On April 3-4, game biologists from the Amurskaya Province Directorate on PAs in cooperation with Bars Students Group for Nature Protection erected four such poles in the territory of Muraviovskii wildlife refuge. The pole is a tripod stand made of thin logs 8 meters long fixed in such a way that its upper ends form a fork where storks could nest.

Erection of poles is only one part of a large project on the Far Eastern stork conservation run in Amurskaya province with WWF’s support.

«WWF started the “Storks’ nests keepers” project together with its partners back in 2002. The project activities include individual care of each nest in September and spring when all the grass is mowed around a tree thus protecting it from forest fires, - comments Yury Darman, head of WWF-Russia Amur branch. – In March-April nests keepers go checking nests. If it is needed they help storks to repair them. In the plots with no trees, artificial poles are the only solution for “new settlers”».

Within the next few days three more tripod poles are planned to be mounted in Muraviovskii refuge and four in Amurskii. There is no much sense erecting poles later as all flown in birds will find place to nest or fly away to other places by this time.

Such poles have never been mounted before in Russia. The idea was brought from China where similar constructions are pretty popular. In Russia, in Khabarovskii and Evreiskaya provinces they erect supports in the form of a metal or wooden platform fixed on a column. According to calculations made by game biologists, tripods are cheaper and easier to erect. However, several platforms on columns will be mounted to figure out which of the two supports is more attractive for the birds.