Flora and fauna of the Kaliningrad region. Protected trees in the Kaliningrad region: five questions about the new law Trees in the Kaliningrad region
The Kaliningrad region is represented by a plain. The climate is transitional from maritime to. It rains about 185 days a year. The hot or frosty period is short, the snow does not last long.
About 148 rivers with a length of more than 10 km, 339 rivers with a length of 5 km flow through the region. The biggest hands are Neman, Pregolya. There are 38 lakes on the territory. The largest is Vishtynetskoye Lake.
Vishtynetskoye lake
Vegetable world
In this area, mainly and. The largest number of forests is in the east. Most of the trees are pines.
Pine
In the Red Forest there are violets, toadflax, sour.
Violet
Toadflax
sour
Of the trees, there are also oaks, birch, spruce, maple. Hardwoods - beech, linden, alder, ash.
Linden
Alder
Ash
On the territory there are medicinal plants, berries - blueberries, blueberries,.
Blueberry
Blueberry
Cranberries and cloudberries grow in swampy areas.
Cranberry
Cloudberry
Mushrooms grow in the region, some are listed in the Red Book. Some of the mosses and lichens, iris and lilies are included in it.
Some plants that were brought from other places on the planet. One of these representatives is ginkgo biloba.
This tree is considered a "living fossil". It can reach a height of 40 meters.
The tulip tree growing in the Moritz Becker Park is the only specimen. He is over 200 years old. The trunk of the tree is forked, the leaves are large, it blooms in late June with yellow-orange flowers.
Red oak is from the eastern United States. An adult tree reaches up to 25 m in height. The trunk is covered with gray bark. Flowering occurs simultaneously with the blooming of the leaves. Oak is frost resistant. This species is a symbol of the Kaliningrad region.
red oak
The Rumelian pine is native to Europe. It is decorative.
Robinia pseudoacacia is a fast growing tree, resistant to drought. Popularly called white acacia. The tree can reach up to 30 meters, the average height is 20.
Robinia locust
Bear onion is a local representative of the flora. Listed in the Red Book. It has a specific smell, similar to garlic. It contains vitamins and microelements.
bear bow
Girlish grapes triostreny brought from the Far East. It grows slowly, hard to endure winter. In autumn, the clusters acquire a rich scarlet hue. This grape is listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation.
Animals of the Kaliningrad region
The area is inhabited by predators, rodents, and ungulates. One of the big animals is the elk.
Elk
There are also roe deer and fallow deer. Several thousand roe deer and several hundred deer live on the territory. Sika deer are rare and valuable species.
Roe
Doe
Wild boars are rare animals for this region, nevertheless they are found. The area is inhabited by many ermines, martens, foxes, ferrets.
Boar
Ermine
Marten
A fox
Ferret
Of the wild predators, wolves are rarely seen. Rodents - beavers,.
Wolf
Beaver
Squirrel
The lynx is found in the forests. Due to poachers, the number of individuals has decreased.
Lynx
Evening small lives in deciduous forests and parks. A very rare sight. Lives mostly in tree cavities. After sunset, he flies out to hunt.
Birds of the Kaliningrad region
Birds - about 140 species, some species are extremely rare.
The red kite breeds only in this area. It can be found from March to September. It feeds on small reptiles, fish, carrion.
red kite
The serpent eagle belongs to the hawk family, the species is under the threat of extinction. Lives in pine and mixed forests.
snake-eater
The peregrine falcon is a species from the falcon family. Rare individuals winter in the Kaliningrad region.
peregrine falcon
Fish in the Kaliningrad region
There are up to 40 fish in the reservoirs. Of the marine species, there are Baltic herring, sprat, flounder, and Baltic salmon.
herring
Flounder
Baltic salmon
Archive "Klops"
In the Kaliningrad Regional Duma, in the second, final, reading, the law "On the Protection of Green Plantations" was adopted. It will enter into force shortly. About novelties of the document - in the material "Klops".
What tasks will be solved?
The new edition was adopted in order to eliminate the double interpretation of the law on the protection of the green fund and to better inform citizens about the work of trimming and cutting down trees and shrubs. Also among the goals is strengthening control over logging.
