Sludka house
Photo: Sanna SusiluotoAfter a well organized morning in Syktyvkar to prepare the week in Sludka, the Finns and Swedish teams got to the village in the middle of the taiga forest. We met the German team which were already there to study taiga peatland gas fluxes. We greatly benefited from their experience and also had great help from Julia, with her knowledge of Russian.

We were welcomed in a comfortable house in the middle of the village, which was situated near a river where was nice to swim. This village had about 500 inhabitants, 3 shops and 2 churches. Despite the language barrier, the inhabitants were really welcoming. For instance, the local doctor gave us a lift in his car, saving us a long sweaty walk down the high-way, and a generous fisherman gave us all of his catch for the day (a number of very small, but tasty, Perch). We had electricity but not running water in the wooden houses with a small garden. Some of us found a comfortable place inside with the mosquitoes while the girls preferred their tent in the garden.

Taïga flux site
Photo: Päivi Kaislahti-TillmanThe first day of work was delayed by a storm, but sun and heat were the main weather for the rest of the week. We began by visiting the flux measurement station, reachable by a long boardwalk into the Ust-Pojeg peatland. The Finnish team collected biomass samples and ground-truth points in the surrounding forest area throughout the week. The first working day for the Swedish team was spent doing reconnaissance for the transects through the peatland. We cored the peatland in 3 transects, one of them corresponding with the work of Suzy from Greifswald and Nea from Helsinki for complementarity in the data. For 2 days, Suzy helped us and also lent us her Russian peat-corer. Nice cooperation and sharing protocols was a theme for that week.

Like school children, a bus picked us up every day in the morning and evening for long and efficient working days. Every 2 days the “banja”, which is the local and original Russian sauna, was really appreciated after long days with heat and mosquitoes.

Laly landscape
Photo: Gustaf HugeliusThe second taiga site was the study place for Russian, Finnish, British and Swedish partners. A short 80 km bus drive took us from Sludka to Laly, with a lunch break in a surprising modern restaurant in the middle of the taiga. We arrived in a beautiful landscape, with two homes situated on the top of the Vym river terrace. The village of Laly is similar to Sludka, approximately the same size. However, the village of Laly is divided in 3 parts with an old church ruin and a typical, colorful, graveyard. The first visit to the far end of the village 4 km from the camp was dominated by the meeting of a particular inhabitant who really wanted to get to know “Lucia” better. The way home was long and full of tactical feints, with help from the Russian team. The rest of our spare time was spent calmly at home.

Soil profile
Photo: Gustaf HugeliusBiomass square
Photo: Sanna SusiluotoThe working plan was to describe the Achim river basin. The 3 teams (Russian, Finns and Swedes) worked on the same transects with high cooperation. Nice holes were dug by the Russians studying soil characteristics, the Swedes collected samples for soil carbon data and the Finns followed to collect vegetation data and biomass samples. Despite warm temperatures (up to 36°C!) and long walks to the study areas we maintained high efficiency. The evenings were nice with shared dinners and times spent in the banja, swimming in the Vym and playing cards.

There was a big turnover of people in this session. In fact, after some days with one Swedish group, two Finnish groups and many Russians, two more groups from Stockholm arrived to help during the last workday on the peatland. After packing (luggage but also the huge amount of samples), we visited Sludka and the gas flux site for a last goodbye to the Germans and also Nea. Next destination Mikun for train travel to the Tundra!

By Nathalie Pluchon