Endangered species, hardships and conservation

The Tallinn Anthropology team will be conducting anthropological fieldwork at the Lahemaa National Park, Estonia's oldest national park - founded in 1972. Lahemaa National Park presents the team with a unique opportunity to study the effects of 50 years of nature conservation policies and conservation paradigms in relation with nature tourism and cultural heritage. The Lahemaa case will provide the team with materials that will encourage reflections on the possibilities of life in rural areas in a way that reconciles conservation and economic development.

The goal of the project is to develop a participatory research programme that builds on different stakeholders’ experiences and knowledge practices as they pertain to rural and peri-rural landscapes, to encourage senses of belonging, equality and trust, while hopefully leading to social innovation and more inclusive opportunities. The combined efforts of the team will show how rapidly changing nature tourism and conservation obligations shape local culture, economy and ecology, and how conservation efforts engage with socio-cultural and ecological change. The Tallinn Anthropology team will work on three research projects.

Helen Vaaks is interested in "Endangered species, hardships and conservation: The life of freshwater pearl mussel in the hands of humans" (for more details see below). Joonas Plaan explores the possibilities of "Nature Tourism at the age of the Anthropocene: Human-bear Interactions and perceptions of nature"; and Carlo A. Cubero works on a "Collaborative multi-modal project on the imaginaries of youth in Lahemaa National Park".

Pudisoo river in Lahemaa National Park is the only habitat for a critically endangered freshwater bivalve, the freshwater pearl mussel (Margaritifera margaritifera), in Estonia. The river in its length is just 31.7 km long while the species has dispersed only throughout 14.8 km. The mussel, who once used to be found in abundance, has been now reduced to barely few specimens through human activity, such as exploitative pearl hunting, agriculture, water pollution and landscape change.

The population had a strong decline in the 20th century when over 90% of freshwater mussels died probably as a result of pearl fishing (Araujo & Ramos, 2001). During the 1970s near Kolga borough, there was a large-scale leak of fertilizers and agriculture poisons to the creek, which had a long lasting impact on the Pudisoo river (Laanetu, 2011 cit Pitsal, 2013: 34). Moreover, in 1989-1991, Pudisoo river’s drainage basin had land development works on it (Laanetu, 2004), which resulted in a substantial death rate among the species. In 2004, the freshwater pearl mussel was classified as I category endangered species, being the strictest category (RT I 2004, 44, 313).

Conservation biologists along with environmental activists are putting their effort into the restoration of the riverbed, raising awareness of the importance of biodiversity as well as actually growing the mussels in a controlled environment before introducing them back to the natural scene. Locals are also involved in the protection of the river and molluscs, calling the freshwater pearl mussel their “own little secret”. This research project compares and contrasts the multiple discourses that converge on the mussels.