Representatives of the US Forest Service Visited the Caucasian Wildlife Refuge

YEREVAN — Representatives of the US Forest Service are in Armenia. They visited the protected areas of the Caucasian Wildlife Refuge (CWR) to learn about the work of the partner Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets (FPWC).

The primary purpose of the visit was to discuss the problems of wildlife in Armenia and the prospects for fire prevention. With the support of the US Forest Service, since 2020, the foundation has been implementing forest fire prevention, capacity building, and technical training of forest rangers in the CWR private protected area managed by the foundation, as well as a number of public awareness campaigns and events and educational programs.

Accompanied by the Director of the Foundation, Ruben Khachatryan, the partners toured the shelter, visited a nursery of native tree species, which was established in 2016 with the support of the US Forest Service, as well as learned about bear rescue, ecotourism, community development and a number of other programs. The foundation employees presented extensive information about upcoming projects to the partners.

“We are glad that we are working closely with the US Forest Service, particularly in the scope of forest fire prevention. The US Forest Service is one of the leaders in the world with its long-term experience, and the exchange of that experience will enable us to fight against wildfires more effectively,”- Ruben Khachatryan noted. He added that it is very important for colleagues to get to know all the programs implemented by the Foundation.

It should be noted that the prevention of forest fires is one of the important points of the policy adopted by the foundation, and a large educational campaign is already being carried out in this direction. In the near future, the fund will present other initiatives related to the sector.