July 18, 2008

Today we went on an excursion to Pleistocene Park, Sergei Zimov’s largest experiment.  The park consists of roughly 40,000 acres of forest, shrubland, lakes, streams, and if Sergei has his way, grasslands.  At the park there is a cabin that houses two people that work at the park, various outbuildings to store equipment, and a personnel carrier that plays an integral role in Sergei’s ultimate vision.

Sergei Zimov started Pleistocene Park in 1989 with the hopes of restoring the more productive grassland ecosystem, which he calls mammoth tundra-steppe, that was present more than 10,000 years ago during the Pleistocene Epoch.  The grasslands present during the Pleistocene were perpetuated by the grazing of large herbivores, including but not limited to, mammoths, horses, moose, reindeer, bison, and musk oxen.  The grazing and trampling associated with these megafauna both increases nutrient cycling as well as decreases survivability of mosses, large shrubs, and trees, resulting in grasses having a competitive advantage.  However, when many of these megafauna became extinct early in the Holocene, these vast grasslands became less productive forests.

In an attempt to restore the park, which naturally lacks the necessary megafauna, to a Pleistocene grassland, Sergei Zimov has carried out controlled burns to enhance nutrient cycling and clear trees.  Due to the current shortage of mammoths, Sergei also periodically takes matters into his own hands.  He drives his Solviet personel carrier, which he describes as the equivalent to two male mammoths, through the forest.  His only complaint about this substitution is that it does not produce any excrement, an essential component.  So far he has released Yakutian horses and moose into the park to increase decomposition and trample moss, and is currently in the market for musk oxen and bison.  After herbivore populations reach high enough levels, he plans to reintroduce various predators, including wolves and Siberian tigers.  Sergei is anxiously awaiting the day that he becomes a tiger farmer. 

We previously thought that the forest was natural, consisting of trees and birds, and that we should preserve it.  However, after hearing Sergei Zimov’s vision, we realized that it was only a result of humans.  Thus, it makes sense to nudge nature back to its natural state where, with the help of herbivores, it will become stable once again.  As we saw horses run through the park, we could envision the numerous, even larger, megafauna that will call Pleistocene Park home in the future.  While much of the park is currently unappealing due to ash from fires and toppled trees from “mammoths”, some parts are beautiful, made up of various grasses and short willow shrubs that provide quality forage for herbivores.  Humans usually convert natural systems to artificial ones.  However, at Pleistocene Park, Sergei Zimov is helping nature restore itself from unnatural forests (in which he claims the trees are growing illegally) to the productive, awe-inspiring mammoth tundra-steppe it once was.

 To read more about Pleistocene Park in Science Magazine, click here.

Anya Suslova, Student, Yakutsk State University

Tyler Llewellyn, Student, Western Washington University