Keep the Beauty of Russia. Russia is a large country with many wonderful places. It stretches from the shores of the Pacific Ocean in Asia to the Baltic Sea in Europe, and from the cold, snowy Arctic to the sunny Black Sea coast.
Russia has nearly every kind of weather. Also, it has many kinds of land − rocky mountains, dry empty steppes, powerful rivers, wide plains and grasslands, great forests and lands of endless winter.
There are places of great beauty and places of historic interest. The wild areas in the country are the home of many birds and animals. It is important not to destroy these places but to keep them as they are for everyone to enjoy.
Russia, like many other countries, has a system of national parks. The first national park, Losinyi Ostrov (Elk Isle) appeared in 1983. It is situated to the northeast of Moscow and a part of it in fact lies on the territory of the city. Now the park has become a popular place to visit for grown−ups and children, especially schoolchildren who come to the park in big groups. The park has two visitor’s centres. The scientists who work in the park are interested in the flora and fauna of this area.
Here are some unusual species of grasses and wild flowers that you can’t see so often any more, for example, different bluebells and lilies−of−the−valley. Most of the park’s territory is under forests, and the common trees here are pines and firs.
As for the animals, there are about 300 species of them, mostly birds. They are forest birds and water birds like ducks and geese and even gulls. Here a visitor can see mice, squirrels, foxes, hares, otters, wild boars, deer and elks which gave the name to the park. There are not so many elks living in the park now, only 20 or 30, but the scientists hope to see more of these beautiful and strong animals in the park in the future.
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