PHOENIX FUND INITIATIVES

EDUCATIONAL PROJECT

On September 9-10, 2010, Udege Legend National Park, Education Department of Krasnoarmeisky district and the Phoenix Fund organized a two-day workshop for educators of Krasnoarmeisky district (northern Primorye, Russian Far East). During the workshop Alexander Vrisch, coordinator of Phoenix's educational projects, presented an Educator’s Tool Kit on Amur tiger, including a Teacher’s Guide and a DVD. The Kit was developed by 20 educators from eight districts of Primorye, representatives of Wildlife Conservation Society-Russia, Greenpeace-Russia, Primorsky Institute for Further Training of Educators, Lazovsky Nature Reserve, and representatives of Khabarovsky National Pedagogical University and All-Russia Nature Conservation Society from Khabarovsky krai.

The idea of creating of such materials has been discussed for many years. Thanks to support from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service we turned this idea into a tangible reality. The teacher’s guide contains over 95 lessons in total. The lessons include materials that are considered appropriate for children between 3 and 17 years of age and can be used by teachers during various lessons and events, namely:

1) Pre-school education;
2) Drawing lessons;
3) Life safety basic lessons;
4) Math and logic;
5) Russian language and literature;
6) English language;
7) Biology;
8) Ecology;
9) Lessons devoted to tigers; and others.

Each lesson includes goals, methods, information on the theme, games and tasks for various age groups, materials for printing, tests and homework tasks, information on slide presentation and video fragments available on the DVD. The “Teachers for Tigers” DVD contains all information from the teacher’s guide, additional information on the themes covered by lessons, as well as slide presentations, video fragments, photo materials and materials for printing (games, quizzes etc).

The Phoenix Fund is going to hold a number of workshops for educators of other districts of Primorye in the nearest future in order to teach them how to use the Kit during their lessons at schools.

FINANCIAL HELP BY RUSSIAN CITIZENS

On September 13, 2010 substantial financial support was sent to Anyuisky National Park's bank account by the Phoenix Fund, Russian ecological NGO, that raised 12,189 rubles ($406) through its “HELP!” text donation campaign in the last two months. 

At the end of the summer the national park had serious financial problems because it run out of the funds allocated from the federal budget for anti-poaching patrols. Adequate protection for the area during the upcoming fire season was in doubt, but thanks to concerned ordinary people the Phoenix Fund received numerous SMS, which resulted  in the donations of fuel needed for anti-poaching patrols. And today patrols in the park have been recommenced.

“As it is unpleasant to admit that our government cannot provide sufficient financial support to meet all needs of the protected areas created to protect the Amur tiger, so it is pleasant to see that people are very concerned about  nature conservation in the Russian Far East,” Victoria Molchanova, Phoenix's environmental projects coordinator said. “Anti-poaching patrols guarantee the survival of the Amur tiger and its prey species. The situation in Anyuisky National Park was of great concern to all of us. On the same day when Alexander Samarin, director of Anyuisky National Park, informed us about the financial problems they face, we set up a text donation campaign. Donations for the National Park support poured in to the Phoenix Fund from various sources: some people donated  $1-$2 using the SMS system, others transferred their donations directly to the Phoenix's account. Our organization also donated $1,000 for anti-poaching activities in the Park. All in all, we could provide the park with fuel to patrol the protected area during next couple of months."

Anyuisky National Park started its work in April 2009. The park of 429,000 ha is located on the northern part of the Sikhote-Alin mountain ridge in Khabarovsky krai and includes the northern part of the Amur tiger habitat. It plays an important role in conservation of tigers in the wild.  The administration of the Anyuisky National Park is grateful to everyone who participated in the text donation campaign.

Previous mobile giving efforts helped collect funds for:

-Zov Tigra (Roar of the Tiger) National Park to feed wild ungulates suffering severe winter conditions and purchase chain saws to clear roads;
-Rehabilitation of an orphaned tiger cub;
-and oil recovery operation in Lazovsky Nature Reserve.

At present, the Phoenix Fund has set up a text donation campaign for Inspection Tiger to build a tiger rehabilitation center in Primorye.