Altai Assistance Project - About the Altai

Altai Assistance Project
2351 County Rte 10
Wadhams, New York 12993 U.S.A.
518-962-4514

To Assist Conservation and Development of the Environment and Communities
of Mountain Altai

Lake Akkem and Mt. Belukha

Home
About the Altai
   Culture
   Nature Parks
About AAP
   Projects
   News and Reports
Our Partners
Other Links
Contact Us

The Altai Republic, known as 'the Switzerland of Russia' is on the southwestern edge of Siberia, where Russia borders Kazakhstan, China, and Mongolia. It is a spectacularly beautiful, unspoiled and undeveloped land of forests, open rangeland, and mountain peaks up to 15,000 feet high.

Its 200,000 inhabitants have long been among the poorest in Russia. Agriculture, mostly in the form of livestock raising, is the primary occupation.

With the disappearance of Soviet-era domestic travel restrictions and the explosion in private automobile ownership, mass tourism has now come to the Altai. There are as yet few facilities or designated areas for tourists, whose numbers are now sufficient to have an impact on both the natural environment and local people.

The Foundation for Sustainable Development Altai (FSDA) and the Altai Assistance Project (AAP) have joined together to support a community based tourism network in the Altai Republic.