Yaroslavl Oblast

Yaroslavl Oblast (In Russian: Яросла́вская о́бласть, Yaroslavskaya oblast) is a FEDERAL SUBJECT of Russia (an oblast), which is located in the Central Federal District, surrounded by Tver, Moscow, Ivanovo, Vladimir, Kostroma and Vologda Oblasts. This geographic location affords the oblast the advantages of proximity to Moscow and St Petersburg. Additionally, the administrative center of the oblast—the city of  Yaroslavl—is an intersection of major highways, railraods and waterways.
Overview

Yaroslavl Oblast was established on 11/3/1936, 1936.

Oblast territory: 36,400 km²
Population: 1,367,398
Governor: Seregey Vakhrukov
Administrative center: Yaroslavl
Distance from Yaroslavl to Moscow: 282 km
Urban population: over 80%
Number of historical and architectural monuments: over 5,000
Number of tourists (1997): 272,500

Yaroslavl Oblast is located in the Moscow Time Zone.

Nature
The climate is moderate continental, with snowy winters and a short but rather hot summer. Formerly almost all territory was covered with thick conifer forest  but now a large portion of it has been replaced with birch-and-aspen secondary forests and crop fields. Swamps also take considerable areas.

Large animals have been much reduced in numbers, but there are still some bears, wolves, foxes,elks, and wild  boars.

A great number of wild birds live and nest in the Oblast.

In cities, most common birds are pigeons jackdaws, hooded crows, rooks, house sparrows and great tits.

The  Volga River flows through Yaroslavl Oblast, with two major dams constructed at Uglich and Rybinsk. The Rybinsk Reservoir, filled between 1941 and 1947, is one of the largest in Europe; its filling flooded the town of Mologa and several hundreds of villages, necessitating the relocation of some 150,000 in Yaroslavl, Vologda, and Kalinin (now Tver) Oblasts.

Mineral resources are limited to construction materials (such as sand, gravel, clay) and peat. There are also mineral water springs and wells.

Demographics
These are population figures according to the Census of 2002:

Total population: 1,367,398