National Park "Khvalynsky": flora and fauna, photo

The Khvalynsky National Park is located in the northeast of the Saratov Region, at the highest mountains in the region. It was established in 1994. This was preceded by the hard work of Russian scientists for two centuries. These places always attracted researchers with their uniqueness. In 2011 the reserve "Saratov" was added to the park. Here everything is amazing - from picturesque landscapes to purple bees.

The area of the park is 25 514 hectares. It is divided into three zones - recreational area of 3.5 thousand hectares, protected (1.5 thousand hectares) and a zone of economic use. It occupies 20 514 hectares.

Relief

Khvalynsky National Park is located on a high plateau (200-300 m above sea level). The relief is crossed, elevated, wavy-hilly. It is crossed by numerous beams and ravines. The Volga River is its natural boundary in the east, north-west and north of the park borders on the Samara region, in the south it is bordered by the Volsky District. In these places the Volga is particularly deep (22.5 m). The speed of the current is small.

Climate

In this region the climate is sharply continental with significant annual and daily fluctuations in air temperature. In January, the average air temperature is minus 13 degrees, in July - plus 21.

Plants of the Khvalynsky National Park

This territory is characterized by a huge variety of vegetation. The Khvalynsky National Park (Saratov Region) is characterized by the presence of pine forests on the outcrops of chalk, on tertiary sands, and oak forests on gray soils. A characteristic feature of the forests of the park is the existence of "chalk" hogs. Cretaceous pine is a relic, an endemic and a monument of the nature of the region at the same time.

The Khvalynsky National Park has 21 species of plants on its territory, which are relics and endemics. All of them are listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation. It is a wormwood-like wormwood, a sweet-smelling lemon, a thin-leafed peony, a Volga cobbler, several species of feather grass.

To relict plants include horsetails (wintering and field), ferns. Its rare species grow here. There is a lanceolate-combed dogrose and a female kochetyzhnik. Relics also include the conifers of the two-coliform conifers and ordinary pine. In the international Red Book introduced the Venus slipper

Animals of the Khvalynsky National Park

No less diverse is the fauna. Sixteen species of insects included in the Red Book of the Russian Federation are registered here.

Herpetofauna

This group includes 15 species of reptiles and amphibians, which belong to 12 genera and 10 families. This is 68.2% of the herpetofauna of the entire Saratov region.

Reptiles are represented by Nikolsky's viper, which is listed in the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation, a fragile spindle, an ordinary copper seal and a steppe viper.

Birds

Particularly rich in the National Park "Khvalynsky" feathered. In this protected area at various times there are up to 165 species of birds. For 113 of them, this place became a home, where they breed.

Nesting species include many passerine-shaped species. In the structure of the ornithocomplexes of the park, a significant place is occupied by birds of prey. On the whole territory you can find buzzard ordinary, kestrel ordinary, kobchik, black kite, hoglok. In the floodplain of the river Tereshki, there is a marsh harrier. On the forest plots there live a sparrow and a goshawk. Several permanent nests of the White-tailed eagle have been recorded. Every year the burial ground is registered in the park, occasionally the golden eagle, it is assumed that here it breeds offspring and osprey.

In the protected area you can see beaver, hare, fox, badger, wolf, forest and steppe ferret and other animals. It should be noted the high density of the marmot population, which is the main food of the burial ground.

Security and nature protection measures

The Khvalyn national park conducts a great sanitary and health work. Here, deforestation and destruction of forest areas are regularly carried out, and their contamination is cleaned. Such work is carried out by means of continuous or selective sanitary felling, primarily carried out in those parts of the forest where the risk of fires and excessive reproduction of insects is great.

Forest restoration

These activities include: the creation of healthy and sustainable forest crops to reform the open landscape in a semi-open, or closed. This allows the creation of plantations that are distinguished by high aesthetic, sanitary and hygienic properties and high resistance. On the cut down areas immediately planted young and healthy trees. Planting material is a two-year-old seedlings of pine.

Protection of animals

The Khvalynsky National Park has a number of priority tasks. The most important of them is the protection of the animal world. Every year, biotechnical measures are carried out here, which improve the quality of the land, increase the number of animals. Regularly renovated and manufactured new feeding grounds, work is being done to prevent the death of animals. The distribution and abundance of large ungulates is constantly being kept. The Khvalynsky National Park is a protected area, on which hunting is completely banned. Only amateur fishing is allowed.

Recreation

Twelve ecological paths have been created in the park . Walk on each of them lasts about three hours. Many come here for the weekend. But such a trip should be prepared, in any case, the food should be taken with you, because there is no cafe in the reserve. There is only a tea room, where you will be offered fragrant herbal tea.

You can stay in the guest house for the night. It has only two rooms designed for family living. There is a parking lot, a kitchen, a shower. The cost of visiting the park is 600 rubles per person.