2. What must a person who cuts down a tree do?
Obtain a permit and provide it at the request of an official, including a public inspector.
Develop a compensatory landscaping project and carry it out at your own expense or pay the local government for this work.
Install an information board next to the felling site about who and what types of activities are performed, as well as who allowed them to be carried out.
3. Under what conditions will compensatory gardening be carried out?
In the old version, the law also allowed ambiguous interpretation of compensation measures for logging. The draft of the new document provides for the planting of new plants and payment for compensatory gardening.
Work control has become more transparent and specific. The law now states that a destroyed tree can only be replaced with a plant of a similar or more valuable breed. In addition, it is not allowed to plant young trees instead of an adult tree.
4. Which trees will not be protected?
The law does not apply to plantings that interfere with agricultural work. In particular, permits will not be needed when clearing reclaimed lands from self-sowing trees or when cutting down engineering facilities for safety reasons.
5. What threatens the violator?
Fine up to one million rubles. It is issued to those for whom the felling was carried out, as well as to the local government. If you have information on illegal logging in the region, you can call 8-800-100-94-00.
The fact that the law on the protection of green spaces in Kaliningrad became known in February 2018. Alikhanov instructed Oleg Stupin, Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of the region, to reissue the document approved in 2006 as soon as possible. In December 2018, the Regional Duma only drafted amendments, in June it was considered at the socio-political council under the head of the region.
The area reaches 22%. The largest forest areas have been preserved within the Nesterovsky, Krasnoznamensky, Slavsky, Polessky, Gvardeisky and Bagrationovsky districts, where the forest cover ranges from 37 to 23%. In the cover of the region there are more than 1250 species of higher plants, of which about 1000 are introduced into the landscaping culture. These are woody, shrubby and herbaceous plants imported from other continents of our planet. Thanks to the softness, plants brought from, Western Europe, from, from, from grow in the region. Among them are tulip tree, Japanese crimson, Canadian poplar, Amur velvet, magnolia, oriental plane tree, European and oriental beeches, Crimean juniper and many others.
The main forest-forming trees are spruce, pine, oak, maple, and birch. Spruce is the most widespread in the forests of the eastern regions of the region and occupies 25% of the total area.
Pine forests occupy about 17% of the forested area in the region, they are most significant in Krasnoznamensky, Nesterovsky, Zelenogradsky districts, on the Curonian and Baltic spits. Oak forests are found in separate small massifs in the region, where the European oak grows. In the Polessky, Zelenogradsky, Pravdinsky, Gvardeysky districts there are ash forests and linden forests. Insignificant areas of beech forests - in Zelenograd and Pravdinsky districts.
Up to a quarter of the forest area is occupied by birch forests, sorrel forests and herbaceous plants in the Bagrationovsky and Pravdinsky districts of the region. Lowered areas of soil with prolonged excessive moisture are occupied by alder and black alder forests. They are widely represented in Slavsky, Polessky, Gvardeysky and Zelenogradsky districts.
About a third are hay and pasture. The set of herbs in the meadows includes about 30 species: bent grass, bracken, fescue, cocksfoot, mint, clover, alfalfa, timothy grass, mouse pea, meadow rank and others. On the best floodplain hayfields, the yield reaches 40 c/ha.
On the territory of the region there are several hundred with a total area of more than 1000 km2, mainly in the interfluves and in the valley of the river. Pregol. They have an important water protection and water regulation value, are habitats for wild animals, many of them are rich in berries (cloudberries, blueberries, blueberries, cranberries, lingonberries), mushrooms, medicinal herbs and plants.
The animal world of the region belongs to the European-Siberian zoogeographic subregion, the zone of coniferous-deciduous forests, the coastal province. Animals on the territory of the region are represented by ungulates, predators, rodents, insectivores, bats. They are distributed mainly in forests, where the living conditions of animals are least changed by man.
The order of ungulates includes the largest of the animals of the region - elk, as well as other representatives of the deer family - noble and sika deer, roe deer and fallow deer.
