Abstract
Review: The Russian Far East: A Reference Guide for Conservation and Development By Josh Newell (Ed.) Reviewed by Laura M. Calkins Texas Tech University, USA Josh Newell (Ed.) The Russian Far East: A Reference Guide for Conservation and Development. Second Edition. McKinleyville, CA: Daniel & Daniel, Publishers, Inc., 2004. 466pp. ISBN:1880284-75-8. US$59.95. (paperback) Acid-free paper. The Russian Far East (RFE) is a massive yet little-known ecological preserve, buffered from industrial revolution and resulting environmental depredations both by its remote geography and by relative political and economic isolation of Soviet Union, of which it was a part until 1991. Now part of Russian Federation, RFE is enormous. It covers 6.6 million square kilometers, stretching from Laptev Sea and Arctic Ocean in north to borders with China and Japan in south. It includes at its extreme southern tip great port of Vladivostok on Sea of Japan, and takes in Sakhalin and Kuril Islands as well as Kamchatka Peninsula and Russian side of Bering Strait. Westerners tend to think of this area as eastern part of Siberia, but for Russians and most Asians, Siberia is vast mid-continent region west of RFE. With volcanic mountains, Arctic tundra, massive stretches of forest and temperate ocean littorals, RFE is, as editor Josh Newell claims, the most biologically diverse region of largest country on earth (p. vii). It is also one of world's last great expanses to be both broadly, although lightly, populated and relatively understudied. Since early 1920s entire region has been isolated from international interactions by a political Polar Curtain imposed by Soviet government based in Moscow, some 9000 kilometers to west. Soviet-era scientists, scholars, and bureaucrats worked assiduously to survey, catalog, and control peoples and natural assets of RFE, but only since mid-1990s have European, American, and Asian scientists and tourists gained entrance to this fascinating region. This reference guide would be invaluable to anyone fortunate enough to visit Russia's Far East, but its organization is also welcoming for non-experts who need to study RFE from afar. An initial overview section sets out environmental complexity of region, while ten subsequent chapters provide economic profiles, ecological data, and revealing photographs of each sub-region. Each chapter also includes special sections on regional ecology, legal issues, indigenous peoples, and biodiversity hotspots. One chapter profiles immense Republic of Sakha, which at 3.1 million square kilometers encompasses one quarter of Russian Federation's land area; it is approximately five times size of US state of Texas (p.227). Another RFE region, or oblast, is Autonomous which lies along Amur River on border with China. Stalin as a relocation zone for European Russia's urban Jewish minority created this Oblast in 1920s (p. 180); but now miners and oil field workers have replaced Jewish refugees. …
Highlights
The Russian Far East (RFE) is a massive yet little-known ecological preserve, buffered from the industrial revolution and resulting environmental depredations both by its remote geography and by the relative political and economic isolation of the Soviet Union, of which it was a part until 1991
Westerners tend to think of this area as the eastern part of Siberia, but for Russians and most Asians, “Siberia” is the vast mid-continent region west of the RFE
Soviet-era scientists, scholars, and bureaucrats worked assiduously to survey, catalog, and control the peoples and natural assets of the RFE, but only since the mid-1990s have European, American, and Asian scientists and tourists gained entrance to this fascinating region. This reference guide would be invaluable to anyone fortunate enough to visit Russia’s Far East, but its organization is welcoming for non-experts who need to study the RFE from afar
Summary
The Russian Far East (RFE) is a massive yet little-known ecological preserve, buffered from the industrial revolution and resulting environmental depredations both by its remote geography and by the relative political and economic isolation of the Soviet Union, of which it was a part until 1991. Title The Russian Far East: A Reference Guide for Conservation and Development Review: The Russian Far East: A Reference Guide for Conservation and Development
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