It is so good that unique ecosystems are carefully preserved for our current and future generations in our country, where you can admire nature in its original form, watch animals free, inhale the life-giving aromas of flowers and herbs! One of such corners is the Central Forest State Natural Biosphere Reserve. It has an extraordinary story, a complex past and a beautiful present. Scientists conduct their important research, thereby ensuring the existence of other Russian ecosystems. But the reserve is open to all nature lovers. Children are especially welcome here. For them, interesting outdoor activities, excursions are conducted, and Baba Yaga, who lives in the forest thicket, arranges a real exam for young botanists and zoologists.
Location
The Central Forest State Nature Reserve is located on the lands of the Tver region to the south-west of Tver. In numbers, its location relative to nearby major cities looks like this:
- from Moscow in a straight line to the reserve about 285 km;
- from Kaluga 274 km;
- from Vitebsk 212 km;
- 175 km from Smolensk;
- from Tver 167 km;
- from Rzhev 75 km.
At 68 km from the protected areas the legendary Seliger Lake splashes.
Geographically, the Central Forest State Reserve is located on the Valdai Upland, on the watershed (Caspian-Baltic) of the upper Volga and Western Dvina rivers. Near the borders of the reserve or directly on its territory, the sources of the Mezh, Tudma, Tudovka, and Zhukop rivers are beating out of the ground.
The history of the reserve
The places where the Central Forest Reserve of the Tver Region is located were relatively well preserved until the 20th century because their soil composition and windfall forest lands caused difficulties for economic development. In the 18th century they were called Okovsky or Volkonsky forest. There was a wilderness here. Only a few villages were able to shelter along the rivers Tudovka and Zhukop. In the Okovsky forest there were hunting dachas of General Romeiko, Count Sheremetyev and several landowners. All of them came here to hunt and didn’t use the forest anymore, and Romeiko also introduced security measures on his part of the forest, prohibiting poaching and deforestation, although on separate hills where there was no stagnation of water, peasants cleared land using slash or slash-fire methods, plowed they were created by residential settlements.
In 1905, frightened by the revolution, the previous owners began to sell their allotments, and the new owners did whatever they wanted for profit. The situation has not changed after the Great October 1017th. Only in the 1920s did the Soviet government take up the conservation of natural resources.
Foundation stages
According to the documents, the Central Forest Reserve of the Tver Region was established in 1931 on the eve of the New Year holidays, on December 31. However, work on its creation began in 1925. Then the assistant professor of the pedagogical institute in Smolensk, Grigory Leonidovich Grave, led an expedition to study natural resources near Moscow and issued a verdict that it is the lands of the Tver region between the Volga and the Northern Dvina that are most suitable to become protected. The timber merchants of those places opposed this and actively cut down the most valuable trees so that the lands would lose all value. In 1930, Grave organized a new expedition and defined a new territory for the reserve. From its old markings, only 3, 000 hectares entered it. Thanks to the efforts of this man, a reserve appeared, and Grave became its director.
Difficulties experienced
In the 30s and 40s, the Central Forest Reserve near Tver worked successfully and fruitfully - administrative buildings, laboratories, housing for employees, roads were built. 61 people worked here, of which there were 15 guards and 21 researchers. A lot of energy was given to the reserve by a young ecologist Vladimir Stanchinsky, who organized an integrated approach to work. But in 1941, this man was slandered, repressed, thrown into prison, where he died a year later.
Government funding was excellent for the reserve, which made it possible to carry out many studies and introduce useful environmental programs, but the war crossed out everything. Many conscripts or voluntarily went to the front, the remaining ones tried to evacuate the reserve, and irresponsible locals pulled away everything they could. In 1941, a partisan detachment operated on the territory of the reserve. The Nazis and their henchmen, policemen, were afraid to go deep into the forest, but they plundered the central estate and museum, destroyed many collections and manuscripts, causing damage to 265, 000 rubles, which was a huge amount for the Soviet era.
As soon as the front moved west, the Central Forest Reserve resumed its work. His staff consisted of only 13 people. People bit by bit renewed the lost, re-created laboratories. But in 1951, the resurrected reserve was closed, and employees were fired. Only after 9 years, during which much was again plundered and lost, it began to revive again. In 1985, this reserve was included in the international network of UNESCO protected areas. Now there is a scientific department, a staff of guards, a craniological laboratory, a stronghold studying the life of brown bears, a village for employees has been restored, guest houses and a hostel for tourists have been built.
