A project called Arctic Marathon will be implemented within the Utro (Morning) 2016 youth forum held in Nefteyugansk (the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area). The project's key objective is to select volunteers for an environmental expedition to Bely Island in August 2016, the autonomous area's website reports.

The summer environmental campaign on Bely Island will include two stages. The first stage will run from July 18 through August 3 and involve 15 volunteers, some of whom have participated in expeditions in recent years. The second group will stay on the island from August 3 through August 24. It will include Russian compatriots living abroad, participants in the Utro 2016 Urals Federal District's  youth forum and LUKOIL-West Siberia company personnel.

The participant selection will be organized in two themes, one called "The Arctic Idea" and the other, "Individual and Team Effectiveness." The applicants will have to pass physical fitness and stamina tests, undergo team-building training and have interviews with the project leaders.

The applicants will be given points based on their results. The ones with the highest scores will be enrolled in the expedition to Bely Island.

During the first recruitment stage, applicants will talk about themselves, their strengths and in what ways they think they can be useful to the team. They will also share their experience as a volunteer and knowledge in Arctic exploration. During the second stage, candidate communication skills will be evaluated.

The format of the 2016 expedition will differ from previous ones.  The main polluted territories near the weather station and the former military base have been cleaned over the past few years. The current objective is to remove the remaining waste from the grounds around the weather station and the coastal area of the channel and clean the remote the areas that have been surveyed. They will also remove about 500 metric tons of scrap metal and trash, which have been collected during previous expeditions, from the island for recycling. There are also plans to reclaim former waste dumps.