-  ALCES VOL. 34 (1), (1998)

ii

FOREWORD

International Moose Symposiums have been held every 5-10 years since the first in Québec 
City, Québec, Canada in 1973.  Subsequent meetings occurred in Uppsala, Sweden in 1984, Syk-
tyvkar, Russia in 1990, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA in 1997, and Hafjell, Norway in 2002.  Russia 
became the first country to repeat as host when the 6th International Moose Symposium was held in 
Yakutsk, Russia where moose biologists from throughout the world gathered on 13-23 August 2008.  

 Although each volume of ALCES is typically international in content, an International Sympo-
sium provides an opportunity to focus a substantial portion of a volume on the biology and man-
agement of moose in the host country.  Thus, Volume 45 of ALCES features 8 papers that provide 
regional and national perspectives on the history and status of moose and moose management in 
Russia and the former Soviet Union. Both contemporary and well known Russian moose biologists 
contributed to this volume, and they have provided a unique collection of papers concerning regional 
histories and management of moose.  

The publication of Soviet Union-authored papers from the 3rd International Moose Symposium 
at Syktyvkar 18 years ago was fraught with translation difficulties that reflected, in part, political 
circumstances that prevented adequate communication among scientists.  Despite this, ALCES edi-
tors Arthur Rodgers and Kris Hundertmark strove to ensure that the work of such authors would be 
published in ALCES, and eventually Supplement No. 2 contained 30 related papers.  The relative 
ease of submitting, translating, editing, and publishing the current set of Russian-authored papers not 
only demonstrates improved global communication among moose biologists and researchers, it reaf-
firms the critical importance and advantages of our international cooperation. 

Dr. Vince Crichton was instrumental in establishing communication with many authors and 
served as the initial “clearinghouse” for many papers submitted for Volume 45.  Although I was 
unable to contact each author individually (some papers were submitted by colleagues), each paper 
was reviewed by a Russian author to approve the final edited version.  Certain papers underwent the 
standard review process by peer scientists, but I handled singly most papers that focused on descrip-
tive history and status of moose.  I particularly want to thank Dr. Leonid Baskin and Dr. Taras Sipko 
for their help in contacting other authors and checking the accuracy of my translations during the 
editing process.

Volume 45 is organized such that the first 8 papers are history-status-review papers about 
Eurasian moose from authors of Russia and Ukraine.  The remaining papers were authored by 
international researchers who traveled and participated in the 6th International Moose Symposium.  
The editorial staff believes that Volume 45 truly reflects ALCES as a premier international scientific 
journal dedicated to the research and management of moose.   

Peter J. Pekins, Chief Editor