Galichya Gora Nature Reserve - a state reserve in
the center of the North-Don relic botanical district. It is a
monument of nature, botanical phenomenon located on the Central
Russian Upland in the Lipetsk region. It also hosts a large regional
research center. It has six plots-clusters, representing the most
valuable natural objects of the upper Don located to the west of
Zadonsk. Galichya Gora Nature Reserve of the smallest reserves in
the world. It is managed by the Voronezh State University of the
Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.
The main object of protection in the Galichya Gora Nature Reserve is
a unique flora, characteristic forest-steppe communities and groups
of petrophytes on outcrops of Devonian limestone. The reserve is
known for its unusually rich vegetation and unique fauna. Rocks,
lindens, feather-grass and sedge steppes, upland birch forests and
oak forests, which are part of the reserve, form variegated
vegetative groups and are the standards of nature in this region of
central Russia.
The section of the right bank of the Don valley is about 2 km long
from north to south and 200 to 300 m wide from the water edge to the
boundary fence on the plateau. Spectacular massive limestone rocks,
sometimes of bizarre shapes. Karst is manifested in the formation of
small caves, rocks, narrow cracks and funnels.
20 km north of
Zadonsk, on the bend of the Don, there are two reserved tracts. The
right slope of the Don valley, abruptly breaking off to the river with a
fifty-meter ledge, has long been called Galichya Gora. It was commanded
in 1925, its area is 19 hectares.
The main attraction of this
tract is the Devonian limestone rocks, which have become a refuge for
rare plants. Among them are the Shiverekia Podolsk, the walled
kostenets, the young Russian, the Don cinquefoil, the squat skullcap,
the two-eared ephedra, the Siberian source, Gmelin's beetroot. In total,
the flora of the Galichya Mountain contains 650 plant species.
Morozova mountain
Morozova Gora - opposite from Galichya, the left
bank of the valley stretching from north to south for 3 km. Its maximum
width is up to 600 m in the north, where the plateau passes into a
forested slope and then into a floodplain. To the south, the floodplain
narrows rapidly, the slope becomes steeper and descends to the water
itself. The rocks are exposed only in a few places and in some places
they come to the day surface along forested ravines - the valley's
openings.
In the Morozova Gora tract, there is a reserve estate
with administrative and residential buildings, a museum of nature, and
collection sites. There is also a nursery of birds of prey, whose tasks
include the breeding and reintroduction of the saker falcon, pygmy eagle
and other endangered species.
Morozova Gora - a plot of 100
hectares; was commanded in 1941. The gentle slopes of Morozova Gora are
covered with oak forests and birch forests, which, in steeper areas,
turn into light forests with a mosaic of shrubs and steppe glades. The
near-valley plateau is occupied by forb-feather grass steppes and
fallows with recovering meadow-steppe communities. There are 609 species
of plants in the flora of Morozova Gora. The low-sedge petrophilic
steppes of this area are unique, saturated with many rare and relict
plant species: Alaunian cotoneaster, Don cinquefoil, pinnate feather
grass, Russian hazel grouse, lily locust. On the collection sites of
Morozova Gora, you can see the rarest plants of the Central Black Earth
Region - Cretaceous pine, Yulia and Sophia's wolfberries, low birch,
netted crocus, Russian brandushka, Bieberstein's tulip.
Vorgol
rocks
The Vorgol rocks are located 10 kilometers from Yelets in the
lower reaches of a small tributary of the Bystraya Sosna Vorgol, there
are two sections of the reserve that are interesting in botanical and
landscape terms. One of them - "Voronov Kamen" with an area of 9.5
hectares was reserved in 1963, the other - "Vorgolskoe" with an area of
31 hectares - in 1969. The Vorgol rocks are two stone massifs: the
Zvonari massif and the Smoked Stone massif.
Both of these sites
are located in a narrow, incised to a depth of 60 m canyon-like valley.
Sheer cliffs alternately frame either the left or the right root slope,
forming grandiose outcrops on the bends of the river. Due to its
mountainous appearance, uncharacteristic for the Russian Plain, since
the Dnieper glaciation, the Vorgola valley has become a refuge for a
number of rare plant species, more characteristic of the Alps and the
Caucasus.
The accumulation of mountain ferns (hairy and parietal
ossicles, Robert's shield), high floristic diversity (457 species of
higher plants are known), the presence of rare species (Shiverekia
Podolsk, fluffy currant, bluegrass drawn, limestone thyme, Alaunian
cotoneaster) determined the special value of these tracts and the taking
them under guard.
