[b][i]NGO Character Sheet[/i][/b]

[b]Name:[/b] The Stefan Orlov Pleistocene Project

[b]Location:[/b] Alaska

[b]History:[/b] Stefan Orlov (born 1892) was a Russian Noble who, in the old days, was known for his apathy to politics and his enthusiasm for science, enthusiasm that reached the point of obsession. Twenty-four when the Trans-Siberian Railway was built, Stefan earned a reputation as an eccentric when he [i]volunteered[/i] to go to Siberia in order to do research on the extinct Mammoth. Twenty-four more years passed, in which Stefan Orlov discovered more about the Pleistocene Era's fossil records, ecology, Mammoth habitats, and even went to Wrangel Island, where he discovered that the Mammoths survived up to 1700 BC, when the Great Pyramids were being built (this was IRL, but discovered in 1975). He also found relics of human habitation on that island, proof that the Wooly Mammoth was rendered extinct by humans, not changing climates.

He also found out that the Mammoths and other Megafauna of the Pleistocene had created a 'Mammoth Steppe', a productive area of fertile grasslands that was more lush and hospitable to humankind than the tundra that existed today. But thanks to the extinction of the Megafauna, the land slowly became tundra, with harsh consequences for Siberia today. But, if primitive humans can do so much damage, cannot they also repair it? Those were his thoughts. 

True, Mammoths, Giant Sloths, and other extinct species cannot be brought back. But other large hervivores, such as Yakutian Horses, Musk Oxen, and European and American Bison...those still existed. If he had those, as well as predators and human hunters to keep said hervivores in check, he might yet bring back the Mammoth steppe!

Too bad however, that despite Stefan's noble heritage, Tsar Nicholas II had too many other things in his mind to listen to an eccentric whose plans were incomprehensible to him. That and it would cost a lot of money for little immediate profit. Stefan was disappointed, but then came an unexpected windfall; the Tsar was assassinated and the Orlov Family and several other nobles went to Siberia along with a huge amount of gold and other valuables. Because of this, Stefan became interested in politics for the first time (albeit marginally), and offered all help he could to the Whites; mostly advice on surviving in Siberia. But his prime loyalties were to his 'Pleistocene Project' and acquiring gold for it.

And so another windfall came when it was suggested that most of the White Russians' gold can be safely hidden in America, which had just reunified itself from its own Civil War. Orlov offered to come with the gold to 'safeguard it', and this was accepted by the White Leadership.

Now with the majority of the White Russians' treasury - 300 tons of Gold of the 500 that had been moved from Petrograd - Orlov now had enough resources to start his project; creating a 'Pleistocene Park' in Alaska in order to restore the Mammoth Steppe. He sent a weak justification to the remaining White Russians and the Tsarist forces of St. Petersburg that he was making a 'refuge and hunting reserve' for Russian Emigres to Alaska, but it turned out he did not need to - they were too focused on war to get back their gold. That, and even if he spent it like a drunken sailor, he would still have enough to give back to the Russian Tsardom.

So in 1949, Stefan Orlov bought and legally transported 50 Yakutian Horses to Alaska; many were eaten by wolves and bears or died from eating poisonous plants, but enough survived to prove his point; where the horses had compacted the soil, the mosses, weeds, and willow shrub had been replaced by grasses!

The promise of turning tundra into grassland was real. It would even be more real if Moose (already present in the area), Musk Oxen (same), and even [i]Bison[/i] can be brought in with enough numbers to survive the harsh winters. And thankfully, that was what gold, and bankrolling poltiical campaigns by friendly candidates, were for...

[@Dinh AaronMk][@Pepperm1nts][@Byrd Man][@Vilageidiotx]

Mentioning the GMs as I need their approval, mentioning Pepper as I am using Russia's Gold and Byrd because I am using his country's territory.