Kostomuksha Nature Reserve

Kostomuksha Nature Reserve is a Russian 'zapovednik' of forests, lakes, rivers and wetlands on the border of Russian and Finland. It was created in 1983, along with other protected areas, in part to mitigate the impact of the Karelskiy Okatysh mine outside of the town of Kostomuksha, one of the largest iron ore reserves in Russia, and also to protect the forest from increase commercial logging in the area. A further scientific purpose is the protection of forest reindeer and a type of landlocked salmon. The reserve is part of a transboundary reserve complex with reserves in Finland to the west , and is situated in the Kalevalsky District and Muyezersky District of the Republic of Karelia, about 500 km north of St. Petersburg and 500 km west of Arkhangelsk. The reserve was created in 1993, and covers an area of 47,569 ha .
The terrain is flat or low hills of forest and wetlands. The area is within the Baltic Shield, on the eastern slopes of the West Karelian Hills. A dominant feature of the reserve is Lake Kamennoye , which covers 20% of the reserve. The lake is of a roughly elongated shape, 24 km long by 12 km wide, and on average about 8 meters deep; it has 98 lakes and an irregular coastline. Water from the lake flows out through the Kamennaya River, to the Kem River, and on to the White Sea. There an additional 250 lakes, and 12% of the reserve is marsh.

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