State Nature Reserve Zeysky, Amur Region

The lands of Russia are famous for their natural beauties. To protect them from the negative influence of man, at the state level, protected corners are created. One of these places is the Zeysky Reserve, whose employees managed to preserve nature almost in its original form.

Location and terrain

So, where is the Zeysky reserve? Its territory belongs to the Far Eastern Federal District and is located near the border of the Russian Federation with China. It is administratively designated as the Amur Region.

The reserve occupies the eastern part of the ridge with the mysterious name Tukuringa, where the mountainous terrain is crossed by the narrow valley of the Zeya river, in honor of which the object is named. Nearby is the town of Zeya, which has an ancient history.

The reserve area is slightly more than 82 thousand hectares. Its relief is characterized by steep slopes (up to 70 degrees) and flat watersheds, which rise above the bottoms of river valleys by 400-600 meters. Rusla rivers are characterized by great depth, an abundance of rapids, hanging mouths and waterfalls.

History of the Reserve

Zeysky Reserve was created on the initiative of the outstanding Soviet geologist Alexander Stepanovich Khomentovsky. In general, the issue of creation was still in the twenties of the last century, but the matter did not come to a head in the sixties. The year of the birth of the reserve was 1963.

The main goal of the creators was to protect the reference area of the mountainous area and its study. In addition, scientists here are monitoring the impact of the Zeya reservoir on natural complexes.

Work in the reserve is carried out by foresters, foresters and their assistants who on foot, on horseback, on boats or boats regularly inspect the territory entrusted to them and monitor the order.

Climatic features

The climate in the reserve is moderately cold. The average annual temperature is minus four to six degrees. In winter, the thermometer falls to thirty degrees below zero, and in summer rarely rises above eighteen.

The winter here is clear, slightly winded, dry. Snow falls a little, but because the low temperature keeps steadily, it does not melt and lies all winter, from October to April. The height of the snowdrifts in the plains and foothills reaches twenty centimeters, but the closer to the sky, the more snow. With each kilometer the height of the cover is increased by thirty centimeters.

In the spring, winds are increasing in the reserve, but precipitation is also low. The air temperature keeps cool enough. In the summer, the Zeysky reserve surprises its guests with a striking phenomenon - bird cherry blossoms in the headwaters of the rivers against the backdrop of unfulfilled ice. In general, the summer period in most of the territory is characterized by warm and humid weather. In the autumn it is dry and windy. The least precipitation is in October.

Soil in the reserve

Soil cover in the reserve fertile can not be called. The eastern part of the ridge borders on the permafrost zone, and this affects the soils. The frozen layer does not let water pass, and as a result the cover of the mountain slopes is over-dried and stony. And the soils of hollows and hollows, on the contrary, are oversaturated with moisture, which also does not promote fertility.

Reservoirs

All the rivers crossing the territory of the reserve belong to the basin of the Zeya river, on which the Zeya water reservoir is built.

Before the creation of the man-made sea, the river was distinguished by its obstinate character. Moving along it was almost impossible because of the huge speed of the current and the large number of rapids and rapids. The danger of traveling along the river is evidenced by the names of its plots: Big and Small Ogres, Devil's Stove, etc.

Once in the summer, Zeya came out of the shores, and nearby settlements were under water. Through the construction of the reservoir, man was able to tame the obstinate. Today Zeya is navigable and brings much more benefits than before.

The total area occupied by reservoirs in the reserve is 770 hectares. Basically it is a river. There are swamps.

Vegetable world

Vegetation zones of the reserve are a mountain-tundra-boreal complex. In the lower part of the ridge there are light larch forests with a cover from the ledum; Slightly higher are dark coniferous forests with a rare interspersion of mountain ash, birch and woolly and birch (the ground is covered with green moss); And on the very top of the impenetrable wall grows cedar stlanik.

Those slopes of the ridge that face the reservoir are characterized by the Manchurian flora. Plateau-shaped watersheds are poor in arboreal vegetation - they are parts of the tundra, covered with shrubs and grasses.

