March 21 marks the International Day of Forests, which serve as a home to numerous species of animals, plants, fungi, mosses, and lichens. The protected natural areas of Kamchatka are home to unique forest tracts, the Kronotsky Nature Reserve reported to RAI "KAMCHATKA-INFORM." These include the ancient Shchapina spruce forests in the Lazovsky area. Spruce forests are generally rare for Kamchatka, and this particular area has never experienced wildfires or logging. The one-of-a-kind grove of the graceful fir (Abies gracilis) emerged among stone birch forests about a thousand years ago, and its origins remain a mystery to this day. In the caldera of the Uzon volcano lies the so-called "dancing" or "drunken forest." Due to chemical emissions from thermal springs, the trunks and branches of the stone birches are thin and highly contorted, yet the trees thrive, creating a one-of-a-kind landscape. Meanwhile, on the rocky shores of Lavrova Bay in the Koryak Nature Reserve—a fjord of glacial origin—relict stone birch forests have been preserved. In the South Kamchatka Federal Sanctuary, dwarf alder and dwarf pine thickets dominate.

Photos: Konstantin Panov, Mikhail Zhukov, Igor Shpilenok / Kronotsky Nature Reserve

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