Alone against the destruction of their forest — Gavrino villagers seek help.

Our Russian Taiga has already been torn into fragments; isolated patches of wilderness are slowly but inevitably degrading. Animals cannot migrate, energy flows are disrupted; there is no exchange of genetic material or seeds, and the biotic regulation of the local climate does not function. You know, it’s that kind of imitation of wild nature, surrounded on all sides by industrial facilities and farmland, and every so often “GAZelle” vans sneak into the forest plots to dump yet another load of trash.

I generally recommend that our allies assess the forests in your region yourselves: just open Google or Yandex satellite maps and look carefully at the surrounding nature. Forests should not be cut through by highways and infrastructure; there shouldn’t be “little squares” amid the forest and industrial sites. Where you see an unbroken forest canopy, there you still have living nature; everything else is an imitation—shattered fragments of the unfortunate Russian Taiga.

And now we are witnessing utterly unprecedented attacks on the last living tracts of forests—ripping them apart without a second thought for the sake of short-term profit. Reports are coming from our allies from all corners of the country! People don’t know how to save the last shards of the Russian Taiga, and each time the destruction of forests is justified by “economic necessity.”

I received a letter from residents of the Moscow Region. The residents of the village of Gavrino are asking for our help to protect their native forest; they don’t know what to do and say officials urgently need to fell thousands of trees to lay yet another highway. The road is planned from the settlement named after Kalinin (on the outskirts of the town of Pavlovsky Posad), across the M-7 “Volga” highway to the village of Mikhalyovo. According to locals, an exit from this road is planned just 500 meters from Gavrino, and thousands of animals will be killed for the sake of construction! The few animals that can still take shelter in the local forest will simply be deprived of refuge, leaving them no chance to survive.

I have studied the issue. Let us, allies, support with public outcry the residents of Gavrino who are trying to defend nature. Today they will destroy the forest near their homes; tomorrow they will come to your doorstep! We must learn to stand together and help one another; this is a common misfortune—we have one Russian Taiga.

Gavrino is a small village with a history dating back to the 17th century, located between the picturesque Klyazma River and the old flooded “Baikal” quarry. These places have always been known for their dense forests, abundance of meadows, and diversity of flora and fauna. The villagers lead a traditional rural lifestyle: many have private smallholdings, keep livestock and apiaries, and harvest hay in the adjoining fields. I visited the area a very long time ago; I remember the quiet and the blessing of these places. And that is an enormous value in the noisy, densely populated Moscow Region. And who doesn’t know: Pavlovsky Posad is generally known as a provincial town with a rich history and traditions—this is where the famous Pavlovsky Posad shawls are produced, which have made the town renowned worldwide.

And then officials came with their plan to “develop” the local forest. Why, they say, do we need wild nature! Let’s cover everything in asphalt and send an endless stream of heavy trucks through. According to the draft master plan of the Pavlovsky Posad urban district, a regional highway is planned here, called the “Bypass of the settlement of Bolshiye Dvory.” This road is supposed to connect Pavlovsky Posad with the M-7 highway and the northern villages. The new road will be about 9.1 km long, Category III (a regional arterial), with two lanes. At the same time, the right-of-way width for the roadbed will be about 46 meters, and the protection zone of the planned facility up to 400 meters. That means a wide clearing will be needed through the forest along the entire route—an enormous corridor for which thousands of trees will be cut down! The construction provides for an interchange with the federal M-7 “Volga” highway that will pass in the immediate vicinity of the village of Gavrino.

As for timing—preparatory work is planned to start very soon; in 2026 they plan to develop the design and planning documentation for the road. And construction is set to begin already in 2027! Officials say this road is vitally necessary, as the new arterial will improve transport accessibility for the northern settlements and provide a direct exit from Pavlovsky Posad to the M-7, bypassing nearby narrow roads.

In reality, it’s the same story everywhere! Right in the heart of Moscow, our nation’s capital, they are now destroying, for example, Losiny Ostrov National Park. And no one seems to care; a handful of people—local residents—are heroically defending the protected forests, but because they are isolated, “one-on-one” with the trouble, there is virtually no chance to save nature.

Everywhere, building a road in place of forests is justified by “urgent, urgent necessity.” As if we have no need for clean air and no right to environmental safety! This is how our own habitat is destroyed while officials “master” federal and regional budgets.

