The Arkhangelsk region has tremendous natural resources, reserves, national parks, reserves and other cultural monuments, which are under special federal protection. The territory of the region is huge. It includes 107 objects. National parks include Vodlozersky, Kenozersky and the Russian Arctic. The status of the reserve is Pinezhsky.
Park Vodlozersky
The territory between the Pudozhsky district of the Republic of Karelia and the Onega district of the Arkhangelsk region is occupied by the Vodlozersky National Park. He, like other reserves of the Arkhangelsk region, is protected at the federal level. This is a world of primeval forest, lost among civilization. The park is inhabited by many species of birds, animals: lynx, brown bear, wolverine, badger, marten, otter, moose, fox, reindeer, whooper swan, gray crane, goose goose, owl, large owl, capercaillie, hazel grouse, black grouse and Especially valuable large nesting rare birds of prey - white-tailed eagle, golden eagle, osprey.
All reserves of the Arkhangelsk region are very picturesque. But each is unique in its own way. In Vodlozersky park, desert marshes are located and as if resting. The park has many quiet lakes and an extensive river web. The sky seems too close, overhanging. An immense distance of Russian nature opens before our eyes , which are the reserves of the Arkhangelsk region, islands with lonely chapels.
In these parts, nature dominates: wild forest, water and swamps. In the park there are five residential villages, whose population is about 500 people. Naturally, the reserves of the Arkhangelsk region are somewhat virgin and not inhabited by people. The bulk of the inhabitants in Vodlozersky are concentrated in the village of Kuganavolok. It also contains the administration of the park.
From north to south, the park has a length of up to 160 kilometers, and from west to east - up to 50 kilometers. The total area of the park is 0.5 million hectares. Water tourism is popular in these places. Especially along the Ileksa River, through Lake Vodlozero with the completion of the Vama River. Entering the reserves and parks of the Arkhangelsk region, which are under special control of the state, the park is developing and open to tourists. It provides recreational fishing, guest tourism, horseback riding, hunting tourism. International tourism programs have been developed here. The park is part of the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves.
The park possesses forests of European taiga. This is the largest array in Europe. These are dark coniferous spruce, light pine, giant Siberian larch. Trees have an average age of up to 240 years, but there are pine and spruce, which are already 500 years old.
Kenozersky park
On the territory of the Plesetsk and Kargopol regions there is an object that is included in the reserves and national parks of the Arkhangelsk region - Kenozersky National Park. It includes lakes Kenozero, Lekshmozero and a number of small lakes on the eastern edge of the ice sheet of Karelia. Draws pass through the park - a unique monument of water and land routes along which the Russians mastered this territory. Of exceptional value is the historical landscape of the Kensky drake. Here you can see medieval settlements, chapels, boat marinas, walk along the road leading through the forest. All this is of great scientific and historical value.
Russian Arctic - National Park
Created June 15, 2009. The territory includes the islands of Bolshoi and Maly Oranskie, Gemskerk, Severny, Loshkina, Novaya Zemlya and others. Land area - 632,090 ha, water area - 793,910 ha.
The park does not have permanent resident settlements. The territory is washed by the Barents Sea from the west, which does not completely freeze due to the influence of the warm North Atlantic Current. The park is not far from the mainland, therefore it is endowed with a wide variety of life forms: polar bears, seals, walruses, harp seals, reindeer, Arctic foxes. There are 64 species of plants that wake up in the short northern summers. On the Oran Islands with gentle rocks, offspring of about 20 species of birds are hatched, 5 of them even winter.
Reserve Pinezhsky
Those who are interested in what nature reserves are in the Arkhangelsk region must have heard of Pinezhsky. It was founded in 1974 and covers an area of 41,244 ha. Forests - 37.1 thousand ha, and swamps - 2600 ha. Relief:
- flat swampy plain;
- an elevated hilly plateau;
- unique karst plain.
There are 53 caves, 83 karst lakes, the fast river Sotka flows with rapids. On its karst section, the valley is in the form of a narrow rocky gorge and steep banks of 30-80 meters. The climate in the reserve is temperate continental. Summer is short and not hot. Winter is long and cold.
The reserve is rich in nature:
- 428 higher forms of plants.
- Up to 250 species of lichens and mosses of unique species.
- Forests inherent in the northern taiga prevail (72.6% of the forest consists of Siberian spruce, 14.96% from pine forests, 6.79% from birch forests).
- 1734 hectares is occupied by an array of Siberian larch 200-300 years old. This grove is one of the last ship groves in the Arkhangelsk region.
Fauna in the reserve is typical for taiga. In the reserve there are a goshawk, three-toed and black woodpeckers, a boreal owl, a whirlwind, and a woodcock. A dipper lives on the banks of the Sotka River, buzzards and crows nest on the rocky banks. Salmon, whitefish, grayling, pike, minnow and perch spawn in the tributaries. A viviparous lizard, an adder, and a grass frog are found in these places.