Murovyovka Nature Park, a private nature reserve, is the result of the vision and determin

ation of one man, Sergei Smirenski. The Moscow University Professor has gained the support of international funds as well as local officials, businessmen and collective farms.

Thanks to his efforts, the agricultural project is also under way to create an experimental farm to teach local farmers how to farm without the traditionally heavy use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Two Wisconsin farmers, Don and Ellen Padley, spent last summer preparing land in Tanbovka district, where the park is located, and they will return this summer to plant it.

Specialists from the University of Utah also came to study the local cattle industry, looking to develop possibilities for beef exports to Japan.

Separately, 10 New Jersey school teachers will spend the summer in the district running summer camps for the local children that will stress field trips and lectures on the nature around them.

These programmes, particularly the agricultural project, are getting some funding support from the United States, including from the MacArthur Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and the US Agency for International Development. The Trust for Mutual Understanding and the Weeden Foundation are also supporting the International Crane Foundation's work in creating the park.

The World Bank is funding a small project to study the possibilities for ecotourism in the Amur basin region. Delta Dream Vacations, a Delta Airlines subsidiary, is looking into flights to Khabarovsk and Vladivostok for ecology tours, with some of the money going to support the zapovedniks (totally wild preserves used only for scientific research) in the region.

But this money has also generated a jealous attempt by the local wildlife service to block the Murovyovka project.

"They said, 'Give us their money, and we'll do it better, '" Smirenski says. They went to the local court to get a court order to halt the contract. Although they were successful at that level, the Amur regional government, with encouragement from Moscow, has already moved to reverse the decision as illegal.

"I don't pay attention to this negative side," Smirenski says in characteristic optimistic fashion. "I decided we should continue to create."

Beyond Murovyovka, there are even vaster grasslands and wetlands in the Amur basin that are vital nesting areas for rare birds such as the eastern white stork, and the red-crowned, white-naped, and hooded cranes. A complex of 100,000 hectares, for example, lies largely unprotected in Zhuravalini (literally "a place for cranes") downstream from Murovyovka. Creation of a national park, allowing for tourist use, has been proposed for this area.

A key part of the conservation strategy is to gain the support of regional governments by getting them to see that such internationally backed nature projects can lead to business and other ties, particularly to countries like Japan and China. For example, the cranes that nest in Russia have been tracked by satellite to wintering grounds in Izumi, on Japan's southern Kyushu Island. This linkage has proved useful in bringing regional officials from both countries together.

Last summer, 100 Japanese school children from the Tama region outside of Tokyo came to Khabarovsk on the Amur to experience the kind of untouched nature that has disappeared from Japan. As part of the exchange, the mayor of Tama donated 26 second- hand fire trucks to his counterpart.

"After this, the mayor of Khabarovsk said, Now I will listen to you, about your birds and all your problems,'" recounts Smirenski. "Now the officials understand what cranes mean to them."

A probable goal of the agricultural project is to

A．reduce pollution in reserve farmlands.

B．obtain the United Nations' cooperation.

C．learn how local farms are operated.

D．import new breeds of farm animals.