Volga-Akhtuba floodplain (nature park)

The unique value of the floodplain is wetlands and key ornithological territories of international importance (bird nesting and resting places, water meadows with maximum productivity, spawning grounds, fertile floodplain lands.)

For the Volgograd region, the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain plays the role of a regulator of atmospheric air composition in the cities of Volgograd and Volzhsky . According to the totality of indicators, ecological systems of the floodplain are assigned to the first category of international significance. In recent decades, the ecological balance established in the floodplain over the centuries has been disrupted.

The territory of the Park and its buffer zone include objects of historical and cultural heritage of numerous peoples at the historic crossroads of civilizations. The organization of the Park is caused by the need to legislatively ensure the preservation of the unique natural, historical and cultural complexes of the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain.

On the territory of the Natural Park is located the state hunting reserve "Leshchevsky" of regional importance, having its own administration.

Subject to protection and reproduction on the territory of the Park :

• natural ecological systems
• atmospheric air
• surface and groundwater,
• the earth and its bowels,
• forest and other vegetation,
• animal world,
• genetic fund.

In the fall of 2013 , by order of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation, research was organized in the floodplain ^[2] . The final stage should be the development of the concept of rational use of water resources of the Lower Volga and the preservation of the unique system of the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain, which is planned to be created by 2015 . The studies were carried out with the help of an airship in the bow of which an opto-electronic fork system was installed, which allows one to detect, photograph, and determine the characteristics of objects several kilometers from the airship . With the help of airborne laser scanners, the vessel could conduct three-dimensional surveys, according to the results of which it is planned to create a digital model of the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain. At the same time, ground-based studies were carried out, as well as satellite imagery and analysis of the work that had already been done by scientists in order to combine all the disparate facts about the quantity and quality of floodplain resources, about its current state and the specific changes that have occurred since the construction of the Volga Hydroelectric Power Station ^{[ 3]} .

There are objects of historical and archaeological significance in the park:

• Burials of the Bronze Age in the region of the Turtle Farm.
• Volgograd debarkader

Calculation of the recreational needs of the agglomeration (large cities) in the recreation area is based on known data: up to 600 thousand people can take advantage of recreation in the suburban area within the agglomeration. Given the dispersal of vacationers throughout the suburbs, the floodplain will have about 1/2 of the load, that is, the need for accommodation will be up to 300 thousand people. (excluding residents of Krasnoslobodsk, Central Akhtuba, Leninsk).

The Volga-Akhtuba floodplain is located in the Volga river basin in the territory of the Sredneahtubinsk , Leninsky and Svetloyarsky districts of the Volgograd region .

On the one hand, the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain is limited by the Volga River , on the other - Akhtuba .

The floodplain stretches in a strip several tens of kilometers wide. From all sides it is surrounded by steppes.

The floodplain carries out the most important biospheric functions of a planetary scale. The unique value of the floodplain is wetlands and key ornithological territories of international importance.

Also, the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain serves as a regulator of the composition of atmospheric air in the cities of Volgograd and Volzhsky . According to the totality of indicators, ecological systems of the floodplain are assigned to the first category of international significance.

The Volga-Akhtuba floodplain is a very young post-Pleistocene formation, which formed over the course of 7-8 thousand years on the site of a deep estuary. The absolute elevations of the surface of the valleys range from −5 m in the north to −8, −9 m in the south. The Volga-Akhtuba floodplain is composed of a thick stratum (25-40 m) of modern alluvial deposits represented by sand.

Minimum height: 11.6 m below sea level. Maximum height: 1.5 m above sea level.

Type of relief - accumulative-floodplain mane-hollow. Subtypes:

• maned, highly dissected riverine floodplain, 30%
• flat (flat) inner floodplain, 70%.

The climate in the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain is quite mild, humid, more even than in the steppe, with less temperature fluctuations.

Every year there is a strong flood .

There are less rains in the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain, but less dry days. However, in general, summers are quite hot, in some years the temperature reaches 40 ° C. By the abundance of light, the number of clear days, the intensity of solar radiation at the earth's surface, the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain is not much inferior to the subtropics of the Crimea, which makes it possible to grow some heat-loving crops (for example, grapes, corn, etc.).

