The Bikin Valley is the last real wilderness in Russia's far east. It's a key region for the earth's climate, not only as a habitat for numerous threatened species but as a vast carbon storage site. But this biotope is now at risk, and to save it from destruction, the WWF and indigenous peoples have taken out a lease on the valley.The main problem facing the 460,000 hectares of woodland is illegal deforestation, and so far the Russian state has done very little to protect it. WWF employees on the ground are training their own personnel to fight poaching and tree depletion, while simultaneously trying to encourage the local population to support sustainable forestry.