The poachers' tracks led straight from the muddy riverbank to a row of shacks next to the local ranger station. But since we can't afford to man this area round the clock, that's impossible. The lack of resources to protect wildlife in the Kurils, including red-crowned cranes and fish owls, was the topic of much discussion when Grigoriev and two other Russian conservation experts were flown to Japan late in 1997 for a symposium. We want to invite researchers from mainland Russia, but there's no way to house them. We have no money for communications.
Salaries are so low staffers are virtual volunteers.
There are no easy fixes to the problem. But some conservationists fear that Japan's aggressive lumber, fishing and construction industries, along with bath-loving Japanese tourists lured by Kunashir's mineral springs, will spur the kind of development that has ruined habitats in Hokkaido. So environmental surveys are an urgent imperative. Environmental activist Norihisa Kondo shares Ichida's fears. Not only that, Japan's domestic structure for wildlife preservation is utterly inadequate for saving nature in the southern Kurils.