According to Computerdo.com, Vodlozersky Park was created to preserve the natural complex in the basin of Lake Vodlozero and the Ileksa River. Its territory is divided into three parts: Vodlozerskaya with a center in the village of Kuganavolok, Ileksskaya with a center in the city of Onega and Pudozhskaya with a center in the village Valdai. The administrative center of the park is located in the village of Kuganavolok. The park is dominated by plains covered with taiga forests, where larch, pine, spruce, downy and drooping birch and aspen grow. More than 10% of the park area is occupied by rivers and lakes. The main body of water is Lake Vodlozero. The area of the water surface of the Vodlozero is 334 square meters. km, the depth reaches 16.3 m. This is one of the largest reservoirs in the Republic of Karelia. More than 40% of the park’s area is occupied by swamps with cranberries and cloudberries growing on them, cinquefoil and wild rosemary, and rare sphagnum mosses. The local forests are home to 38 species of mammals, 177 species of birds, of which 129 are nesting species, 5 species of amphibians and reptiles, and 22 species of fish. The most common are brown bear, lynx, wolverine, elk, fox, marten, badger and muskrat. The southern border of the modern habitat of the reindeer passes through the park. Swans, geese, geese, sandpipers, river and diving ducks, whooper swan and bean goose are found in the swamps. In addition, rare birds such as the white-tailed eagle, osprey and golden eagle can be seen in the park. Pike perch, roach, pike, bream, whitefish, grayling, ide, burbot, vendace, dace, crucian carp, sculpin and perch are found in local reservoirs and rivers, which attracts anglers here. Ice fishing is very popular on Lake Vodlozero. which attracts anglers. Ice fishing is very popular on Lake Vodlozero. which attracts anglers. Ice fishing is very popular on Lake Vodlozero.
On the territory of the Vodlozero Park, many architectural monuments of the 18th-19th centuries have been preserved – barns, chapels and peasant houses. The most popular cultural attraction is the Ilyinsky churchyard ensemble. This monument of wooden architecture was built in the 18-19 centuries. According to some reports, it was founded in the 16th century by monks who followed to the Solovetsky Islands. Ilyinsky churchyard stands on a cape, deeply protruding into Vodlozero. It includes the wooden church of Elijah the Prophet and the Assumption of the Virgin, a bell tower and a chopped fence. The church was built in 1798 and almost completely rebuilt in 1902. Now it is a functioning Orthodox church. Of greatest interest is a massive chopped log fence, which in the northern part of Russia practically not preserved. The fence is similar to stone fortress walls. There are many routes in the park – hiking, skiing, horseback riding, cycling, water and bus. In winter, you can travel through the park on snowmobiles. All routes have a duration of 1 to 5 days. The park has a children’s ecological camp, small hotels, a camp site, more than 80 tourist camps and guest houses arranged in peasant huts. The city of Medvezhyegorsk is located 170 km northwest of Pudozh on the shores of the Povenets Bay of Lake Onega.. The history of the city begins with the construction of a sawmill on the river Kums in 1792-1794. Further, two events contributed to the emergence of the city of Medvezhyegorsk. In 1914-1916, the Murmansk railway passed through this place, and a settlement was formed at the Medvezhya Gora station. From those times in Medvezhyegorsk, the building of a wooden station, built in the form of a Dutch church, has been preserved. The station is still called Medvezhya Gora. The second event was the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal. The canal was built by political prisoners and opened in 1933. With the beginning of the construction of the canal, the village became a transit point for prisoners, and with its completion – the capital of the White Sea Canal. Medvezhyegorsk received city status in 1938. In the city center on Kirov Square, a monumental building of the former hotel has been preserved management of the White Sea-Baltic Canal in 1935. In front of him stands a monument to S.M. Kirov. Today, the former hotel houses the Medvezhyegorsk City Museum. The museum was founded in 1962. It contains archaeological and ethnographic collections, collections of photographs and paintings. Among the unique items exhibited in the museum are items made of wood and birch bark, Zaonezhskaya embroidery, wood painting by the Old Believers of Vygoretsia, copper casting and icons of the churches of Zaonezhye and Segozerye.
Sandarmokh tract is located 15 km south of Medvezhyegorsk. During the Stalinist repressions, there was a place for the execution of sentences. According to various sources, from 9 to 12 thousand people of different nationalities were shot here during the years of the “Great Terror”. Now there is a memorial complex in memory of the victims of Stalinist repressions in the 1930s “Sandarmokh” here. It is a branch of the Medvezhyegorsk City Museum. A wooden chapel in the name of St. George the Victorious was erected on the tract, a meadow of Memory with Orthodox and Catholic memorial crosses was equipped, a 4-meter Cossack cross was installed, a memorial stone was installed in the forest, and at the entrance to the cemetery with mass graves – a granite monument with the inscription “People Don’t kill each other.”
26 km east of Medvezhyegorsk, near the village of Povenets, from where the White Sea Canal begins, there is the so-called “staircase of locks”, the upper part of which is located at an altitude of 80 m from the level of Lake Onega.
