On October 9, 2017 VyatSU scientists’ team of specialists in tourism, geography and ecology conducted an expedition to location of Zhukovlyansk boulders in Kotelnich region.
The expedition was the first step in the monitoring of tourism resources of Kirov region and was carried out as part of the project “Touristic Kirov”.
Zhukovlyansk large boulders location is a place of tourist interest, one of sightseeing of Kotelnich district. According to one version the age of boulders is more than 250 million years. The stones were formed as a result of sedimentation of rocks on the bottom of a huge lake. Further there was a long drainage of that reservoir and petrification of the rock. And later these rocks were polished almost to a perfectly round shape by a passed through glacier. At the moment the location surface is covered by about a thousand stones (diameters from 0.5 to 2 meters). This territory is not recognized as a special protected natural area, although Zhukovlyansk boulders are considered to be of important scientific, cultural and aesthetic significance.
The main goal of the expedition was to monitor the current state of this natural tourist object, count exact number of Zhukovlyansk large boulders and fix their accurate GPS coordinates. Carried out research allows to point the location of Zhukovlyansk boulders on a geographical map and, besides, to develop some interactive map including photos of interesting specimens. The results of scientific work will be necessary for the preparation of documents demanded for assigning the status "Specially Protected Natural Territories", for creation of tourist navigation, and also will be used as a helpful guide for competitions in orienteering.
Volunteers of regional tourist movement #visitKirov, created by Tourism Development Center of Kirov region, together with volunteers from Vyatka State University also conduct an environmental campaign to clean up the territory at the end of tourist season.
The expedition was carried out with the support of Kirov Regional State Budgetary Institution"Tourism Development Center of Kirov region" and administration of Kotelnich District.
