Virgin Komi Forests

It is common to hear that the Komi forests are the lungs of the European north. Indeed, what lets our planet breathe is its plant life. Komi has huge woodland areas untouched by civilization. It is thousands of square kilometers where no man has ever gone. Most of these areas are protected by law as parts of the Yugyd Va National Park and Pechora-Ilych Nature Reserve. Besides them, there are also a lot of other preserved territories tourists can visit.

Another title the Komi Parma deservedly carries is “green gold”.

The total area occupied by forests in the Komi Republic is 36,262 thousand hectares, accounting more than 85% of the region’s territory. This is the largest figure in the European continent. Based on this fact, in 1995 the republic’s biggest woodland area including the territories of the Yugyd Va National Park and Pechora-Ilych Nature Reserve was deemed a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Known as the Virgin Komi Forests, it became the first Russian object to be included in the list.

Most of the republic’s woodlands are located in hard-to-get places. One of their treasures is more than 1,000 hectares of ship pine forest, where each tree is taller than a 5-storey building. This not-man-made wonder can be seen not only in Yugyd Va and the Pechora-Ilych Nature Reserve, but also in the Koygorodsky National Park, established in 2020.