Most of all in the forests of the region there are roe deer - several thousand. Moose and red deer number in the hundreds. The fallow deer found in the Polessky region are extremely rare (there are several hundred of them in Russia). Spotted deer were brought to the region quite recently. They were released on the territory of the Novoselovsky fur farm, where they are bred to obtain antlers - a valuable medicinal raw material. There are small herds of wild boars in many forests of the region.
Of the predators, foxes, martens, hori, ermines and weasels are found. By the 70s, wolves were completely destroyed, but since 1976 they have reappeared and they are hunted all year round.
Among those leading a terrestrial lifestyle, rats and mice are most common; leading a semi-aquatic lifestyle - beaver, nutria, muskrat; leading an arboreal lifestyle - squirrels.
Insectivores are represented by moles, hedgehogs and several species of shrews, bats by bats.
Birds inhabiting forests and fields, lakes and swamps, cities and towns of the region are numerous and varied. Among them there are both species permanently living in the territory of the region, and migratory, as well as making large and small migrations. The path of autumn and spring migrations of many millions of northern birds passes through the Curonian Spit. On the spit in the village Rybachy is located the Biological Station of the Zoological Institute of the Academy of Sciences of Russia, whose specialists study the flight of birds.
Most of all, in the forests of the region, there are birds from the order of passerines (finches, starlings, tits, swallows, flycatchers, warblers, towhoppers, redstarts, larks, brambling, warblers); from the order of ravens (crow, raven, jackdaw, magpie, rook). In addition to passerines, there are woodpeckers, crossbills, various pigeons, such large birds as hazel grouse and black grouse. There are also birds of prey - hawk, harrier, owls, owls, owls.
Partridges, field harrier, storks live in the fields and meadows, sandpipers, cranes, herons live in the marshes. Reservoirs are inhabited by different species of ducks, geese, gulls. The decoration of many is a mute swan.
Fish in inland waters are represented by freshwater species (58 species, in Curonian - 42, in Kaliningrad - up to 40 species).
Sea fish include Baltic herring, sprat, cod, flounder, salmon. Semi-anadromous species (rising for breeding in the lower reaches) - smelt and herring, anadromous (going to spawn up the rivers) - whitefish, fish, Baltic sturgeon, salmon, eel. Bream, pike perch, roach, smelt, crucian carp, ruff, perch, pike are widespread. The rivers are inhabited not only by such fish typical for rivers as burbot, catfish, chub, ide, but also trout and grayling characteristic of the foothills.
In the Kaliningrad region, not far from the village of Rybachy, there is a strange, creepy place. However, it is just as beautiful. The Dancing Forest is a very popular and very mysterious local attraction, shrouded in a halo of legends and superstitions. Incredibly curved tree trunks seem to be spinning in some kind of frantic dance, and the reason for their “behavior” has not yet been precisely determined. This forest, which is part of the Curonian Spit National Park, attracts tourists and photographers like a magnet.
strange place
The forest appeared here in 1961 - it was artificially planted in order to strengthen the sands. More than half a century has passed, and during this time the coniferous trees that have grown here have acquired very intricate shapes. What force had bent them so bizarrely? Scientists are still scratching their heads over this. It seems that the trees have arranged a dance, and those who venture to walk around this place say that the further you go deeper into the forest, the more aggressive the “dance” becomes.
It is especially strange that in this forest you can hardly hear the singing of birds and there are almost no animals here. Well, the people who happened to visit this place, for the most part, admit that the sensations are strange. Some of the visitors feel a sharp surge of energy, while others, on the contrary, have a headache and a feeling of fatigue and apathy.
Even more terrifying is that there is deathly silence in the forest. It is violated only by excursion groups periodically visiting here, because this place is a very popular tourist route.
It is worth noting that on the Round Dune, where the Dancing Forest grows, not all trunks have a strange shape - the “dancing” trees are concentrated in a certain (however, quite large) area.
What is the reason for this "dance"?
Researchers have not come to a consensus on the cause of the curvature of tree trunks.According to one version, some natural phenomena that supposedly occurred in this place could contribute to the deformation - for example, a sharp change in wind direction, temperature changes. There is a hypothesis about the special composition of the soil in this place.
