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A batch of 20,000 larch seedlings were delivered to Primorye from the city of Khabarovsk as the start of the World Wild Foundation Russia project aimed to restore the coniferous-deciduous forests in Primorye’s south-west, a preferred habitat of the rare Far Eastern leopard.

The batch is the first lot of seedlings to be used for revitalizing fire-resistant zones of larch forest in Primorye within the long-term project, a press statement from WWF Russia said Thursday.

For the past 50 years, the areas of coniferous-deciduous forest in the region decreased two-fold as a result of random economical activity, logging, and predominantly from fires. This led to once rich forest zones transforming into meager oak forests which are of little value ecologically.

“The project primarily targets creation of larch forest zones thus stopping fires which will make the forests potential preserved in these areas so as to aid their natural recovery,” Denis Smirnov, head of the forest programs in WWF Russia’s Far Eastern department, was quoted by the statement as saying.

The larch seedlings, developed in greenhouses of a specialized seed growing forestry, have been planted for further growth in a local nursery forest farm in Ussurisky County to be used for creating the first three kilometers of larch forest zone in the region’s south-west next May.

The first stage of the project involves creating 90 kilometers of larch forest zones, which will protect the areas most capable of natural revitalization.

Overall, a total of two million larch seedlings will be needed for the project, the statement said.

According to WWF Russia experts’ forecasts, if successful the forests natural revitalization will result in increasing by three times in a 50-year period, thus enlarging the area of the Far Eastern leopard’s habitat.

Today, there are only about 30 Far Eastern leopards in the Russian Far East, most of them residing in Khasansky County, Primorye’s south-west. The animal’s habitat area equals 400,000 hectares.