The Bulletin Board is a regular feature of the journal highlighting special events, recent publications, and additional resources related to our aims. Lake Baikal is the oldest, deepest, and most biologically diverse lake in the world. It provides habitat for more than 1,500 plant and animal species that are found nowhere else on earth, including the nerpa, the world's only freshwater seal species.
Summer is the best time to visit Baikal.
This is when the waters are cool and clear, and the hills are colored with native wildflowers and butterflies. This is also when the Baikal seal, and the lake itself, are at their most photogenic. To add to all this, there are a series of spectacular national parks and nature reserves that surround the lake. Unfortunately, these protected areas are experiencing severe financial problems, and are currently unable to function effectively as protec tors of the wild. For this reason, the local parks have asked Earth Island and others to organize special ecotours to the region, where the proceeds are donated to the parks, as well as to the local environmental groups who are working to protect the treasure that is Lake Baikal.