Adherents of another hypothesis blame insect pests for everything, the invasion of which was allegedly once observed in the forest. A version is put forward that the trunks damaged the gluttonous caterpillars of the wintering sprout butterfly.
Scientists confirm their hypothesis with information that the shoots usually damage young shoots of pines, moreover, they mainly devour the apical buds, and almost do not touch the lateral ones. As a result of the disappearance of the apical buds, the lateral buds begin to actively grow in the tree, which subsequently causes the curvature of the trunk. Scientists note that these caterpillars most often eat pine shoots growing on poor soils, poorly saturated with groundwater - just like on the Curonian Spit. However, to the question “Why did the caterpillars spoil only a certain part of the forest, and not all the trees?” there is no clear answer.
Proponents of the third hypothesis see the reasons for the "dance" of trees in the mobility of local sands. Geologists say that the Round Dune stands on a "pillow" of clay, which causes such mobility - in combination with the constantly changing wind direction, the angle of the dune, they say, is constantly different. Hence the curvature of the trunks. Other dunes of the Curonian Spit, according to the authors of this hypothesis, do not have such features.
The “non-mystical” versions are supported by the fact that many trunks in the Dancing Forest are not curved along their entire length, but only in the lower part, which means that they were deformed only at the initial stage of plant growth.
Among the researchers there are those who see the reason for the deformation of trees in the powerful energy of this place, which has not yet been studied by the scientific community.
Mystic?
Fans of horror stories and mystics put forward their versions. According to one of them, the trees were affected by some chemicals that the Germans sprayed before the Second World War - at a time when the famous German glider school was located on the Curonian Spit. By the way, many famous pilots-record holders came out of its walls. The last flight in the glider school took place in January 1945.
There are those who claim that the reason for the curvature of the trunks is the sacredness and the "special and mystical status" of the forest. Like, in ancient times very ancient oaks and beeches grew here. Among the local pagans, these trees were considered sacred. They worshiped them to such an extent that they once killed a famous Christian missionary because he disrespected the trees, or, in other words, violated the boundaries of the sacred grove.
The most mystical of the versions is that this place is a kind of portal to other worlds.
legends
Local residents, of course, compose beautiful legends about this forest. For example, about the fact that one day young witches supposedly came to their sabbat in the forest. They began to whirl in their wild dance, but in the midst of the dance, for some reason, they suddenly froze as if rooted to their feet in their strange poses. And so the sorceresses remained forever in this forest, turning into winding pines. In this regard, even a strange sign appeared - they say if you climb inside the spiral of such a twisted trunk, you can rejuvenate by one year. And if you climb twice, you will become two years younger and so on.
There is also a more romantic legend-fairy tale. Like, once, many years ago, a pagan prince hunted in these parts. Suddenly he heard a beautiful bewitching melody and went to the sounds. Coming out into the clearing, the young man saw a beauty playing the lyre. They immediately fell in love with each other, but the girl set a condition for the prince: she would marry him only when he converted to Christianity. And to show her pagan lover the power of the Cross, she made the trees around them dance.
They say that 13 years ago they conducted an experiment in this forest - they planted young pine trees to see how they would grow. Time passed, but the trees did not bend. True, they grow very slowly, which again suggests that there is clearly something anomalous in the forest.
Trees at risk?
But local environmentalists are sounding the alarm. They pay attention to the fact that trees require careful treatment. In particular, walking through the forest is allowed only along specially designated walkways, fenced with railings. The administration asks tourists not to hug pine trees (the bark is erased from this) and not to trample the soil. Conservationists and park officials are pointing out that the Dancing Forest's most unique and popular trees have already died.
So, for example, a few years ago, the famous ring tree died - its bark was damaged and its root system was broken. This is due to the fact that tourists constantly sat on a tree, climbed through the ring, touched the trunk, trampled the ground. For environmentalists, the forest is not a mystical place and not a photo zone, but, above all, a unique monument of nature.
