur tiger is a population of the tiger subspecies ''Panthera tigris tigris'' native to Northeast China, the Russian Far East, and possibly North Korea. It once ranged throughout the Korea, Korean Peninsula, but currently ...

Amur leopard The Amur leopard (''Panthera pardus orientalis'') is a leopard subspecies native to the Primorye region of southeastern Russia and northern China. It is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, as in 2007, only 19–26 wild leopar ...

, and

Asian black bear The Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), also known as the Asiatic black bear, moon bear and white-chested bear, is a medium-sized bear species native to Asia that is largely adapted to an arboreal lifestyle. It is distributed from southeast ...

References

External links

Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment.ru: Official Kedrovaya Pad Nature Reserve website
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Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment.ru: Kedrovaya Pad Media gallery

Russian Academy of Sciences, Far Eastern Branch.ru: Kedrovaya Pad website
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Russian Academy of Sciences, Far Eastern Branch.ru: Map of Kedrovaya Pad
{{Primorsky Krai Nature reserves in Russia Geography of Primorsky Krai Protected areas of the Russian Far East Zapovednik Protected areas established in 1925 1925 establishments in Russia 1925 establishments in the Soviet Union