Lake Vozhe, the photo of which is presented in the article, is located near the border between the Vologda and Arkhangelsk regions. It belongs to the Onega River Basin. Stretched in a direction from north to south. The length of the reservoir is 64 km, the width ranges from 7 to 16 km, the total area is 422 square meters. km The depth of Lake Vozhe is small, so it is considered shallow. Its average figure does not exceed 1-2 m, however, there are also places where the bottom deepens to a distance of 5 m.
Reservoir features
About twenty rivers flow into the lake, the largest of them are Modlona (38% of the incoming water), flowing from the south, and Vozhega (34%), whose delta, consisting of three channels, is in the east. The runoff is carried out in the north, through the Svid stream, flowing into Lache, from which Onega takes its source.
Lake Vozhe (Vologda Oblast) is located on the wide Vozhe-Lachskoye glacial lowland, and its region belongs to the middle taiga landscape type. The banks are flat, overgrown with reeds, the area around is very marshy.
The beginning of ancient history
The first settlers settled on the shores of the lake in the VII-VI millennia BC. e. Neolithic settlements of the IV-III centuries were investigated in the 1930-1950s. At that time, in the surrounding forests that surrounded Lake Vozhe, oak, linden, elm, and hazel predominated from the vegetation, and the large fauna, in addition to modern bears, elks, wild boars, and badgers, was represented by reindeer, deer , roe deer, and round.
Relic elms in the Vozhega delta still exist as the last remnant of ancient deciduous forests. The ancient ichthyofauna, including sterlet, asp, catfish, catfish and rudd, has disappeared by now.
"What's in your name?"
In historical time, the region was inhabited by Finno-Ugric tribes, to which Lake Vozhe owes its name. In the Komi language, “leader” means “branch”. The river Vozhega got its name because it flows into the reservoir in three streams, and the lake was named for this stream.
Traditionally, local Russian residents called Lake Charond, according to the name of the only city located on its shore - Charond. Once it was a rich settlement, the center of Charozersky volost. But after the restriction under Peter I of international trade through the Arkhangelsk port and the decline of the route from Belozersk to Pomerania in 1776, it lost its city status.
Russian occupation of the lake
The Russians began the colonization of the Vozhe district in the XI-XII centuries, simultaneously from the Novgorod Republic and the Rostov-Suzdal land. In the XIV-XV centuries, this process intensified, in connection with the emergence of monasteries of Northern Thebes, which became centers of trade, agriculture and industry. In 1472, on the island of Spas in the middle of the lake, the Vozhezersky monastery was founded, the ruins of which have survived to the present.
Use of Lake Vauger
Agriculture in the local area has always been underdeveloped. But fishing on Lake Vozhe is a common thing. It can be called the main occupation and craft of local residents. The reservoir is rich in roach, perch, pike, ide, bream and ruff. People who like to spend time with a fishing rod often visit this lake, despite the inaccessibility due to the lack of good roads in this sparsely populated area. In the northern part of the lake there are whitefish, burbot, grayling. In total, 15 species of fish have been discovered at present, with the exception of salmon and nelma sometimes entering this water area.
The level of industrial fishing on the lake in the XX century experienced significant fluctuations. In 1893, 1,580 tons of fish were caught here, in 1902 - 800 tons, and later catches continued to decline. By 1913, there were about 600 anglers on the lake on a regular basis in the summer and 300 in the winter. But after 50-60 years the staff had to be reduced, and by 1973 there was only one collective farm with twenty fishermen left.
The minimum catches were during the period of collectivization in 1930 (80 tons) and in 1982 (95 tons). Currently, the catch that can be obtained on the lake is 200 tons per year.
Since the 1950s, fish conservation measures have been carried out in the reservoir for 20 years. Until the middle of the century, half of the catch was a ruff, then they stopped catching it, switching to bream. Since 1987, in Vozha, they are trying to acclimatize zander.
Flora and fauna
Lake Vozhe has a fairly diverse flora. 38 species of plants were found in the reservoir, among which the most prevalent is reed. In the forests along the Ukme River there are tree-like junipers up to 15 meters high. In the vicinity of Vozhe, a relatively rare taiga vine grows and there are orchids listed in the Red Book - calypso and a venus slipper.
In the XX century, representatives of the beaver family, once completely exterminated by the locals, were re-acclimatized.
Forests cover most of the surroundings of the lake. Birds such as the white-tailed eagle, the great spotted eagle, the beetle, and the buzzard are found in them. Swamps, black-throated and red-throated loons, partridges and curlews inhabit the marshes.
Ecological problems
Lake Vozhe is currently not in the most favorable environmental situation, which causes concern of specialists. This reservoir is located at a distance of 150 km from the largest industrial center of the Vologda Oblast - the city of Cherepovets. Its industrial emissions reach the water area with air currents and are deposited in large quantities in the lake due to the combination of a significant width of the water mirror with extreme shallow water.
The banks of Vozhe are increasingly blooming with blue-green algae, the diversity of zooplankton is reduced, and the content of heavy metal compounds in fish is approaching the levels of the more polluted White and Kubensky lakes.