This steppe region of Western Siberia is crucial for the development of agriculture, dairy farming and butter-making in this region. In order to increase the efficiency of work in the presented areas, vast areas of land are being plowed up and land reclamation activities are being actively carried out to improve meadow lands and drain marshes.
The Baraba steppe is located in the Omsk and Novosibirsk regions. It covers an area of about 117 thousand square kilometers.
Geographical location and relief
The Baraba Lowland (Baraba) is a forest-steppe plain located in the southern part of Western Siberia. It extends from the interfluve of the Irtysh and Ob to the Kulundinskaya plain (in the south).
The terrain is slightly hilly, the height above sea level varies from 100 to 150 meters. The southern part of the lowland is characterized by distinct parallel elevations (the so-called "manes"), occupied by meadow steppes, mixed grass meadows and birch spikes on solonetz, chernozem and gray forest soils.
Between the hills in the depressions of the Baraba steppe are salt and fresh lakes (more than 2000), loans, sphagnum bogs and salt marshes.
Terrain Features
Baraba to a greater extent extends to the vastness of the Novosibirsk region. The forest-steppe is the most typical lowland landscape. These are open meadow or steppe spaces that alternate with small sections of birch-aspen forest - spikelets (the name used by the local population). Quite often, they are formed in depressions, where monotonous vegetation grows. Open spaces, meadows and steppes are more diverse and rich in vegetation.
The weather in the Baraba steppe changes quite often and unexpectedly. Sometimes cumulus light clouds float across the sky, then clouds suddenly run up and it begins to pour rain, as if from a bucket, and after one or two days the heat and drought become actual again.
Flora and fauna
Grassy vegetation in the steppe is now sparse, then dense, then saturated with floral colors, then monophonic. High in the air are the larks who nest on the ground. The steppe is rich and diverse invertebrates.
The composition of forest-steppe grasses in this lowland is very rich. In some areas not plowed up by people, there is even a feather grass. In spring, even closer to summer, bright yellow dandelions and adonises appear among the herbs. There are bells in the summer, blooming flowers of strawberries, anemones and so on.
Beetles and butterflies are not inferior in color to the colors of the Baraba steppe. In the grass you can find an ordinary hedgehog, which 20 years ago was not here. Among the spikes there are roe deer, which are distributed practically throughout the territory of Baraba. Steppe foxes and gophers live in these places.
Water resources
The Baraba lowland can be safely called the country of lakes and rivers. Such rivers as Karasuk, Bagan and others flow here. Basically, they are leisurely and shallow. The Kargat and Chulym rivers feed their waters with the Chany - the largest brackish inland lake in the Baraba steppe. Its western part, the Yudinsky reach, is one of the problems of the Novosibirsk region. About 20 years ago there was a vast, water-filled space in which many fish lived. Today everything has changed. These places have turned into a real sandy desert, in which even mirages are possible. There is almost no life in lake salt water, only sometimes gulls visit such places.
There is another interesting lake called Karachi, which in this area develops as an element of the resort area. On its banks are deposits of therapeutic mud. The saline soils of these places are called salt marshes, which are a characteristic feature of the southwestern part of Baraba. These soils are unsuitable for farming.
Something from the history of the life of peasants in the Baraba steppe
Researchers and travelers of the XVIII-XIX centuries, who studied the life of the population of Siberia, in particular, the Baraba lowland, in general, noted a large role in the economy of peasants hunting and fishing (due to feeding fish and game). They kept a small amount of livestock, and also engaged in agriculture, but not everywhere.
For example, according to the fifth revision (census) of the population, made at the beginning of the 19th century, among the Turks of Meletsk (456 souls in total), there were 190 farmers (almost 42% of the inhabitants), 125 hunters and herders (more than 27%), and hunters and fishers - 141 (almost 31%).