Laura Lynne Williams

In the same year, she came to Moscow and together with Vladimir Krever, they opened a small office in an apartment in a residential building close to Tulskaya metro station.

Their help played a decisive role because in the early 1990s, the country suffered from the hardest economic crisis and its nature reserves received almost no financial support from the government.

[1][4] While working in Moscow at the WWF office, Williams got to know the Russian photographer and founder of the Bryansk Forest reserve Igor Shpilenok.

He brought a grant application for an educational program in Bryansk Forest that aimed to raise awareness of the importance of wild nature preservation among locals.

After four years as the head of the Russian WWF office, Williams accepted Shpilenok’s offer and came to work in the Bryansk Forest as a specialist in environmental education and promotion.

In Bryansk forest, she led many educational programs for children and the elderly, attracted international financial support, and helped with an ambitious project of reintroduction of European bison.

Igor, with his second son, Peter, moved there to help fight commercial poaching of bears and salmon that was ruining the local ecosystem.

[7] Tikhon, Igor and Peter invited some of the best inspectors from other Russian nature reserves and managed to almost completely eliminate the illegal caviar business.

As recalled by Guido Rahr, WSC executive director, the center’s performance declined dramatically in Kamchatka and they needed someone who could understand its specifics both regarding people and nature.

[10] Only thanks to support of colleagues from the Russian Ministry of Nature Protection, the fraud was revealed, two officers in charge of it were fired, and Williams could get back to Russia to her sons and husband.

She studied equine-assisted therapy in Australia and got a certificate from the International Association for Horse Assisted Education, trained as an equine facilitator in Germany.