The historical and present-day forest amelioration in the Northern Pre-Caspian Region

Abstract

The sandy lands of the Northern Caspian Sea region are a vulnerable natural landscape. Intensification of anthropogenic pressure leads to the soil cover degradation. The first mass plantations in the Caspian lowland began in the mid-19th century. However, due to the lack of knowledge about the reclamation conditions the results were unsatisfactory. Progress was made only at the end of the 19th century. In some parts of the sands (Tugai-Khuduk) individual trees have survived up to the present day. The work of forest-meliorators in the Soviet period fixed more than 200 thousand hectares of sands in the region, and also to create more than 50 thousand hectares of deflation-resistant shrub pastures. Forest is an azonal form of vegetation for this area. Based on the data obtained on water consumption by trees and shrubs, we gave an assessment of grazing protective forest strips, tree “umbrellas”, farm and reclamation forage plantations, conservation forest bioregions, boundary forest strips and sand-fortified plantations. They perform various functions. Unvegetated sands have the ability to store a freshwater lens that is no longer fed at the overgrown areas due to evaporation and transpiration costs. One hectare of open sands in the Caspian Sea can accumulate 1000-1500 m3 of water per year. The whole complex of forest-reclamation plantations on pastures in Astrakhan region occupies an area of 151 thousand hectares. Financially supported reforestation programs should be adopted at regional and possibly federal level, due to the importance of planting in many spheres of life in the area.