Battle for Bikin: How a Far Eastern Park Was Born

Abstract

ABSTRACT The turbulent history of one of the most important natural preserves of Russia, surrounding the Bikin River, sometimes called Russia’s Amazon, is related by one of the park’s founders. This Indigenous narrator interweaves the story of his people, the Udegé, together with their relationship to the sacred Bikin taiga lands, and to issues of leadership on many levels. The case is significant because it features one of the few large Indigenous territories that have been saved from development (timber, gold, road building) by continuously scheming outsiders, and for its depiction of the importance of Indigenous solidarity combined with guarantees of flexible traditional land use (hunting, trapping, fishing). Russian ecology activists and international allies in the battle for the park played key roles, as did the presence on Bikin territories of the charismatic largest cat in the world, the Siberian tiger.