Yuntolovsky Reserve, Nature reserve in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Yuntolovsky Reserve is a regional nature zakaznik of 976.8 hectares in the Primorsky District of Saint Petersburg, in the north-eastern part of Lakhta-Olgino. It lies in the Lakhta depression and takes in the Lakhta razliv, stretches of the Chyornaya, Kamenka, Yuntolovka and Glukharka rivers, and most of the Lakhta bog. Sphagnum pine and birch forests cover much of it, with transitional and lowland bogs and patches of black alder.
In 1919 Petrograd naturalists proposed a reserve along the whole shore of Neva Bay from Staraya Derevnya to Lisiy Nos, praising the Lakhta lowland's original vegetation and its stopover sites for waterfowl; the project was not supported. That same year the Lakhta excursion station opened in the former Stenbock-Fermor mansion under polar explorer P. V. Vittenburg, with a museum of the bay's northern shore, operating until 1932. The zakaznik was created by the Leningrad Soviet presidium on 20 July 1990 (No. 71), and its boundaries and protection regime were confirmed by Governor's order No. 1275-r of 30 November 1999.
The reserve's name comes from the Yuntolovka River, which forms part of its western boundary. The sign at the entrance quotes a poem by Alexander Blok, a nod to the area's literary connection. Since 1990 the territory has been a zakaznik, a Russian protection category that allows limited recreational use while banning activities listed on the board.
Visitors can reach the reserve by public transportation or private vehicle, with marked trails providing access to viewing points throughout the area. The paths allow visitors to explore different habitats and observe wildlife without specialized equipment.
The reserve holds the easternmost population of bog rosemary (Andromeda polifolia's companion here, waxwort), a shrub in the Russian Red Book; beyond this shore of the Gulf of Finland the species does not spread further east. Botanists watch the colony closely because its survival in the reserve is considered precarious.
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