Residents of the Tomsk villages of Takhtamyshevo and Kaftanchikovo managed to protect 240 hectares of pine forest. It took them more than three years.

The Tomsk Environmental Prosecutor's Office revoked the license for sand quarry development from the Tomskgeotan company and secured the termination of its subsoil use rights.

NeMoskva reported that local residents began sounding the alarm back in 2021. They appealed to the then-governor of the Tomsk region. Sergei Chewing gum and asked for intervention to save the forest. The regional head, however, only responded with the formal reply: "There are no specially protected natural areas within the boundaries of the site." 

We recorded videos for Vladimir Fishing season, in which they asked him to grant the pine forest located near the settlements the status of a specially protected natural area. They also tried to reach out to the current governor of the Tomsk region. Vladimir Mazura.

"The pine forest between our villages is the lungs of Tomsk. There are no other pine forests like it. <…> And it's not just the nature, but also the residents. After all, for them, the forest means protection, water, and peace. This is literally an intrusion into the well-being of the citizens and nature," Tomsk residents assured.

After a wave of protests, the owner of the Tomskgeotan company Alexander Belyaev Agreed to reduce the quarry's area from 240 to 50 hectares. However, villagers were not satisfied with this compromise—they demanded that the sand quarry not be located near their villages at all.

Now this struggle has ended in victory: "An analysis of the licensing case revealed that the decision to grant the subsoil plot for use was made in violation of the law; the license improperly provided for the possibility of soil extraction on forest fund territory," — the press service of the Tomsk Region Prosecutor's Office reports.

A photograph of an old quarry between Takhtamyshevo and Kaftanchikovo. Source: TV2