KOMNIN
OINY commons
We are a northern forest commons — part rewilding reserve, part seed library, part village. We bring back peatlands, old pines, lynx trails and human belonging.
ha under care
species returned
keepers & volunteers
This week: 400 pines planted, cranes are back, seed vault +12%
Spring patrol report — ice out on Lake Iny, first bear tracks, school greenhouse open.
The forest remembers. We help it return.
Komninoiny was once logged, drained and forgotten. Now 9 villages co-manage it as a commons: no fences, no extraction — only regeneration. We dam old ditches, plant local pines, guard mires, and teach children to read moss like a book.
A commons, not a park.
Held by many, owned by none.
Komninoiny.org is a grassroots nonprofit uniting ecologists, foresters, teachers and reindeer herders. Our charter is simple: land heals when people belong to it. We combine traditional northern knowledge with modern restoration science.
Decisions by village councils + open assemblies twice a year.
Let water, beaver and wind lead. Minimal intervention, maximum patience.
Every seed, song and trail map saved for the next 100 years.
Anyone can become a Keeper — plant, patrol, teach, donate.
No logging, no mining, no fences. Open trails, open data, open seed library. Annual public audit of every ruble and every hectare.
Join 9 200 keepers- Rewet peatlands & remove 1960s drainage
- Grow local pine, birch & cloudberry
- Monitor lynx, owls & salmon with camera traps
- Run forest school for 640 kids
Rewetted 2023 • water +40cm • cranes nesting+212%
Six ways we heal land
Peatland Rewetting
We block 120 km of Soviet ditches, raise water, bring back sphagnum, cranes and carbon storage. 1 ha rewetted = 18t CO₂ kept in ground.
Seed Vault North
Permafrost vault with 14 800 local seed lots. Free seeds for villages, schools and post-fire restoration across the boreal belt.
Lynx Corridors
Forest bridges over roads, 38 km of safe passage. Camera traps show lynx families, wolverine and 11 owl species returning.
Forest School
640 kids learn tracking, carving, mycology and winter survival. Teen Keepers run their own 20 ha plot and nursery.
Village Resilience
Greenhouses, wood cooperatives, telemedicine cabins and winter jobs. Stay in the North with dignity and income.
Old-Growth Guardians
Mapping 300+ year pines, legal defense, patrols against illegal logging. Every ancient tree gets a name and a guardian.
From clear-cut to commons
A decade of stubborn care. Drained mires became lakes again. Children who planted first pines now lead patrols.
9 villages sign the Iny Pact
First 800 ha taken into community care. Old forester hut becomes base.
First 12 km of ditches dammed
Mire Iny-04 floods after 50 years dry. Frogs return in one spring.
Permafrost archive opens
3 000 seed lots. Schoolchildren bring grandmother's rye varieties.
Corridor K-7 completed
First lynx mother with kittens filmed. National news, zero fences built.
Commons doubled
Regional government transfers logged lands for restoration. Keepers: 9 200.
North looks like this
1 200 ha rewetted. 84 000 trees. 0 ha lost.
Independent audit: carbon + biodiversity + village income all grew. Read 48-page report or walk the land with us in July — boots provided.
— Mira, hydrologist, Plot Iny-04 lead
— Vasily, 71, forester & guardian of Pine Anya
— Aina, greenhouse coop, village Verkh-Iny
Humans of the moss
News from the ground
Patrol logs, science notes, village news. Click any story to read it as a separate page.
Ask the keepers
Can I visit? Where does money go? Do you cut trees? All honest answers.
Become a Keeper of the North
Leave your name at the base hut — or here. We reply within 3 days, usually with mud on boots.