Russia approves creation of Volcanoes of Kamchatka national park

Russia will establish a federal national park covering about 887,700 hectares in Kamchatka. A government decree signed on October 9 brings together land from two regional nature parks.

The new park will be formed from the South Kamchatka and Klyuchevskoy parks. It will span the Ust-Kamchatsky, Milkovsky, Ust-Bolsheretsky and Yelizovsky municipal districts. Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed the decree.

Administration will pass to Russia's Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. The ministry must protect the area's natural complexes and work with the Kamchatka regional government on establishing the park.

The ministry has six months after the decree takes effect to approve the park's regulations. Those rules must provide for recreational and sport hunting in accordance with Russian law.

Almost all of the area is forest land. About 142,900 hectares already leased or held in permanent use will be included without withdrawal from economic use.

Documents recording the boundaries must be submitted to the property registry by June 1, 2027. A proposal to reclassify forest land as protected territory is due to the government by December 1, 2029.

Funding will come from the ministry's existing federal budget allocation for biodiversity conservation and ecological tourism. The national park is distinct in size from the UNESCO World Heritage site of the same name, listed in 1996 and covering about 4 million hectares.