Sayano-Shushenskiy Biosphere Reserve

UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, inscribed 1985, in Russian Federation. The Sayano-Shushenskiy Biosphere Reserve is located in the Krasnoyarsk Territory of Siberia on the left bank of a large man-made reservoir, where the Yenisey valley cuts through the Western Sayan mountain range. The state natural biosphere reserve “Sayano-Shushensky” is a nature-protective, scientific and educational establishment of federal value. Its purpose is to preserve and study the natural course of processes and phenomena, the genetic fund of plant and animal life, and particular types and communities of plants and animals. It also aims to conserve the typical and unique ecological systems of the Western Sayan Mountains, the centre of the biogeographical province of the Altai–Sayans highland, relating to the biome of mixed mountain forests and the mountain systems of the Palaearctic area.