Much of the region's landscapes are dominated by rugged mountains. For nine months of the year the ground is covered with snow, and the frozen rivers become navigable roads. George Kennan, an American working on the Western Union Telegraph Expedition in the late 1860s, found that dog sled travel on the lower Anadyr was limited by lack of firewood. Reindeer, upon which the local inhabitants subsisted, were once found in considerable numbers, but the domestic reindeer population has collapsed dramatically since the reorganization and privatization of state-run collective farms beginning in 1992. As herds of domestic reindeer have declined, herds of wild caribou have increased. There are ten species of salmon inhabiting the Anadyr river basin. Every year, on the last Sunday in April, there is an ice fishing competition in the frozen estuarine waters of the Anadyr's mouth. This festival is locally known as Korfest. The area is a summering place for a number of migratory birds including brent geese, Eurasian wigeons, and the pintails of California. See also Operation Anadyr Sources Footnotes Notes References External links "Tourist and environmental information" Chukotka Autonomous Okrug website, in English "Russia Far East: Anadyr River" Wild Salmon Center Anadyr River Watershed "Snezhnoye: a village on the Anadyr' River" Rivers of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug Drainage basins of the Bering Sea