Pribaikalsky National Park

Pribaikalsky National Park covers the southwest coast of Lake Baikal in southeastern Siberia. The coastal strip includes some mountain ridges to the west as well as offshore islands such as Olkhon Island to the east. It is about 50 km southeast of the city of Irkutsk, Irkutsk Oblast. The park is managed with three other nature reserves, and is a major component of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Lake Baikal". The Angara River, which is the outflow of Lake Baikal west into the Yenisei River basin, runs through the park. The park has very high levels of biodiversity and endemic species.

The slopes of the mountains facing Lake Baikal are forested with steppe pine and larch. The wetter tops of the mountains are Siberian pine-fir, and in the valleys the tree cover is typically spruce, larch, alder, aspen, and birch.Biodiversity and endemism is extremely high: the park and adjacent areas have recorded 1,385 species and subspecies of vascular plants, 339 species of mosses, 676 species and sub-species of lichens and 655 species of fungi. Of these, 557 are endemic to the park.

As with plants, the biodiversity of animals in the park is high. Over 2,500 species have been recorded, many of which are endemic. The park records 220 species of terrestrial vertebrates. The ungulates are typical of the Siberian taiga: Caspian deer, Siberian roe deer and moose. The carnivores include sables, Siberian weasels, and ermines. The steppe sections of the park are home to steppe polecats, long-tailed sousliks (a type of ground squirrel), meadow larks, and black kites. In hard-to-reach rocks and on the islands, there are rock doves and Siberian swifts. The largest mammal in the lake itself is the Baikal seal.