Text: Anna Belova
Having lived in Novokuznetsk for 30 years, I sincerely believed that my hometown was the greenest in Russia. The forge was called the "garden city". I will not be mistaken if I say that every Novokuznetsk resident knows the lines of the poet Mayakovsky: "... I know - the city will be, I know - the garden will bloom!" It's all about Novokuznetsk! The fallacy of judgments about the greenest city in the Russian Federation began to visit me later, much later. I still remember the visit of partners (and now friends) from Omsk to Novokuznetsk: "Damn it! We were always told that Omsk is the greenest city, and in Kuzno greenery is also normal!"
In general, I have recently got the feeling that certain myths are being planted in Siberia: “our city is the best!”, “Our city is the greenest!”, “Let the environment suffer, but we have the highest average wages (after oil workers)”. All this rushes into the ears of Siberians from official sources. Unofficial sources work even cooler: "What for go to the sea to live? Baba Vanga said that everything would be flooded, but only Siberia would remain", "Kaliningrad? Yes, there is eternal rain, humidity and cold (Siberians talk about cold) !!!", " Siberia has the most beautiful nature" and so on and so forth. And this is not sarcasm, almost everyone believes about Baba Wang.
My opinion is that these myths wind into the heads of Siberians is not accidental. After all, if they knew that there are cities where the climate is better, where the sea does not come close to the houses, where there is, finally, much more greenery, everyone would have left this unsuitable region for life long ago.
Something lifted me up, I wanted to write about greenery. So, the garden city is not the Forge, but Kaliningrad. Not only is there just an order of magnitude more greenery than in the Forge, but the quality is also different. What grows in the city of Novokuznetsk: poplar, elm, mountain ash, birch, spruce. Well, maybe a little more. Let's see what grows in Kaliningrad. I will be mistaken, you correct me, I specially numbered each photo.
1) Dense green fruits.
2) It looks like apricots, or pears. 
3) Green dense fruit with a specific smell. 
4) Bah! Yes, those are walnuts! 
5) Here is the proof. The nut is still milky, but the outlines are drawn. 
6) Oak and acorns. 
7) Large oaks are rare in Siberia. I don't remember acorns in Siberia at all. No, I saw it somewhere. 
8) Thuja? And this is what she has: flowers, cones, young shoots? 
9) All the thujas that I saw here were smaller in size. This, with cones, is such a good tree! 
10) I don’t even have any idea what it is. 
11) And here the fruits have a slightly lemon tint, maybe a plum? 
12) I did not dare to try everything in a row. You don't know the ford... 
13) But it looks like a plum. 
14) Bulk apples. With apples in Kaliningrad, in general, everything is in order. 
15) I saw specimens hanging on the trees in autumn, like in a store! There are no such large ones in Siberia. 
16) There is a fruit in Thailand: longan :)) It also grows, on twigs, of the same shape and size, only the peel is different. 
17) But again I suspect that it is a plum. I even tried this one, it tastes like a plum, it even started to sweeten already. 
18) What is this? Some completely alien plants went. 
19) Several unshaven balls hang on each branch. 
20) And here, already shaved balls :) But again, I don’t even have any suspicions what it is. 
And I took as an example only the most exotic plants for me, which I met on the 200 meters of the path !! I’m not lying, we were just walking along the North Mountain and I took photos in a row. But there are also pyramidal poplars, maples, elms, birches with pines. And many, many more that I see for the first time!
When a conversation about greenery comes up with the locals, every time I run into a template: "nope, it's not green now. It used to be ...". I don’t know what was there before, but Kaliningrad is really green. In terms of the number of trees per capita, as far as I remember, the city has an honorable first place and a good margin from the second.
Despite this, I do not like that sometimes the authorities here (as well as the locals) are satisfied. Tasty unbuilt pieces in the center are "filled with stupid trees." The craving for permits for the construction of shopping and entertainment centers in the centers of our cities is in the blood of officials. Well, take out, yopt, your boxes to the outskirts. Make a normal convenient road, bring light and water there. The topic is rhetorical, why don't they do it.
So far, Kaliningrad is the greenest city in Russia. To be continued...