I. Metshin: “We are completing the Year of Ecology by opening a new building for the eco-center for children”

(KZN.RU, December 26, Ekaterina Vislavskaya). Today, the ecological center officially opened in the Gorkinsko-Ometyevsky forest. There will be free natural science classes for children under the supplementary education program, the monitoring of the ecosystem of the Gorkinsky forest, as well as activities of children's and youth environmental organizations. Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, greeted the students of the eco-center.

“We are completing the Year of Ecology by opening a new building for the eco-center for our children. It is symbolic that it is in the Gorkinsko-Ometyevsky forest, which is a specially protected natural area. Children can practice here, experience what they are going to protect being adults. This is a joyful event for us”, said the Mayor of Kazan and thanked the companies that helped to build the eco-center. The ICL-KPO VS, the OOO “SK Progress” and the “Gran” invested 46 million rubles in the project.

The eco-center with the area of 250 square meters will be the site of the City Children's Ecological and Biological Center, in which 1412 children are engaged. In the future, there will be events in honor of the iconic dates related to the environment, the spring and summer environmental workshop of the School of the Young Ecologist. Ecological paths will appear in the Gorkinsko-Ometyevsky Forest.

The eco-center is a round one-storey building with a panoramic roof, which is located near the children's playground. There are four offices in the building. There are multi-touch screens with 3D-visualization of the forest park in the hall and powerful computers, laptops, interactive whiteboards in the offices. Ilsur Metshin examined the cabinets of project activities, artistic and aesthetic creativity, and the laboratory. The children presented their work to the head of the city and presented a handmade ball for the city Christmas tree event.

Dilyara Galeeva, the director of the City Children's Ecological and Biological Center of Kazan, said that thanks to the new eco-center, it will be possible to increase the coverage of children by classes. It is planned to expand the staff: to employ teachers-organizers and teachers of additional education, who will conduct classes from morning till evening. “Initially, everything was planned so that the children could obtain interesting materials, observe nature, and make analyzes in the laboratory”, she noted.

Experts of the workshop “Architectural Troops” have worked out the project to the smallest detail. The building is a model of environmentally friendly construction: the facade is decorated with wooden slats, and the main entrance is made in the form of a portal of gabions filled with pebbles.

Ilsur Metshin wished the children to become assistants in the protection of the environment. “We want to live in a comfortable and clean city. And this is another step in the ecological education of our children”, said the Mayor.

Denis Kalinkin, the head of the Kazan Executive Committee, Damir Fattakhov, the first deputy head of the Executive Committee, Rustem Kamalov, the first deputy minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of the RT, Natalia Fishman, an assistant to the President of the RT, Igor Kulyazhev, the deputy Executive Committee and the chairman of the Committee for External Improvement, Ilsur Khadiullin, the head of Department of Education, Alsu Karyakina, the head of the Directorate of Parks and Squares, Rustem Gafarov, the head of the Sovetsky district’s administration, and others took part in the opening of the eco-center.

The renovated Gorkinsko-Ometevsky forest was opened in December 2016. The improvement of the park was continued in 2017 in the framework of the second stage.