In Novosibirsk, the Inyushensky Forest is under threat of destruction — people are asking for help to protect it.

How profitable has the topic of “urban improvement” become for regional officials, that under its cover they have begun actively destroying the last remaining areas of living nature? Right now, throughout the country, budgets are quietly being “sawn apart” on “improvement works,” cutting down ancient trees in already fragmented forest areas. And in the end, they deprive people — city residents — of their right to environmental safety!

Residents of Novosibirsk are writing to me, asking to help draw attention to their problem. The oldest forest massif of the city — Inyushensky Bor — has come under threat of destruction. Right now in the Oktyabrsky District of Novosibirsk, people are trying to stop the “improvement works,” which are in fact leading to the destruction of the forest’s unique ecosystem.

Let me quote the local residents:

Evgenia Borisovna writes: “Hello. Some kind of bacchanalia is happening in Inyushensky Bor. Heavy construction equipment is clearing all young growth along with the underbrush. All shrubs have been destroyed. Initially, according to the improvement project that people voted for, invasive vegetation was to be removed and new seedlings planted (forest restoration). But the contract was signed for clearing the territory and removing vegetation. In Inyushensky Bor. Removal of vegetation. Young trees grew there: pines, oaks, bird cherry, raspberry bushes, blackcurrant, Red Book plants — peony Maryin root, there were mushrooms, wild strawberries, and bilberries. The soil has been churned up by excavator tracks, and trucks drive over it. Besides disrupting the microbiome and destroying the soil cover, without the underbrush the trees will die and new ones may not take root.

Please help us. Stop this nightmare in the oldest forest of Novosibirsk. In addition, a large part of the forest has been rezoned for the construction of a transit route through the city, although the city needs a proper bypass road. 1/2 of the forest on the odd-numbered side of Vybornaya Street and half of the forest on the even-numbered side are planned to be given away for a pointless transit through the city. Also, Red Book plants grow on the territory of the forest. Hedgehogs have gone into hibernation. And they will simply be destroyed by this barbaric machinery.”

Let us, comrades, figure out the problem and help the local residents spread the information as widely as possible.

Officially, Inyushensky Bor is included in the national project “Housing and Urban Environment,” and the residents themselves chose the minimal improvement scenario in order to preserve the forest as a natural woodland. According to press releases from the mayor’s office, the contractor (hired through the municipal department “Gorzelinkhoz”) was supposed to clear the forest of old hazardous trees by November 1, 2025, remove stumps, fill holes, trim shrubs, and level the territory. The mayor of Novosibirsk, Maksim Kudryavtsev, stated that the work was coordinated with residents and was intended only to care for the green plantings without excessive intervention. Let me quote:

“This year we will begin work according to the option chosen by the residents: we will remove dry timber and carry out compensatory plantings of coniferous species.”

That is, the project was intended precisely as forest maintenance — they supposedly were going to remove diseased and invasive plants and restore the forest with young sapling plantings. But according to local residents, instead they simply brought heavy machinery into the forest and began a full clearing of the underbrush and shrubs. Excavators and bulldozers went through the forest floor, uprooting young growth — including healthy young pines, birches, rowan, bird cherry, and berry shrubs that were not “hazardous” trees. What the reports call “leveled the territory,” in practice turned into the soil being leveled by tracks, mixing the forest soil layer. The underbrush — young shrubs and juvenile trees — has been destroyed entirely, even though it is precisely what ensures the forest’s natural regeneration and protection.

Naturally, city residents began to ask: where, in fact, are the sanitary works? What is even happening here?

I examined what data is available — and indeed it turns out that the contract signed by the municipality is extremely vague. It is simply for “clearing the territory and removing vegetation” in Inyushensky Bor! No specifics — which plants to remove, what to do, and so on. Well, the contractor then proceeded with wide-scale clearing of the underbrush under the guise of forest care.

The contract was signed in 2025 after an electronic auction, as part of the federal improvement project. The name of the contracting company was not officially disclosed in press releases, but it is known that the agreement required completion of the work by October 31, 2025. The initial contract price was several tens of millions of rubles (the exact amount was listed in the bidding documents), and the contractor was obliged to perform all of the listed activities “turnkey.” Formally, the bidding took place and was recognized as valid, so on paper all procedures were followed.

