The Upper Tazovsky Reserve is an indicator that nature, even in harsh climates, remains true to its desire to survive in order to begin a new flowering cycle in spring. The only thing she can not resist is the desire of people to take her wealth from her. Oil and gas production entails deforestation, paved roads and the construction of cities.
In order to preserve the amazing beauty and diversity of the flora and fauna of the Yamal-Nenets Territory from the invasion of people, in 1986 lands were allotted and the Verkhne-Tazovsky State Reserve was organized.
History of the reserved land
It is unlikely that the Yamalo-Nenets Territory will appear to hospitable people who have come from warm regions. Indeed, the Tyumen region, into which it enters, is associated among people with frosts that are dangerous to their lives, short summers, and gas and oil production.
In fact, the fact that most of the district is beyond the Arctic Circle does not mean that there is no life here. On the contrary, it is here that 70% of the world stock of whitefish live, and the tundra occupies 50 million hectares on which deer graze.
To save the once pristine nature from pollution and destruction, people from different organizations joined forces, thanks to which 631,308 hectares of land were declared a protected area. In general, not only the reserves of the Tyumen region, Verkhne-Tazovsky, for example, are under protection here, but also 36 state reserves and more than 50 natural monuments. These places are rich not only in oil and gas, and it is important that the regional administration and the government in the country are united in that there are more protected pristine places.
Currently, the Upper Tazovsky Reserve is divided into two parts, one of which, the northern one, is adjacent to the village of Ratta, and therefore is called the "Rattinsky Forestry". The second is called the Pokolsky Forestry in honor of the Pokolka River. The main task of the employees of the new reserve in the first years of its existence was to put cordons around the perimeter to prevent poaching or deforestation.
Territory arrangement
The border of the reserve separates it from the rest of the territory, and, as a rule, is equipped with transitional huts. They are necessary for a long walk around the cordon, especially in winter. Also, some of them are constantly inhabited by reserve workers who are watching over their section of the border. As a rule, communication between them is carried out exclusively by radio, and you can bring the necessary products or medicines to transitional huts either by water on a motor boat or by helicopters.
It took ten years to completely equip the borders around the entire perimeter of the Verkhne-Tazovsky Reserve and today it consists of 6 cordons:
- Nizhne- and Verkhne-Pokolsky.
- Kellogsky and Yazevoy.
- Rattovsky and Pülky.
There is a lot of work in protected areas. The main task is to supervise the population of animals and birds, to protect the territory from poachers and forest cutters.
Location of forestries
The territory of the reserve can be divided into several natural zones. Thus, forests occupy the largest part (534,955 hectares), treeless valleys extend over a little more than 96,000 hectares, and the most valuable asset - swamps - stretch over 90 713 hectares.
The two forest districts share the Pokolka and Ratta rivers, but in general, the entire territory is indented with small rivers and ravines. The water area of the reservoirs occupies 5.5 thousand hectares.
In the eastern part of the Siberian Uvals, where the Upper Tazovsky Reserve is located, a hilly relief prevails, whose ridges rise to almost 300 m above sea level. It is good that this beauty can be seen on one of the excursions that are held here for tourists in order to get acquainted with the nature of the region and environmental education.
Climatic conditions
Since the Verkhne-Tazovsky Reserve, the photo of which is presented in the article, is located in a zone whose soils are not continuous permafrost, the duration of the winter period here is 208 days. For spring, the local climate left only 2-2.5 weeks, and for warm summers - 90 days.
In the hottest month of the year - July - the average air temperature is + 18 ° C, but in general the weather in summer is hot enough for this area and reaches + 30 ° C.
It is difficult to expect something good from the subarctic climate and the nearby cold Kara Sea, due to which the winter temperature drops to -59 ° C. Nevertheless, the inhabitants of the conservation zone, both animals and plants, continue to survive in such harsh conditions and in a short summer period, some manage to give new offspring, while others grow.
The inhabitants of the reserve
The basis of the Upper Tazovsky Reserve are dark coniferous forests, occupying more than 100,000 hectares of total area, among which cedars (almost 90,000 ha) and spruce (slightly more than 15,000 ha) predominate. There are strips of light coniferous taiga represented by larch and pine. It is in these burs that the largest number of berries and mushrooms are found. The real cowberry “paradise” attracts brown bears, grouse, black grouse, partridge and grouse to these places.
In addition to taiga, in the reserve, part of the area (more than 40,000 ha) is occupied by deciduous trees, namely birch, willow, aspen, and numerous shrubs. In total, more than 150 species of bryophytes, more than 300 vascular plants and 124 species of lichen grow here.
If we consider what animals are found in the Verkhne-Tazovsky Reserve, then only terrestrial vertebrates are represented by 230 species. Among them, in particular, 35 mammals (of which 9 are predators). These animals are common for taiga in Western Siberia: brown bears, moose, wolverines, foxes and ermines, weasels and chipmunks, flying squirrels and common squirrels, muskrats and others. There are 548 species of insects.
During the migration of animals, their numbers increase. For example, wolves appear when moose migrate, and arctic foxes come here in winter.
Over the years the reserve has existed, 191 bird species have been identified, both waterfowl and forest ones. Among them: blackbirds, warblers-curlers, white wagtails, gogol, whooper swans and many others.
Fish in numerous reservoirs are represented by 23 species. Among them, spawning salmonids predominate - taimen, muksun, peled, chir and nelma. Representatives of reptiles are the viviparous lizard and the viper, and the amphibian is the sharp-faced frog and the Siberian coal-toothed.
Object field of activity
The main task of foresters is the protection of natural sites. This concept includes:
- Inspection of the territory.
- Control over the use of natural resources of the reserve, protection and reproduction of forests.
- Organization of the year-round functioning of forestries with supervision of human activities in their territory.
The control over the use of natural resources includes:
- The ban on geological exploration and the conduct of any mining operations.
- Any actions that violate the integrity of the soil cover for the search for minerals and ore are prohibited.
- It is impossible to cut down forests for the purpose of harvesting timber and to stock up food resources from the forest.
- Any construction of buildings and roads not provided for by the general plan of the reserve is prohibited.
- Also banned the use of chemicals and poisons, drugs for plant growth.
- Catching and shooting animals, birds and insects is prohibited.
- It is impossible to arrange facilities for the storage of industrial waste on the territory of the reserve.
- The collection of zoological, mineral and botanical collections is allowed only in the framework of scientific activities to study the inhabitants of the reserve.
The main task of forestry is to ensure and preserve those environmental conditions that contribute to the growth of the population of animals and plants.
Tourist routes
To familiarize people with environmental protection, the management of the reserve developed tourist routes, among which:
- Descent along the Ratta River from the village of Tolka to the village of Ratta (250 km). The route is designed for 5 days of traveling along the river with stops to familiarize yourself with the surrounding nature.
- Following the Pulky cordon will take 7 days, also saturated with many stops near natural and historical monuments.
Thanks to such programs, people have the opportunity to get acquainted with the beauty and abundance of this land.
Nature reserve today
Verkhne-Tazovsky State Nature Reserve is a unique place in which nature remains untouched by civilization. In such a noble way, people apologize for using its bowels and other wealth for their own purposes.
The more protected natural monuments will be in the country, the more pristine places will be preserved for posterity.