UPDATED 15 May – This trip is now closed to new travelers. We will announce the 2014 program schedule in late 2013.
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Grant-making for Grassroots Conservation
Every year, The Altai Project conveys over $27,000 in small grants to local conservation and indigenous groups and protected areas working in Altai Republic. Some ...
Saving Snow Leopards
The Snow leopard (Uncia uncia) is considered endangered (IUCN, 2008) across its entire range in Central Asia, including in Russia. As of 2012, just 70-90 ...
Keeping Pipelines Off Ukok
The Altai gas pipeline is a proposed natural gas pipeline to export natural gas from Russia’s western Siberia to northwestern China. It will travel from northern ...
Update on Mongol the snow leopard
Last heard about on this website in March 2011, Mongol is in the news once again. He was captured in March 2013 in Sayano-Shushensky Nature Reserve to receive a new satellite-tracking collar and to undergo a veterinary exam and have samples collected.

First video footage of Altai snow leopards
Our partner and snow leopard expert Sergei Spitsyn recently provided us with the first ever video footage of a snow leopard on Chikhachev Ridge in southeastern Altai Republic. Video footage [...]

Prevent Poaching Today – Donate!
Make a tax-deductible gift to keep poachers out of snow leopard habitat. We urgently need your support for patrols this winter.

October in the Argut River valley
Here are a few pictures from the beautiful expedition The Altai Project participated in along with SUNY-ESF, Altaisky Nature Reserve, and WWF-Altai-Sayan. We hiked down the stunning but isolated middle Argut River to visit cabins frequented by local herders, hunters, and poachers and to investigate the area’s potential for hiking tourism.

New Ak-Cholushpa Nature Park gets a quick start
Newly-formed Ak-Cholushpa Nature Park on the southern shores of Lake Teletskoye has received a start-up grant from the UNDP’s Altai Sayan climate change program.
Visiting Altai: Land of the Snow Leopard
“Land of the Snow Leopard” describes a tourist travel route with waypoints in the Argut River valley and along the Sailyugem Ridge in Altai Republic, Mongun-Taiga Mountain and Tsagan-Shibetu Ridge [...]

Snow leopards in Argut
These are the first images of wild snow leopards in the central southern Argut region of Altai Republic. In an area that was previously home to dozens of cats, just a handful of snow leopards remaining due to intense snare-poaching.

Altai Republic officials approve pipeline construction despite legal questions
Altai Republic takes several steps to push the Altai pipeline project ahead despite the absence of a signed agreement between Russia and China and many questions concerning the legality of these moves. Click to read more of this update.

Snow leopards on camera in Altai Republic
Images of snow leopards and a manul (Pallas) cat photographed using camera traps in Altai Republic -
Urgent Funding Need!
Donate now to replace $25,000 for anti-poaching patrols this winter. Grant canceled due to Russian political pressure.
Our Goals
- Nature and biodiversity conservation
- Promoting renewable energy and environmentally sustainable design
- Supporting indigenous organizations in their efforts to restore and protect their traditional lands and lifeways
Our Objectives
- Assist our Altai partners' efforts to strengthen conservation and anti-poaching measures, manage tourism effectively and create strategies for long-term protection of sensitive areas
- Support local campaigns against potentially destructive development projects such as dams, roads and pipelines
- Offer training and information on renewable energy technologies, energy efficient design, and the use of natural building materials
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