The Kuril Island Project is an international effort to document the diversity of the biota of the islands of the Kuril Archipelago. Funded primarily by the Biotic Surveys and Inventories Program of the U.S. National Science Foundation, our primary goal is to record the detailed species-level diversity of life in aquatic and terrestrial habitats of these remote and relatively unexplored islands as a prologue to further investigations of biological patterns and processes, and as a basis for the development of conservation strategies for this part of the world. Biological materials are being collected, curated, and made available to specialists all over the world. Species new to science are being named, described, and classified, and articles are being published in scientific journals as well as in the popular and semi-popular literature. Plans are in place to expand investigations to all the landmasses that surround the Sea of Okhotsk.