Essentially, that is why officials across the country rushed to “improve” forest areas — it is simultaneously an opportunity to “absorb” millions from budgets under the federal project. For example, simply bringing heavy machinery into Inyushensky Bor in Novosibirsk, and already “the initial price was several tens of millions of rubles.”

Residents write to me that the machinery worked in the forest every day, until late, trying to close the contract as quickly as possible. This is clearly blatant appropriation of funds! The authorities’ main goal is to “offload the contract at a profitable price”; I would not be surprised if through backroom dealings (as is common here on contracts where budgets are “sawn apart”), and the contractor then tries to “close the contract” as soon as possible.

Then they will submit a report to Moscow, allegedly that the federal project has been successfully closed on the Novosibirsk side. Beautiful! On paper — everyone has done a great job, funds “absorbed.”

People tell me that no public environmental expertise was performed before the start of the work, and there were no public discussions of the specific technical assignment — residents only learned afterward what exactly had been signed.

And now let’s talk a bit about the consequences.

The fact is that the underbrush — the young forest layer consisting of shrubs and juvenile trees — plays a KEY ROLE IN ECOSYSTEMS. It provides shelter, habitat, and a food base for numerous animal species. And also, as I have repeatedly written in my materials, it retains moisture in the soil and forms the microclimate under the forest canopy. Destroying the underbrush inevitably leads to the impoverishment of biodiversity and changes in the forest microclimate.

Next comes gradual inevitable degradation — soil drying and the death of species diversity. That is, the sustainability of the ecosystem is sharply disrupted!

And what can be said about the passage of heavy machinery, when tracked equipment simply destroys the entire fungal network, compacts the soil, and destroys the forest litter. This disrupts decomposition cycles and the soil nutrient regime. The system of soil microorganisms and invertebrates — the most intricate and vital links in biogeocenoses — is destroyed!

Moreover, I have been to Inyushensky Bor before. I was born and raised in Altai, in the mountains! And very often we traveled to Novosibirsk, Barnaul, visited the surroundings of the forest. To make it clear — there are preserved areas of relic Ob-river woodland, with unique flora that survived from the pre-industrial development of the region. In 2023, scientists (led by Nikolai Lashchinsky from the Central Siberian Botanical Garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences) conducted a biological survey of the forest and identified the presence of rare and Red Book plants. One such plant is Paeonia anomala, known as Maryin root. This beautiful wild peony is listed in the Red Book and is very rare in the mixed forests of Siberia. According to old-timers, half a century ago Inyushensky Bor had an abundance of Maryin root and other rare herbs. Modern botanists confirmed its presence in specific areas and intended to clear the territory of invasive shrubs to give rare species more chances to spread.

But the barbaric clearings now, in pursuit of “budget absorption,” simply destroy everything! Clean sweep.

When I began to study the problem, more information surfaced. Indeed, it turns out that there are plans to lay a new transit highway through the forest! Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Just like how Losiny Ostrov in Moscow and other protected areas across the country are being ripped apart. Suddenly it became urgently necessary to lay highways through the last remaining areas of living nature.

We are talking about the so-called Southern Transit project — a high-speed road intended to connect the federal highway R-254 “Irtysh” with the Eastern bypass, passing through the southern districts of the city. Back in 2018–2019, this idea was discussed in the context of Novosibirsk’s general development plan, and the route was planned to run precisely through the area of Inyushensky Bor.

After a public scandal, they supposedly discussed abandoning this idea. But nothing has been decided yet! And considering that now the forest is being cleared under the guise of “improvement works”… I reasonably ask: is this preparation for even greater “budget absorption” by laying the highway?

So, comrades, our people have another misfortune, and we are simply obliged to support them! Let’s keep our finger on the pulse and provide assistance. For our part, we will prepare and send a request to the Novosibirsk administration asking for clarifications, and PUBLIC RESONANCE IS VERY IMPORTANT — spread this information as widely as possible. Do not leave people alone with this disaster!

© PAVEL PASHKOV