The development of the reserve management and studies is considered in a historical retrospective from the 16th century to the present. The study of archival sources and studies of allied researchers (geographers, historians, biologists, ecologists, specialists in the field of conservation), it was reveals that the development of protected areas in Russia took place in five stages. At the first stage (XVI-XVII centuries), the formation of a general idea of the value of untouched natural complexes is considered, which is associated with the spiritual and religious conservation of territories. At the second stage (the end of the 19th -beginning of the 20th centuries), the organization and formation of the first nature reserves are being studied. At the third stage (the middle of the 20th century - the Great Patriotic War and the post-war period) is studied the functioning of the reserves, which took place under the conditions of their mass liquidation in the war and post-war period. The fourth stage (the end of the 20th century) can be characterized as the final formation of the reserve management and studies as a unique system of reserves in Russia, the features of this stage are being studied. At the fifth stage (the beginning of the 21st century to the present), the development of reserves is considered from the side of updating the conservation of natural complexes, as well as the promotion of ecological tourism through the formation of scientific and tourist-recreational clusters on the basis of protected areas and adjacent territories.