The Central Forest State Natural Biosphere Reserve is a specially
protected natural area located in the southwestern part of the
Valdai Upland, in the Tver region, in the upper reaches of the Mezha
River north of the city of Nelidovo.
The State Central Forest
Reserve was established on May 4, 1930 by decree of the Council of
People's Commissars of the USSR, and by Decree No. 1303 of December
31, 1931, its boundaries were established. In 1986, the reserve was
assigned the status of a biosphere. Its total area is 24,447
hectares, the buffer zone is 46,061 hectares. The total area of
the protected area (including the protected area) is 705 km². The
nature conservation role of the Central Forest Reserve is determined
by the fact that it contains a significant array of indigenous
landscapes. Located on the watershed of the Volga and the Western
Dvina, it carries out important water protection functions.
The Central Forest
State Biosphere Reserve (TsLGBZ) is located on the territory of the
Nelidovsky, Andreapolsky and Selizharovsky districts of the Tver
region. Its geographical coordinates are 56 ° 26´ ... 56 ° 31´ s.
sh. 32 ° 29´… 33 ° 29´ E e. This is an area of moderate
continental climate. The average air temperature is 3.6 ° C. The
average July temperature is + 15.2 ... + 17.5 ° С, the average
January temperature is −5.1 ... −11.0 ° С. The growing season lasts
130 days. Annual precipitation averages 700 mm. The average value of
Selyaninov's hydrothermal coefficient is 1.6. The sum of active soil
temperatures at a depth of 20 cm ranges from 1600 to 2200 ° C. The
total area of the reserve changed: the original - 31,900 hectares,
according to the decree of 1931 - 24,447 hectares, in 1989 - 21,348
hectares, in 2013, according to the website, - 24,415 hectares. The
protected zone is 46,061 ha.
The largest rivers of the
reserve: Tudovka, Zhukopa and Tyudma - flow into the Volga. The
Mezha River belongs to the basin of the Western Dvina. The
hydrological regime of the reserve is significantly influenced by
raised bogs, especially the largest ones - Katin moss and
Staroselsky moss.
The reserve includes a part of the ancient
Okovsky forest, mentioned in the "Tale of Bygone Years" as the
geographical center of Russia.
On the
territory of the reserve, 240 species of birds are registered, about
546 species of higher vascular plants are found, there are 56
species of mammals, 5 species of reptiles, as well as 6 species of
amphibians, 212 species of birds, 18 species of fish.
The
natural complex of the reserve is typical for the southern taiga
subzone and is the standard of the primary biogeocenotic cover of
the vast area of moraine relief in the central part of the Russian
Plain. Here, the only complex of southern-taiga spruce forests in
Europe, not affected by felling, has been preserved. In the
structure of the vegetation cover, it occupies a dominant position
(47% of the area). In complex spruce forests, spread out on
well-drained hills and have never been logged, there are huge
spruces reaching forty meters in height. The second tier contains
linden, elm, ash, oak. The largest areas are occupied by green moss
spruce forests, along river and stream valleys - by tamed spruce
forests. About 40% of the forest area is occupied by birch and aspen
forests, which have arisen as a result of falls and fires. Pine
forests grow on 10% of the reserve and are represented by swampy
communities with low-productive forest stands. Black alder forests
(1–2%) are located in the valleys of rivers and streams. About a
fifth of the reserve is occupied by sphagnum bogs, the largest of
which, Katin moss, has an area of almost three thousand hectares.
Raised sphagnum bogs occupy about 4% of the reserve area. The forest
area of the reserve is characterized by large areas of windblown
areas caused by hurricanes. The most severe tree falls were caused
by the 1987 hurricane.
The vegetation cover of the territory
changed depending on changes in natural conditions. After the
retreat of the glacier, the phases of forest vegetation successively
replaced each other. At the beginning of the interglacial period,
polydominant broad-leaved forests enter the territory, which became
widespread during the optimum. At the end of the interglacial and
the beginning of the Valdai glaciation (80-10 thousand years ago),
the following changes took place: birch-pine forests with the
participation of spruce, birch forests and light forests,
forest-tundra landscapes of the periglacial type. After the retreat
of the Valdai glacier in the boreal period of the Holocene, pine and
birch forests with the participation of spruce prevailed on the
territory of the reserve. Herbaceous phytocenoses have arisen along
the shores of post-glacial reservoirs. By the end of the period,
broadleaf breeds had spread. In the Atlantic period deciduous
forests became widespread. For the diagrams of the CLGBZ on
spore-pollen analysis, a characteristic feature is the high role of
spruce forests in the composition of vegetation.
