Features of Plant Biodiversity of the National Park "Chikoy" in Ecological Tourism of Zabaikalsky Krai

The development of ecological tourism in Russia is now one of the most important socio-economic and environmental tasks. Protected areas should be the main places for ecotourism. The primary means for developing environmental and educational tourism in pro- tected areas are nature trails. Within the boundaries of the Chikoy National Park there are interesting natural monuments that have long been objects of visit, but there are still no stated routes. Thus, we have planned environmental routes within the Khentei-Chikoy Highlands, in the buffer zone of the Baikal natural territory, which has special water protection significance for the Lake Baikal and is characterized by high biological and landscape diversity. In the Chikoy-Chikokon interfluve there are interpenetration and mixing of heterogeneous elements of the flora and fauna of adjacent biogeographical regions, including boreal, Central Asian, European, Siberian. Biological diversity in this region is characterized by the concentration of rare species of flora and fauna and the presence of refugia of tertiary flora. The territory is the most impor- tant center for the reproduction of typical and rare species of flora and fauna in the Khentei- Chikoy Highlands. Many higher vascular plants, listed in the Red Book of Zabaikalsky Krai, grow here. Therefore, our main task was to develop ecological routes within Lake Shebety and the Melnichnaya River and to give description of botanical objects. In total, we have developed three routes of nature trails on this territory with the aim of conducting educational excursions allowing tourists to obtain information about the flora of the Chikoy National Park. All three routes differ in their difficulty, which make it possible to create eco-tourist programs for people with different physical abilities.