Elagin Island is the most Northern island in the Neva estuary, washed by Bolshaya and Srednyaya Nevka rivers. There is a park, known to all Petersburgers as the Central Park of Culture and Leisure, which traces its history back to the mid-XVIII century. The park is a unique natural object which features an by extraordinarily huge for a metropolis variety of plants, animals and especially birds.

Species diversity of the park´s vegetable world has undergone numerous changes over 300 years of its history: from original drainage of natural marshy woods till creation of artificial planted vegetation. All the time the park exists, there have been various landscape arrangements with new lawns and flower gardens, numerous trees planting. Broad-leaved species (oak, elm, maple, ash-tree, linden,horse chestnut), as well as fir-trees (spruce, pine, larch) and different kinds of bushies have been planted in the park. Among old planted vegetation, the island's territory comprises trees worth being put on the World Register of Trees. In the first place, there are two pedunculate oaks, which are said to be planted in the course of reclaiming the lands during the reign of Peter I.

Fauna of mammals on the Elagin Island amounts to 10 species. Mainly, they are represented by rodents – a squirrel and its Altai subvariety, voles and house mice, muskrats. Also there are representatives of insectivores – Eurasian water shrews and common shrews, representatives of carnivores – ermines and weasels.

The territory of Elagin Island has 144 birds species, including migratory birds. 23 of them are put on the Red Book of Saint Petersburg Nature, 17 species are protected in the Leningrad Region, 31 species are put on the Red Book of Baltic Region.

In 2012 the territory of Kirov Central Park of Culture and Leisure (Elagin Island) got the status of Specially Protected Natural Territory.