Since the
middle of the Sub-Atlantic period, the role of birch in the
composition of vegetation has increased. In the Subatlantic period,
secondary birch forests are widespread.
In the scheme of
botanical-geographical zoning of Russia, the territory of the
reserve belongs to the zone of coniferous-deciduous forests. But the
nature of the relief, with a weak permeability of the parent rocks
and periodically excessive atmospheric moisture, along with other
factors, contribute to the fact that the territory of the reserve is
dominated not by zonal coniferous-deciduous forests, but by spruce
forests of the southern taiga type in combination with
coniferous-deciduous forests and fragments broadleaf forests.
Sphagnum and shrub pine forests (rosemary, blueberry, lingonberry)
grow on the raised bogs. The valleys of rivers and streams, as well
as the hollows of temporary streams, are occupied by forests of the
herb-swamp group of associations (spruce, horsetail-fern,
fern-meadow, black alder-meadow and etc).
The reserve is studying the structure, dynamics and productivity
of spruce and spruce-deciduous forests.
Shrews, mole, gray
and forest bank voles are common among small mammals; there are
yellow-throated and field mice, baby mouse. Of the larger rodents,
the common squirrel and the flying squirrel should be mentioned. The
water rat and two introduced species - muskrat and beaver - live in
reservoirs. Hare is common. Predators are numerous: pine marten,
dark polecat, otter, weasel, ermine, fox. The European mink,
apparently, remained clean in the reservoirs of the reserve, which
makes it a reserve for the settlement of this species, replaced by
the American mink. The Central Forest Reserve successfully “takes
care of” the brown bear and lynx, maintaining a high level of their
numbers, while they have disappeared or become very rare in its
vicinity. The talented gamekeeper and zoologist V.S.Pazhetnov
conducted in the reserve a cycle of brown bears, interesting in
terms of ecology and behavior. Perhaps he was the first to track the
tamed young bears right up to their lodging in dens and, having met
them after coming out of a long winter sleep, to restore full
contact with them. There are many elk among ungulates, a wild boar
comes in, sometimes a roe deer flashes.
The forests of the
reserve are densely populated with birds. The wood grouse, hazel
grouse, black grouse are numerous, in the swamps - the ptarmigan.
The gray crane nests. The forest birds of the passerine detachment
are teeming; there are daytime predators - golden eagle, peregrine
falcon, gyrfalcon, various owls live.
Soil cover
The
structure of the soil cover of the reserve is characterized by a
variety of soil combinations, confined to certain types of forests
and differing in the composition of their components. The soil cover
of the TsLGBZ is complex.
The complexity of the reserve's
soil cover is determined by the variegation and heterogeneity of
Quaternary sediments in terms of particle size distribution, the
presence of fragments of carbonate rocks, polynomiality, a variety
of mesorelief elements and, accordingly, a wide range of forest
types with a complex parcel structure. The structure of the soil
cover is significantly influenced by the wind-blowing phenomenon,
which leads to mixing of the upper soil horizons, their enrichment
with organic matter and the formation of a specific microrelief.
In accordance with the Classification and Diagnostics of Soils
of the USSR in 1977, soils belonging to six soil types are found on
the territory of the TsLGBZ: bog-podzolic, podzolic (including
sod-podzolic), burozems, sod-gley, alluvial and bog soils. In the
western part of the reserve, there are bog and peat soils of various
thicknesses (mainly high), peaty-gray-weak and medium-podzolic
surface and ground gley, peaty gray podzolic flowing humus ground
gley, humus and peat-ground gley.
Sod-gley and alluvial soils
are confined to the elements of the hydrographic network, occupying
a generally small area. Swamp-podzolic and podzolic soils on the
territory of the reserve occupy 22.2 and 28.5%, respectively,
sod-podzolic soils occupy 32.1%, bog soils occupy about 13.1%,
sod-gley soils, burozems and alluvial soils occupy the amount of
3.2%.
The relief in this area is one of the main factors in
the differentiation of the soil cover. White-podzolic soils are
formed on flat watershed surfaces under conditions of difficult
drainage under boreal spruce forests (sphagnum-bilberry,
blueberry-sphagnum and sphagnum spruce forests ).These soils
experience periodic waterlogging, which leads to the formation of a
thick horizon of peat litter and the development of recovery
processes. The profile formula is as follows: T-H-Eih-E-Ecn-IIBD.
Under conditions of greater moisture and local swamping, under
sphagnum, horsetail-sphagnum and bilberry-sphagnum spruce forests,
bog-podzolic soils are formed (peaty, peat-podzol-gley).