The local residents of the village of Gavrino are now trying with all their might to stop the destruction of their native forest. But how? How do you stop this madness?

The project runs through forest tracts and agricultural lands previously almost untouched by large-scale construction. Inevitably, centuries-old trees—the green “lungs” of the district—will be affected. Beyond the roadway itself, sites will have to be cleared for embankments, interchanges, shoulders, and drainage ditches—all of which increases the area of felling. For comparison: when the notorious highway through the Khimki Forest near Moscow was laid out, a clearing 80–100 m wide was planned, with an area of about 95 hectares of forest (plans later were partially adjusted). The scale of the Pavlovsky Posad project is, of course, smaller, but the tally could still run to dozens of hectares of forest to be cut. Given that the forest around Gavrino has served as a protective belt for the town and as habitat for many species, the consequences could be severe.

The forest massif near Gavrino is part of the large green belt of the Moscow Region, inherited from Soviet times. These forests preserve the region’s biodiversity and are home to many species of animals. Villagers testify that wild boar, roe deer, and moose are regularly encountered in their surroundings. For example, in March of this year, on the A-108 ring road near Pavlovsky Posad, accidents occurred involving three large ungulates—two moose and one wild boar were killed by cars. Specialists from the Committee on Forestry note that places where wild animals cross roads are well known in the Moscow Region and even marked by special “Wild Animals” signs. This indicates that populations of moose, wild boar, and other fauna inhabit local forests and regularly migrate through them.

With a new road, animals will have nowhere to migrate between forest plots! And along with that will come constant noise, light, and chemical pollution. Ecosystem degradation here will be unavoidable, as will numerous animals killed under the wheels of vehicles.

By the way, in 2024 residents of Pavlovsky Posad reported several young wild boar roaming city streets after coming out of the forest. Specialists noted at the time that they lack a food base! That is already an alarming signal: the local forest refuge is too small, and it’s already hard for wild animals to survive. And now a highway through the forest on top of that!

And of course it’s no less important that the forest around Gavrino performs essential ecosystem services for people. It cleans the air by absorbing harmful emissions from nearby highways and enterprises, moderates the climate (cooler in summer, protection from winds in winter), and serves as a natural filter for groundwater by absorbing excess moisture during floods. It is no accident that the Moscow Region historically had a forest-protection belt around the capital—such massifs create a favorable living environment. Clearing part of the forest for a road could worsen air quality and the local microclimate. Noise and dust from the highway will drive away birds and small animals and disrupt the quiet to which rural residents are accustomed.

Thus, these small villages surrounded by forest—where people traditionally kept private homesteads and could get away from noisy Moscow to rest and recover—will now degrade along with the wild nature. Instead of birdsong, people may hear the roar of engines day and night. Air quality will deteriorate—the exhaust from dozens of transit vehicles per hour will settle on nearby gardens, apiaries, and meadows. Locals are justifiably concerned for their smallholdings: bees are extremely sensitive to environmental conditions, and air pollution or the loss of nectar plants can wipe out apiaries. Grazing livestock will also become more difficult, as some meadows may be taken for road construction, and the remaining grass stands will be next to a busy highway where it is dangerous to graze animals.

Please do not forget that there is a mass die-off of bees now in Russia and around the world! Our hardworking bees are on the brink of extinction as it is. And here, beekeepers will likely lose the last of them.

Long-time residents of the village took the plans for the highway especially painfully. Many families have lived here for generations and remember these forests and fields when they were still untouched. People improved the area with their own hands; in the 1990s they received plots from the state for haymaking and grazing. Now, residents say, every meter of land is being sold off at auction by enterprising dealers.

So the residents of Gavrino say that, apparently, “all this beauty is an eyesore” to the officials, and they look at the surrounding land solely as an opportunity to extract short-term profit. They will build the road, cut down the forest, and at the same time clear areas for sale! New cottage settlements and industrial sites will be stuck in.

Let us, allies, support the residents of Gavrino in their struggle for their native forest! Public outcry is the only real way today to slow such insane projects, when the last tracts of the Russian Taiga are literally being destroyed.

Share this material; tell your relatives and friends about the problem. Let the problem be seen as widely as possible—everywhere it can be.

If the local residents of Gavrino need any public support from us, please reach out! We will help with everything we can. We are with you!

© PAVEL PASHKOV