| Summary: | As the spirit of reform pulsated throughout the Soviet Union, an idealistic college student from the Ukrainian SSR named Oleg Cherviakov took a fateful trip down the Ileks River into Vodlozero Lake in Arkhangelsk Oblast and Karelia. Entranced by the area’s beauty and intrigued by traditional Orthodox Christian culture, Cherviakov envisioned a national park that he believed not only would protect the region’s forests but would bring about a regional religious revival. After serving as Vodlozero National Park’s director for nearly fifteen years, Cherviakov realized that few wanted to go back to the old ways. Moreover, he concluded that tourism’s economic benefits would never materialize when few tourists wanted to come to this region and with the state little interested in developing the park’s infrastructure. Vodlozero National Park’s history marks perhaps the apotheosis of utopian proposals for parks conceived during a time of national transformation and the nadir of disillusionment among park founders.
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