Where is the Lapland Reserve. Lapland Biosphere Reserve

Have you ever heard of the fabulous Lapland? Of course! However, not everyone knows about the existence of the Lapland Reserve. What is he famous for? How is it arranged? In this article we will try to answer these and many other questions related to this amazing place.

First, find out where the Lapland Reserve is located. It is located in the north, in the Murmansk region. He is almost 100 years old, and besides the residence of this Santa Claus there is a lot of interesting for both ordinary tourists and scientists. The territory of the reserve is amazing by its size - it exceeds 278,435 hectares, 8,574 of which is occupied by the water area of lakes and rivers. Because of this size, the Lapland Reserve is one of the largest in Europe.

History

This protected area was created by the decision of the Leningrad Oblast Executive Committee in January 1930. At that time, the territory of the Kola Peninsula belonged to the executive committee of the Leningrad Region. For 20 years the reserve was a reindeer herding land, but was closed for an indefinite period in 1951. Fortunately, this situation was resolved relatively quickly, in five years the reserve Laplandsky was again opened, registered, and received the status of the state.

It should be noted that the boundaries of the "Lapland" periodically changed, and often in the direction of decreasing. This is due to the development of minerals in the second half of the last century in the areas of Monchetundra. Despite this, in 1983 the reserve was joined by a very impressive territory in its western part (129 577 hectares). It was equated to almost 100% of the original area. This land was allocated by the state "Lapland" as compensation for the lands that were rendered unusable by the Severonickel plant's waste in the eastern part of the reserve.

In mid-February 1985, the Lapland State Biosphere Reserve was taken under the protection of UNESCO as a biosphere reserve. Ten years later (1995) the project "Fairy Lapland" was launched. Since that time the reserve has become not only a research and ecological, but also a cultural value.

Lapland State Nature Biosphere Reserve - landscape

During the Valdai glaciation, the Kolsky Peninsula covered the same ice sheet that today covers Greenland. It disappeared 10,000 years ago, while leaving in the lowlands powerful ridges of moraine and glacier-smoothed powerful rock outcrops, which are called "ram's foreheads." After the glaciation, there are practically no sedimentary rocks. They are replaced by naked layers of Archaean age, mostly gneisses.

After the melting of glaciers, the vast territories of the Kola Peninsula did not remain empty for long. In the beginning, winds and birds brought here spores of lichens and mosses, seeds of grasses. Plants contributed to the slow destruction of the stone form of the Kola Peninsula and the formation of a layer of soil. Rather quickly sterile land was inhabited by invertebrates, who contributed to the change in the landscape.

Then the forests and tundra began to form, eventually taking on the present appearance.

Rivers and streams

The Lapland Reserve (Monchegorsk) is represented by widespread species of animals and plants in the north of Eurasia. Because of the previous glaciation for this land, as, indeed, for the whole of Scandinavia, there is a complete absence of endemics.

Ecosystems of Lapland have been created quite recently, so the process of introducing from the outside various new species of animals and plants continues to this day. The species diversity of fauna and flora is constantly changing, it is relatively small.

The Lapland Reserve is full of high-water rivers and fast mountain streams. In some areas they are calm, they have steep banks. On other sites they are rapids, in high water with white breakers.

There are a lot of small and large lakes in the reserve, with stone, and sometimes with sandy or soggy sands. On the river valleys stretch the bogs. The slopes of the mountains are covered with shady spruce-greenstones. Wide valleys with flowing streams, which are fringed by a narrow ribbon of tender birches, alternate with huge deposits of stones, which cover with bright spots a multi-colored lichen.

The largest lake is Imandra, an area of 880 km ² . It has more than 150 islands. The largest rivers are Strelna, Varzuga, Umba.

Tundra

Lapland Reserve (Murmansk region) is characterized by vegetation, which is determined by its geographical location - 120 km north of the Arctic Circle - and mountain landscape. After the melting of ice, the surface of the soil was inhabited by lichens and mosses. In the harsh conditions of the mountain tundra, mountain larvae are popular - a favorite delicacy of reindeer. In some areas, they are replaced by carpets of shrubs, crowberry, blueberry, cowberry, bearberry. They are adjacent to shrubs of rhododendron and partridge grass (Dryad).

In some areas there are rosette or pillow-shaped rock formations, linnea low, oatmeal, dwarf birch. In the flowering period, these places are unusually beautiful.

Polar Taiga

One of the main assets of the Lapland Reserve is the forest patches growing on these lands from 3 to 10 thousand years. The average age of trees growing here is 300 years. Some samples reach a height of 15 meters. The active development of the Arctic taiga is associated with a fairly mild climate and a complete absence of permafrost in the subsoil layer.

In winter, the soil is well protected by the snow cover, and therefore does not freeze too much. The trees grow slowly, but reach a very impressive size, completely not resembling the woods of the forest-tundra of Siberia.

Local pine has short needles, which lasts not three years, but about seven years. In recent years, this breed was recognized as a separate form - the pine of Freese.

The spruce habitual for us is replaced in the reserve by the Siberian spruce with typical small cones characteristic for this species.

Subarctic and warty birches grow both in spruce forests and in bogs. The rare-growth undergrowth consists of mountain ash, Siberian juniper, goat willow and other species of willows.