According to the classification of B. P. Alisov, the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain belongs to the continental East European climatic region, which can be characterized as moderately dry and very warm, with a total solar radiation of 115-120 kcal / sq. cm year, with the sum of active temperatures above 10 ° C 3200-3400.

The average monthly t of July is +24.7 ° C, the average monthly t of February is 8.8 ° C. The average annual rainfall is 259.4 mm (weather station p. Hospitalnik). The prevailing winds are southeast. The most dangerous climatic events: periodically recurring water deficiency in arid dry years (2-3 in a five-year period).

On average, the annual duration of sunshine in the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain is 2,250-2,265 hours. The annual amplitude of air temperature reaches 33-35 °, the amount of precipitation is not much more than 300 mm with an evaporation rate exceeding 800 mm.

Summer in the floodplain is hot, due to the prevalence of stable anticyclonal weather in the Lower Volga region . The maximum temperatures in some years reach 40 ° C. The cold period lasts from mid-November to the end of March (it is limited by the dates of the average daily temperature passing through 0 ° in autumn and spring), but real winter with the establishment of stable snow cover begins in mid-December.

At an average temperature of the coldest month equal to approximately −9 ° C, in some winters with a supply of about 20%, frosts can reach -25 ° ... -30 ° C. In winter, the amount of cloudiness increases, especially in December, more than half of the days in which there is no sun. By early spring, the number of clear days is increasing sharply.

The annual amount of precipitation in the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain is 310-320 mm, which is a typical indicator for the dry steppe-semi-desert zone. However, due to more intensive evaporation, the relative humidity in the floodplain in the warm season is 10-12% higher than the surrounding steppe spaces.

Brown desert - steppe meadow and forest-meadow type, smolnitsa, merged soils are dark-colored and red-colored. Alluvial and meadow saturated (55%), alluvial meadow saturated in combination with meadow solonetzes (13%), alluvial sands, sandy loam, loam, clay. Depth - 0.2-1.0 m.

Ancient riverbank dunes with fragments of pottery of the Bronze Age; classical reference section of sediments with fragments of fauna of the Late-Middle Pleistocene (the left bank of the Akhtuba River , 3 km downstream from the village of Kolobovka).

Groundwater lies at a depth of 0 to 5 meters. Water spill during the flood period within the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain reaches 20-30 m.

At the branch site of Akhtuba , the Volga-Akhtuba Canal 6.6 km long was built. The average daily flow into the Akhtuba River along the Volga-Akhtubinsky is 70-75 m³ / s. Akhtuba receives additional power through the discharge of lock water in an amount of 10-15 m³ / s. The maximum flow rate during locking is 250 m³ / s.

The objects of the State Water Fund include:

• R. Volga , length - 104 km;
• R. Akhtuba , length 86 km;
• Krasnoslobodsky tract , 33 km long;
• Kashirinsky tract , length 117 km.
• In addition, there are 3 sleeves, 6 backwaters, 5 large ducts, and about 120 small eriks.
• There are about 200 lakes with a total area of ​​42 thousand hectares. (30% of the Park area).
• Swamps - 2, with a total area of ​​400 hectares.

The best preserved reference plots of intrazonal natural complexes, with local and false-local biodiversity:

• wetlands
• spawning grounds
• places of concentration of birds of the wetland complex, including globally rare
• White-tailed Eagle nests
• floodplain oak forests of a special ecotype of English oak (an outpost of oak in the extreme Southeast of Russia)
• habitats of relict plants (ferns)
• a unique combination of wetlands with gallery oak groves

Water ecosystems of the Volga , Akhtuba , lakes, Erikov and other water bodies include intrazonal wetland ecosystems, floodplain meadows, park oak forests, gallery floodplain forests.

Unique natural complexes and objects: the last preserved natural section of the Volga river valley.