Raven stone
Located 12 km from the city of
Yelets, on the right bank of the Vorgol, about 100 meters from the
Vorgol rocks. However, Voronov stone is allocated to a separate cluster
of the reserve. The river valley has a failed canyon-like character.
Huge picturesque limestone cliffs under the local name "kichi" protrude
along both banks. Bizarre caves, limestone crevices.
The crevices
here are up to 10 m long and up to 1 m wide. From the top of the stone,
a view of the bend of the Vorgol River opens up.
The main
difference between the Voronovaya rock and the Vorgolsky ones is its
karst funnels and crevices, the entrances to which are covered with
limestone stones. From top to bottom, the limestone massif itself is
dissected by a gorge, at the bottom of which there is an entrance to a
small and narrow karst cave with two entrances. The second entrance is
rather a dip, narrow and unsafe. This is a fairly well-known and popular
place to spend the night. The second cave is a long narrow hole, after
which a large underground hall opens.
plushshan
Plyushchan is an original forest tract on the right bank
of the Don with a total area of 200 hectares. Cutting through the tract
in a southeast direction, Plushchanka originates from five large and
many small springs flowing from under a slope with a mountain birch
forest and an oak forest. Winding in zigzags along the tract, it washes
away the native banks with rubble limestone and rock outcrops, giving
the landscape a picturesque look. The “low-alpine” vegetation groups on
the banks of Plushchanka are important for understanding the history of
vegetation not only in this tract, but also in Central Russia as a
whole.
Known for its collection of relic plants of the mountain
forests of Europe: wolf fighter, broad-leaved smooth, deer mustard,
blunt sedge.
Thirty-five kilometers north of Galichya Mountain,
the elevated right bank of the Don is deeply dissected by a winding
canyon-like valley of the small Plushchanka River. Starting from a dozen
powerful springs, it almost immediately hides under the canopy of a vast
forest area in order to bring its crystal-clear and always icy water to
the Don in a few kilometers. A part of this forest area is occupied by
the protected tract Pluschan. It has been guarded since 1969.
Plyushchan is mostly a forest tract. The steep slopes of the Don and
Plushchanka valleys, the gentle valley plateaus are covered with oak
forests with a significant participation of birch and linden, with a
well-developed undergrowth of hazel, euonymus, and buckthorn.
On
a narrow steep slope between the ice-breaking strip and the forest
descending from above, a unique “chrysanthemum meadow” is stretched out,
representing, according to S.V. Golitsyn, “a corner of the Altai
mountain meadow with many Siberian plants, as if by some miracle brought
to us in Central Russia.” Among them are the dendranthem (chrysanthemum)
of Zavadsky, the three-part core, the Altai bell, the Siberian source,
Litvinov's clover. In total, 716 species of plants were noted in the
flora of the tract.
The slopes of the southern exposure have a
steppe appearance. Among the thickets of thorns and steppe cherries grow
feathery and beautiful feather grass, silky and broad-leaved wormwood,
and squat skullcap.
To the north-east of Galichya Mountain, 10 km from Plushchan, Bykova
Sheya is located. This tract occupies a sharp bend in the vast valley of
the dry river Dry Lubna. Its area is 31 hectares, it was commanded in
1963.
Bykova Sheya is a steppe area in the 30-kilometer
Dubninskaya gully. Its slopes are treeless, only tiny patches of birch
forests and pine plantations of recent years stand out as green spots
against the background of virgin feather grass steppes. Gentle slopes
with a steepness of up to 5-10° are covered with an onosmo-feather-grass
carpet with a mass of colorful flowering species. The ruggedness of the
relief with ravines, gullies and the loop-like nature of the gully
itself create a complex geomorphology of the site and a special
ecological situation.
Bykova Sheya is the most characteristic and
well-preserved steppe area, in which many relict plants are collected:
650 plant species, of which 30 are rare and relict. All of them are
characteristic of the more southern regions of Russia and have been
preserved on Bykovaya Sheya since the dry xerothermic epoch of the
ancient Holocene. These are onosma protozoa, ephedra two-eared,
fluffy-flowered astragalus, desert sheep, sun-loving evening, shrubs
cotoneaster Alaun and wild rose Kuyman and many others.