Evergreen shrubs are widely distributed in the ground vegetation layer of the reserve: cranberry, cowberry, linenea, bilberry, several kinds of wintergreen. There are a lot of evergreen herbaceous plants - an anthropoidaceae, a meadow.

The mossy stage is abundantly expressed. In pine forests, mosses, as a rule, are combined with lichen cladonia (alpine, deer and soft). The upper boundary of the forest is marked at an altitude of 380 m.

Animals of the Lapland Reserve

The nature of this picturesque place can not be called primeval. Over the centuries, the Saami have successfully engaged in reindeer herding and, accordingly, exterminated predators.

By the beginning of the last century, there were very few reindeer and large predators in Lapland.

Reindeer

In the west of the Kola Peninsula at that time only about a hundred deer heads survived.

It was necessary to take urgent measures to protect these animals, so in 1930 the Lapland Reserve was organized. Soon the security measures gave the first positive results.

Today, the territory of the reserve is inhabited by more than a thousand individuals. The deer are preferred by white-fronted pine forests and mountain-tundra landscape. Lapland State Reserve is rich in their favorite food - yagel. Thanks to the many-year guarding activity of the reserve's employees, wild deer have spread throughout the peninsula, most of all in the mountainous-wooded western part.

At the beginning of the 20th century, beavers and moose returned to the Lapland Biosphere Reserve after a long absence. Interestingly, moose came to these places from the south and south-west themselves, and beavers were specially brought from the reserve of the city of Voronezh. So far, both species are few.

Predators

The Lapland Natural Biosphere Reserve has large predators on its territory. The most common brown bear. Wolverines, wolves and lynxes are few here. There are also foxes, but their numbers are extremely small. Weasel, wood marten, ermine meet quite often. Snow winters are quite comfortable for the life of voles and lemmings.

Birds

It is impossible to tell in detail about all the birds that inhabit the Lapland Reserve. Therefore today we will limit ourselves only to those species that in this reserve have an important conservation value.

At the nesting and migration there are 20 species of waterfowl. It should be noted a small goose-whimper. Recently, this species rapidly disappears almost from the entire range of the range. Unlike other northern geese, Lesser White-fronted Goose nests along the banks of mountain streams and streams.

First place by value in the reserve is occupied by grouse grouse, grouse, grouse, tundra and white partridge. The last species lives in the mountain tundra, the rest live in the forest.

Such predatory and rare birds as the osprey, golden eagle, gyrfalcon, white-tailed eagle, in the reserve feel quite comfortable.

Owls

I would like to talk more about these representatives of birds. It is difficult to find on Earth another such place as the Lapland State Biosphere Reserve, where a fairly large but limited area would have been inhabited by eight species of owls.

The most common species is a small hawk-owl. She is a representative of an indigenous species of northern forests. Its coloring of the plumage is harmoniously combined with the background created by the northern birch forests.

Her "sister" - bearded owl - is the largest owl of boreal forests, but it is rare. She prefers to settle in forests alternating with open spaces, for example, with sphagnum swamps.

A meadow-legged and passerine owl is the smallest owl in Russia. She chooses to live thickened spruce and spruce-birch forests.

Swamp owls, long-tailed owl and eagle owl are the largest in the world fauna. A few, but quite typical for the Lapland Reserve are white, or polar owls.

Due to the fact that there are bright nights in the Arctic, owls are forced to fly out hunting in daylight. The season of white nights is long - a hundred days (from early May to the second half of August). During this time, the owls need to grow and feed the chicks. Therefore, to see a flying owl in the daytime is easy in the reserve.

Often you can observe in the protected areas a marsh owl. She slowly circumnavigates open spaces, looking for prey. Like most owls, her ear is the most important sense organ, although her vision can not be called weak.

In the sunlight in the forest you can see a hawk owl. Two kinds of owls behave rather secretly, they can only be met by chance. They arrange their "storerooms" in the hollows of trees. Here they bring to storage carcass of mouse-like rodents, sometimes small birds.

Even more difficult to meet an owl and long-tailed owl. They are born hunters. In addition to small rodents, which form the basis of their diet, they do not mind eating different birds and mammals. Owl catches hazel grouses and squirrels, will not miss the chance and will overcome the ermine.

A large eagle owl in the Lapland Reserve often hunts grouse, hares and wood grouses. There are cases when he successfully hunts martens. True, at a miss, he himself can become a victim.

Owls, thanks to the auditory location, are able to catch rodents under a thick layer of snow, so almost all species except the marsh owl are sedentary.

Scientific activity

The main direction of the scientific activity of the Lapland Reserve is to maintain and increase the population of wild reindeer throughout the Kola Peninsula. In addition, the task of the staff is to constantly monitor and study the influence of industrial enterprises located near the reserve on the environment and ecology. A variety of flora and fauna attracts not only local staff, there are often scientists from abroad.

The study of the conditions of life and habits of wild deer began in 1929, before the opening of the reserve. The first record of these animals was spent by M. Krepe on mountain wintering.

Excursions

The Lapland Reserve is a picturesque place. In addition to magnificent mountain landscapes, centuries-old forests and wild animals, you can get acquainted with the cultural heritage of the Saami, and in winter visit to the Father Frost's theater.

Visits to the reserve are possible only by prior arrangement with the administration. To organize the excursion, it is necessary to use the contact details indicated on the site of the reserve.