Structure
The Central Forest Reserve covers an area of 70, 500 hectares. It is divided into zones:
- reserved core;
- buffer;
- rational use.
In the reserve core (an area of 24415 hectares), any activity that violates the ecological balance in nature is prohibited. There is a zone of absolute peace, the village of Zapovedny is located.
The buffer zone is a strip of land along the perimeter of the core, 1 km wide and with a total area of up to 130 km2. There are badger settlements, capercaillie currents, wildlife sanctuaries, tracts, natural monuments.
In the zone of rational use there are also reserves and capercaillie currents. In addition, there are areas where it is allowed to pick mushrooms, cranberries and other berries, mow hay, and fish with fishing rods.
Natural characteristics
The Central Forest State Biosphere Reserve lies on a hilly plain, where forms of glacial relief prevail. Above sea level, its elevations are 220-280 meters. The territory of the reserve is represented by moraine ridges. There are also lake basins. In general, there are a lot of water resources - for every 1 km2 about 750 meters of streams and rivers. Groundwater is located just 3 meters from the surface. Large areas (6323 hectares) are swamps. Among them are Verkhovsky Moss, Staroselsky Moss, Demikhovsky Moss and the largest Katin Moss.
The soil structure of the reserve is represented quite widely. There are soddy, podzolic, marsh, peat, humus, alluvial, glue soils and various combinations thereof, for example, sod-podzolic, peat-podzolic-gleyous.
The climate in the reserve is humid and cool, in summer average temperatures are about +16 ° C, in winter -10 ° C, sunny days in the year 45%.
Flora
The Central Forest Reserve has a relatively poor flora, which is associated with climate and soil features. European vegetation prevails here, only 546 species, mostly well growing in the shade. Among them, grassy - 490 species, shrubs and shrubs - 34 species, trees - 16 species, cultivated - 6 species. In the reserve grow birch, aspen, elm, ash, pine, spruce (there are areas of especially valuable southern taiga spruce), linden, oak, alder.
Among the herbaceous plants there are many representatives of the Red Book, for example, a hawthorn, a living lunar, a venus slipper. From the herbs and flowers in the reserve you can see chamomile, mallow, ivan da marju, bluebell, fern, whitefly, veronica, parsnip, gravilat, and blueberries, cranberries, cloudberries, blackberries grow on the swamps and near them.
Fauna
For our smaller brothers, the Central Forest Reserve became a paradise. Animals are represented by 335 species. Mammals in the reserve are large (bears, wolves, moose, lynxes, foxes, deer, wild boars, roe deer) and small (rodents, bats, beavers, minks, ferrets, badgers, moles, hedgehogs) - a total of 56 species. Also on the territory of the reserve amphibians (frogs, toads, newts), lizards, snakes are seen. In rivers and streams flowing through the reserve, there are 18 species of fish. But the greatest variety here, of course, is birds. In total, 250 species were registered. The branches chirp, warblers, Carduelis, Orioles, thrushes, flytraps, finches, scallops, zaryanki, and kings. Eagle owls and owls go hunting at night, and peregrine falcons, spotted eagles, golden eagles, and red-headed eagles hunt in the afternoon. Ducks, woodcocks, waders, cranes, herons nest near water bodies. The reserve is adorned with capercaillie, which is especially protected from poachers.
The food for most birds is insects, which in the reserve counted 600 species. Not all of their representatives are pleasant in appearance and harmless, but no one argues about the beauty of butterflies. There are 250 species here. The most spectacular admiral, polyommatus, mother of pearl, lemongrass, uglokrylnitsa.
Excursion trails
The Central Forest Biosphere Reserve is happy for both children and adults. Here for nature lovers there are several trails. Three of them are short, about a kilometer long, but interesting. Here the Baba Yaga awaits the travelers, but not in order to eat them, but in order to arrange an exam for them to know the nature of these places. The trails are:
- "Secrets of the Okovsky Forest." Here, a three hundred year old pine tree grows 46 meters high, observation platforms are installed, and the whole path is paved with boards.
- "Forest alphabet." On this trail it is interesting to study the traces of forest inhabitants, samples of which are placed on the tablets.
- "Staroselsky moss." This path runs through the swamp, but the path is also paved with boards. On it you can admire not only birds (lapwings, waders, wagtails, cranes) but also moose, even bears, who sometimes come to the swamp to enjoy berries.
For adults, the reserve has developed routes about 25 km long. They lead deep into the forest and are carried out with a guide. These are Krasny Stan, Barsuchikha and Sibir. There are huts on the routes where you can relax, have a bite to eat and even spend the night.