Wetlands that comply with the terms of the Ramsar Convention; key ornithological territory of international importance “Akhtuba Lakeland” VG-005, Ru-125. Places of concentration of rare and wetland birds, including globally rare, the last preserved natural spawning grounds for sturgeon fish species.

Medicinal plants grow in the floodplain - doubtful hawthorn , golden currant , sparkling rosehip , black mulberry , Valerian officinalis , May lily of the valley , three-part sequence , licorice naked , heartwort , edible honeysuckle , narrow-leaved sucker , buckthorn buckwheat , apricot buckwheat , rhubarb gingerbread , highlander pepper .

The most fully and thoroughly studied birds in the floodplain. The avifauna of the floodplain is characterized by extremely rich species and ecological diversity (more than 80% of all terrestrial vertebrates), as well as a high density of birds. For all years of research within the Volgograd part of the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain, more than 200 species of birds have been registered, which are distributed in 16 orders and 47 families.

Every 6th species of wetland birds is considered “Red Book”, with 4 species of globally rare from the IUCN Red List . In addition to them, 11 more are included in the second edition of the Red Book of the Russian Federation , and 4 species of regionally rare are recommended for inclusion in the new edition of the Red Book of the Volgograd Region . In total, 24 species of vulnerable birds of different protection status nest in the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain.

Amphibians are represented by 4 species: lake frog , red-bellied toad , garlic , green toad . Of the reptiles found: marsh turtle , common and water snakes , nimble lizard , patterned snake . [one]

Of bats there are common and watery night-overs, red-headed vespers . [2]

In the Volgo-Akhtubinskaya floodplain park, rare and endangered plant species are listed in the Red Book : four-leafed marsilia , Biberstein tulip , two-stamen two-stamen , Schistifolia marsh , Valerian Volga , bluish broomrape , clear-flowered water lily, bluegrass lard , sedge blue- leaved , sedge blue- leaved , sedge blue- let , arrowhead .

Rare and endangered biological species (endangered species, vulnerable, highly localized species with extremely low numbers, relict plants and their habitats):

• plants - 8 species
• birds — 19 species
• fish - 5 species
• mollusks - 1 species
• leech - 1 view
• insects - 20 species

A lotus lake was discovered here, a beautiful flower that used to grow in the European part of Russia only in the Volga delta , near Astrakhan .

Amanita Wittadini and a varnished tinder fungus were listed in the Red Book of Russia ^[4] . In addition, the researchers found in the floodplain more than 200 species of various mushrooms, among which there are rare ones, such as a vaulted starlet , an oak tree, a semi-white mushroom, etc.

Like most of the beautiful corners of the planet, the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain has its own environmental problems. Fish populations have significantly decreased (although they still continue to please fishermen), oak forests disappear in the floodplain. That is why the Volgo-Akhtubinskaya floodplain natural park was created here.

Currently, a particularly strong “blow” to the ecology of the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain is caused in connection with the construction of a bridge across the Volga and the development of large areas of the floodplain with cottage villages, which, judging by the data from the Rosreestr website, currently number more than 30. Most of the former agricultural fields, according to the documents, which are listed as lands for gardening, gardening and summer cottage construction. In fact, full-fledged villages with infrastructure are being built ^[5] .

There are in the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain and their archaeological and historical-cultural objects:

• Bronze Age burials in the area of ​​the Turtle Farm,
• Monument in the Yama farm, where the headquarters of the Southeast Front was located during the Battle of Stalingrad,
• Monument in Tumak farm, where the fleet base was located.

• Official site of the Volgo-Akhtubinskaya floodplain natural park
• Natural park "Volga-Akhtubinskaya floodplain" , an unofficial site
• Natural Park "Volga-Akhtubinskaya floodplain" (Neopr.) (Inaccessible link - history ) . on the website of the State Center “Tourism Center”
• Natural park "Volga-Akhtubinskaya floodplain"
• For whom does the bell of the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain ring?
• A complete restoration of the fish resources of the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain will take several years
• SCIENTISTS AND SOCIETIES SEEK WAYS TO RESCUE THE VOLGO-AHTUBINSKAYA POOL