Anadyr River - Ecology

Ecology

The country through which it passes is thinly populated, and is dominated by tundra, with a rich variety of plant life. Much of the region has beautiful landscapes, dominated by often spectacular, rugged mountains. For nine months of the year the ground is covered with snow, and the frozen rivers become navigable roads. George Kennan, an American working on the Western Union Telegraph Expedition in the late 1860s, found that dog sled travel on the lower Anadyr was limited by lack of firewood.

Reindeer, upon which the local inhabitants subsisted, were once found in considerable numbers, but the domestic reindeer population has collapsed dramatically since the reorganization and privatization of state-run collective farms beginning in 1992. As herds of domestic reindeer have declined, herds of wild caribou have increased.

There are ten species of salmon inhabiting the Anadyr river basin. Every year, on the last Sunday in April, there is an ice fishing competition in the frozen estuarine waters of the Anadyr River's mouth. This festival is locally known as Korfest.

The area is a summering place for a number of migratory birds including Brent geese, Eurasian Wigeons, and the pintails of California.