The inclusion of new tracts in the reserve, such as Lipovskaya Gora, Sokolskaya Gora, Argamach-Palna, Krutoye, Korytnya, Voronets, the expansion of the reserved area on Plyushchan and along Vorgol will reduce the gap between protected areas to 10-15 km, increase the possibility of interpopulation exchange, will give greater stability to ecosystems and increase their ability to self-regulate.
In 1573, by order of Ivan the Terrible on February 16, a guard post
was erected in the tract of Galichya Gora, which was part of the unified
system of defensive fortifications of Russia.
On June 15, 1882,
professors of Moscow University V. Ya. Tsinger and D. I. Litvinov
conducted the first one-day phenological study of the Galichya Gora
tract. They discovered 17 rare and uncharacteristic plant species for
the Russian Plain. The publication of the study of the tract caused a
sensation in the scientific world. For the first time in Western Russia,
numerous mountain-alpine and mountain-steppe plant species were
discovered, distributed only in the mountainous regions of the Caucasus,
Altai and the Alps, that is, species of completely different natural
zones.
After the first publication about the tract, Russian
botanists began to come here. The phenomenon was studied by scientists
S. I. Rostovtsev, S. G. Navashin, D. N. Anuchin, N. V. Tsinger, A. F.
Flerov, B. M. Kozo-Polyansky, L. G. Ramensky, N. S. Kamyshev, N. P.
Vinogradov, S. V. Golitsyn, P. A. Smirnov, A. K. Skvortsov, F. N.
Milkov, K. V. Skuf’in and others. Of particular value are the works of
V. N. Khitrovo, who gave the first detailed description of Galichya Gora
and compiled a guide to it.
In 1923, in the northern section of
the tract, the railway organization and local residents began to develop
a quarry for the extraction of limestone. The unique nature on the banks
of the Don is under threat. Thanks to the efforts of V. N. Khitrovo, the
head of the Yelets Museum of Local Lore A. A. Kirillov and the
intervention of the Oryol Provincial Executive Committee, Galichya Gora
was saved, and the development of the quarry was stopped. On January 14,
1925, the Scientific Committee for the Protection of Nature of the
Glavnauka of the People's Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR
"decided to recognize Galichya Gora as a botanical natural monument and
proposed to withdraw its territory from economic use." The decision
about this was sent to Khitrovo, but there was no money for the
organization of the reserve.
Realizing that the status of a
“botanical monument” does not guarantee real protection for the tract,
Khitrovo continued its activities to save Galichya Gora. He
substantiated the need to organize a reserve for "real protection and
protection" of a natural monument. In February 1925, Khitrovo re-wrote a
letter to the Glavnauka of the People's Commissariat of Education and
sent a copy of his "Guide to Galichya Gora" there. On April 8, 1925, by
a secondary decision of the scientific committee for the protection of
the Galichya Gora tract, the Galichya Gora tract was declared a reserve.
The scientific management of the Galichya Gora reserve was entrusted to
Vladimir Nikolaevich Khitrovo, which he carried out until 1930.
On April 25, 1925, due to the vulnerability of the unique natural
complexes of Galichya Gora, located on a small territory, a state
reserve was created. From 1925 to 1936, the reserve was subordinate to
the Yelets Museum of Local Lore. It was the first nature reserve in the
Central Black Earth Region and the seventh in Russia. The created
council for the study and protection of the reserve carried out the
first organizational work: approved the estimate, organized constant
protection, and carried out a geodetic survey of the tract.
On
April 7, 1936, the reserve was transferred to the Voronezh State
University. From that moment began a period of active study of the flora
and fauna of the reserve. Botanists S. V. Golitsyn, N. P. Vinogradov, N.
S. Kamyshev begin research under the guidance of Professor B. M.
Kozo-Polyansky. Zoologists, landscape scientists, hydrologists begin
their work. Particular attention is paid to the problem of relics and
the search for tracts with reduced alpine vegetation. Many years of work
ended with the discovery and detailed description of the North-Don relic
botanical region.
On May 5, 1941, 77 hectares of the Morozova
Gora tract, located on the opposite bank of the Don from Galichya Gora,
were declared protected.
The outbreak of the war stopped
scientific research, and the reserve itself, being in the front line,
was severely damaged - oak forests were cut down, trench lines
disfigured the steppe slopes, and almost all collections perished.
