SUMMARY:

In the late 1960s, scientists of the Komi Scientific Center embraced the growing belief among the Soviet conservation community that national parks could reconcile economic development and nature protection goals. Without guidance or support from central planning ministries, they conceived a vision that a national park in the Circumpolar Urals would reorient much of the region’s economy away from extractive industries and toward tourism. The Russian Federation established this park as Iugyd Va (“clear water” in the Komi language) National Park in 1994. The founders’ conception and promotion of the park reflects the broader attempts of environmentalists to reconcile the goals of economic growth with environmental protection and its establishment demonstrated that this approach resonated at high levels, even if the specifics of their proposal were impossible to achieve. As was the case with other national parks, however, the transformative – almost quixotic – vision for Iugyd Va, coupled with political and economic collapse, sowed the seeds for the disappointment of the park’s supporters.