Update on Pavlovsk

National Public Radio provided additional information on the proposed sale and development of Pavlovsk Experiment Station in an interesting article, Researchers Fight to Save Fruits of Their Labor. This issue was first noted here in the previous post, Can Twitter Save Rare Pavlovsk Plants?

Leonid Burmistrov, a fruit and crop researcher at the institute for 40 years was interviewed for the story.

Scientists have left over the years, he says, as the government cut funding. But through it all, he says, the research station has collected fruit and berry varieties from around the world, stayed in touch with scientists abroad and cataloged everything.

"Like [what is] winter-resistant, resistant to different kind of fungi, diseases or bacteria," Burmistrov says. "What is the quality? What is the taste? And so, so on."

The idea of ripping these plants from the ground for the sake of development?

"No," he says sternly, standing amid fruit trees. "It's not possible to think about the possibility."

But it still a very real possibility. Here is the podcast.