In 1951, the Galichya Gora nature reserve was liquidated, and an
agrobiological station of the Voronezh University was organized on its
basis.
In 1963, the agro-biological station received under
protection the natural boundary Bykov neck (30.8 ha) and Voronov stone
(11.4 ha).
In 1966, the territory of the station was increased by
23 hectares due to the floodplain meadow on the left bank of the Don,
under Morozova Gora, which was used mainly for agricultural experiments.
Thus, 100 hectares were already under protection in the Morozova Gora
tract.
In 1969, the agro-bio station received under protection
the tract Pluschan (39.5 ha) and Vorgolskoe (30.1 ha). A great merit in
organizing the protection of new sites belongs to the former directors
of the agrobio station N.P. Vinogradov and S.V. Golitsyn.
In
1969, Galichya Gora, including all new tracts, was again declared a
state reserve by a decree of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR of
September 13, 1969 and subordinated to Voronezh University.
In
1990, a nursery for rare species of birds of prey was created on the
basis of the Morozova Gora tract.
In the reserve in 1990, a nursery of rare species of birds of prey,
listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation, was created. The
nursery was conceived and created by the current head Petr Ivanovich
Dudin. The main goal of his organization is to restore endangered
populations of these birds. Currently, the nursery contains saker
falcons, peregrine falcons, imperial eagles, golden eagles and some
other birds of prey.
Using modern scientific breeding methods,
the staff of the nursery manages to get 2-3 times more chicks from each
pair than in natural conditions. Reared young falcons are released
annually to their historical habitats. In conditions of insufficient
funding, about 15-20 birds are released annually.
Another no less
important direction in the development of the nursery is the activity of
employees to revive the forgotten traditions of Russian falconry.
At the beginning of the XXI century, the reserve is a major regional
research center focused on the implementation of environmental and
environmental work in the Lipetsk and adjacent regions.
The
scientific department of the reserve includes:
4 laboratories
(flora and vegetation, mycology, entomology, vertebrate zoology);
the
largest stock collections in the region are the herbarium of the Central
Russian Upland (35,628 herbarium sheets of 1,788 species of higher
plants), mycological herbarium (3,600 specimens) and the stock
collection of invertebrates (232,723 specimens of 3,960 species);
scientific library, meteorological post, museum, photo laboratory.
The staff of the scientific department includes 9 researchers and 9
laboratory assistants. Employees are highly qualified specialists in the
field of ecology, botany, zoology.
Scientific research is carried
out on the following topics:
"Chronicle of Nature", which aims to
collect annual monitoring data on the state of the natural complex of
the reserve and its surrounding territories; the topic has been
conducted since 1975;
"Scientific foundations and methods for
preserving the diversity of ecosystems and landscapes of specially
protected natural areas of the Upper Don"
The reserve is an important center for environmental education. It is
visited by many tourists every year, it serves as a base for educational
and industrial practice for students of Voronezh State University and
other universities of Russia. On the territory of the estate of the
reserve there is a children's field ecological camp.
One of the
most important activities of the reserve is environmental education of
the population, carried out in the following forms:
Excursion
activities - during the summer season of 1999, the reserve "Galichya
Gora" was visited by 4963 tourists. Excursions are conducted along a
specially prepared ecological trail with a visit to the museum, an
alpine hill and aviaries with birds of prey.
Summer ecological camps
for young researchers of nature - in June - July 1998-1999, employees of
the reserve, with the support of the Committee for Environmental
Protection of Lipetsk, conducted special field classes on ecology and
nature protection for more than 200 Lipetsk schoolchildren.
The
“March of Parks” is held annually in the reserve - literary competitions
“The World of Reserved Nature”, exhibitions of children's drawings,
meetings in the regional scientific library, ecological “landing
parties” are organized.
Working with the media. The employees of the
reserve are members of the editorial board of the regional children's
ecological newspaper "Syroezhka", the authors of numerous publications
in the regional and central press.
Participation in the shooting of
popular science films and the publication of teaching aids. In recent
years, a number of popular science educational videos have been shot
(Galichya Gora Nature Reserve, Mushrooms, their use and protection,
Poisonous and medicinal plants of the Lipetsk region), dozens of
environmental stories have been prepared for regional and regional
television and radio companies, methodological manuals for teachers.
Participation of researchers in conducting training seminars for the
leaders of the Yunnat stations and teachers of biology in the Lipetsk
region, regional gatherings of young ecologists.