Zeysky Reserve is known for its thickets of Aya spruce, which shakes its size. Trees reach thirty meters in height and a meter in circumference. They live for four hundred years. Some places where there used to be a spruce, destroyed by fires, are now overgrown with Gmelin larch.

There are few meadow vegetation on the territory of the reserve, and it is also often the result of fires when purine and Sugawara reed on the place of burnt thickets of Ayan spruce.

The Tukuringra Range can be called a real mushroom kingdom. There are as many as 158 species. Some of them decompose dead wood. Of the edible varieties, the following are found: white fungus, common poderezovik, red capote red, lilac and yellow oil lobster , real gingerbread, redhead, white whit.

There are 155 varieties found here, as well as twenty-one species of bryophytes. 637 varieties of vascular plants can be found on the territory of the reserve.

From the shrubs dominate ledum, rhododendron Daurian, blueberry, dogrose needle, spirea medium and meandering. In the swampy and damp forests and spruce groves there are various sedges, Lubarsky's aconite, common sour, Labradorian mantel, Asiatic volzhanka, double-leafed mullet, wintergreen, fern. In dry forests, feather grass, Japanese buttercup, Amur clove, fingered violet, several species of geraniums, mountaineering, Astra Tatar, Astrakhan radiant.

Zeysky reserve: animals and birds

Prior to the creation of the Zeya reservoir, the variety of fish species in the lower and upper reaches of the rivers varied considerably. After the closure of the Zeya River, the reserves of taimen, grayling, whitefish, and asp quickly declined. However, the number of minnow, Chebak, Rotana and Golyan has increased.

The territory of the reserve serves as a staging post for many species of animals. Along the highlands from north to south, representatives of the fauna of Eastern Siberia move. And river valleys, passing into the slopes, let through thousands of animals of Amur animals, following, on the contrary, to the north.

Zeysky Reserve is famous for its birds, namely the order of chickens, which are represented here better than anywhere else in the Far East. Among the most numerous species - hazel grouse, capercaillie, tundra and white partridge, dikusha, etc.

But there are not many hoofed animals here. You can call only moose, roe deer, red deer and musk deer, and even boar occasionally comes.

Sable, ermine and some other representatives of the kunies are widely distributed on the territory of the reserve. Sometimes there is a lynx. On the banks of mountain rivers, 3-5 families live in wolves. In all high-altitude belts there is a brown bear. In general, the animal world on the slopes of the Tukuringra ridge is purely taiga.

Protection of rare species

Work in the reserve is aimed at maximizing the conservation of rare species of animals and plants, which are quite numerous here.

If we talk about the flora, then the Red Book of the Russian Federation includes, for example, the Venus shoe (real and large-flowered), the lepidoptera, the peony obovate, the calypso onion, etc.

Among the birds are rare already mentioned above dikusha, as well as a small swan, kloktun, mandarin, owl, gyrfalcon, black stork and others.

From rare mammals it is possible to distinguish a predator, which is famous for the Amur region and in general the Far East. This is an Amur tiger. Another dying animal, guarded here, is the saltinga.

Tourism

It can not be said that the Zeysky Reserve is crowded with tourists. Still, this is a protected area, and the presence of people here should be limited. But those who were lucky enough to get here, an excursion to the reserve will bring a lot of pleasure.

The museum of nature, opened in 1991, deserves attention of travelers. You can also book a one-day walking or water excursion route with a visit to the loach.

The Goltsi name the middle part of the Tukuringra range, covered with mountain tundra forests and cedar stlanik. From this point of elevation, breathtaking views of the Zeya reservoir, the picturesque plains and the Stanovoi Range open up. In clear weather, the terrain is perfectly visible for a distance of 150 kilometers.

Clean mountain air, pristine forests, the opportunity to meet on its way a wild animal, as well as to survey the magic panoramas make the Zeysky Reserve very attractive for a tourist who is looking for strong emotions and craves aesthetic pleasure.