Opening address of the director

Dear Hams!

 Powerful Nature does not stop to surprise us with its wonders. Try to remember the places you have visited at least once. Every landscape – be it the mountains, the sea, prairie or forest – is attractive in its own way.

 During billions of years the Earth developed as per its own true laws. But then the man has come – and everything has changed. To feed his numerous, polygamous at that stage, family he started to kill animals. Then he started to cut the trees in the forest to free the areas he needed for grazing of cattle, field husbandry, and finally for construction of houses – first simple ones, united into villages of 2-3 homesteads, and then the monumental, which adorn cities. Ascending the civilization spiral the man has practically inhabited all areas of the planet excepting the regions not suitable for life. Virgin forests were turned into agricultural land, alpine slopes – into pastures, and then into skiing tracks. The lager part of peat swamps was drained; the riverbeds of the great rivers were made straight, immense flood lands were restrained by dams, and the flows cofferdam. As a result of such activity many of the plants and animals were deprived of their habitat. Surely, it happens sometime, that some of the species occupy getting adapted a new niche in the prevalent ecosystem. As a result new natural landscapes emerged, which also have the right to exist. However, neglecting of approved methods of nature administration leads to a situation, in which these territories even are in a threat of extermination!

 Awareness of necessity to protect Nature did not appear only yesterday. There were protected areas in different countries of Europe and Asia. First state Nature Reserves to protect nature communities emerged as long ago as in the XVI-th century.  However, the first National Park was established in the USA in 1872 only. This privilege was granted to the unique Yellowstone plateau rich in geysers and hot mineral springs. Then National Parks appeared in other countries of the world.

 The main predestination of the National Parks and Nature Reserves is to protect critically endangered living organisms. If there were no protected areas elephants, rhinoceroses, bisons and aurochs would be available only in Zoos, and some animals, such as Komodo dragons - giant lizards of Komodo Island, for example, would die away completely. And even such creations of the Nature as Grand Canyon of Colorado in the USA or Iguassu Fall's at the border of Argentina and Brazil would vanish littered by tourists.

It is difficult to describe even a smaller part of world’s wonderful places if you base upon some kind of suppositions. Choosing the final topic we have confined ourselves to the National Parks and Nature Reserves which were listed in the WFF database. Many of them were awarded status of UNESCO universal heritage monuments, though in some cases such a title was awarded rather due to some political reasons. Meanwhile, to the date there are about 3,000 National Parks and Nature Reserves and tens of thousands of Protected Areas in the world. And this number is increasing with every coming year.         

We do hope that the WFF Programme will find the attendance in the world’s ham radio community, and the forthcoming WFF travel will appear to be a pleasant and memorable for the DX hunters and expedition members.  I am sure that NEW ONE of the WFF Programme awaits you. Each of you can experience this feeling of a discoverer.  Please, support and make your contribution to popularization of the world-wide Programme for National Parks and Nature Reserves “World Flora Fauna”.

Our common goal is to reserve the flora and the fauna of the planet as much as possible.       

Let us save the Earth, our Green Planet, together!

Sincerely yours,
Victor Magnitsky,
RZ3DSD,
President of the WFF Programme.
44! 73!

Dr Friends!

Within the bounds of the worldwide Programme for Nature Reserves and National Parks there is an Activity Week, which is called “World Flora Fauna” (WFF), and is to be held between July 2, 2008, and July 8, 2008. The WFF Committee welcomes radio hams to take part in the global Activity Week from their homes or the National Parks and Nature Reserves territories listed in the WFF List.

WFF is a new movement and a new area in Radio Amateur world of DXing.

WFF is a young innovative international award programme which we do hope will become a popular one for the worldwide community of the expedition participants and the “hunters” along with already well-known and popular DXCC, IOTA and WABA award Programmes. Because many of earlier made QSOs after they are classified as per the WFF Programme requirements will be considered for the WFF, and the following increase of the achievements will depends on current and future activity.

We invite National Amateur Radio Associations, Organizations, Clubs, Companies and Individual Hams to support the Initiative of the Worldwide National Park and Nature Reserves World Flora Fauna Programme.

The WFF Programme provides to National Amateur Radio Organizations a wonderful opportunity to set up and organize internal national FF Programmes along with the currently existing projects: Russian Flora Fauna (RFF), Ukraine Flora Fauna (UFF), Polish National Park and Portugal National Park Award.

If you could not find in the WFF List a National Park or a Nature Reserve in your country which meets the requirements of the WFF Programme, please, inform the WFF Committee for a possible consideration and assigning to it of a separate number. We invite the most active and interested hams o different countries to join the activity of the WFF Committee.

Submitting of video and photo reports, logs, articles and materials and museum pieces , confirming operation from the territories of the National Parks and the Nature Reserves entered into the WFF List is welcomed. Radio expeditions who provide a video report will form a part of the WFF Video Supplement to the WFF Directory. Videos of other types may be put into the On-line WFF Video Review.

We invite the participants of the DX – expeditions and the ‘hunters’ to fight for winning of the prestigious prize “WFF Globus”. The conditions for winning the prize are as follows: for activators more than 10 different National Park or Nature Reserve from 3 continents  (each continent can replace 5 different FF), or for the ‘hunters’ – to have at least 500 QSOs with different National Parks or Nature Reserves of the official WFF List. 

The WFF Programme may become a glaring example of world amateur radio community consolidation to protect nature conservation activities all round the world and serve as a kind of ecological education. 

Discover the NEW ONE WFF, feel being a discoverer and make you own contribution into the noble action. Visit National Parks and Nature Reserves with your families, friends, confederates and grant joy to yourself and those around you, to the ‘hunters’ for National Parks and Nature Reserves of the world.

Looking forward to hear you on the bands operating from National Parks and Nature Reserves of the world!

Sincerely yours,
Valery Sushkov,
RW3GW/3
73! 44!