A new specially protected natural territory of regional importance - the Istisu-Kaka State Nature Reserve - has been created in Dagestan. It is located in Buynaksky municipal district and the city of Makhachkala. The reserve has increased the area of protected land in the republic by more than 900 hectares.

According to Ratmir Rasulov, the republican Minister for Natural Resources and Ecology, the reserve was created to preserve the unique arid foothills and is characterized by a high level of biodiversity. Its territory is home to unique plant species found nowhere else in Dagestan as well as rare animal species listed in the Red Books of Russia and Dagestan.

The Istisu-Kaka Gorge is home to about 800 species of plants and animals, including 85 rare and endangered species. At the entrance to the gorge there are thermal springs, which are not included in the territory of the reserve in order not to restrict their use by the local residents.