Kaluzhskie Zaseki Nature Reserve is a state nature
reserve located in the southeast of the Kaluga region on the
territory bordering the Oryol and Tula regions.
The reserve
was established by the Decree of the Government of the Russian
Federation of November 5, 1992.
The structure of the reserve
includes two sections: Northern and Southern. The total area is
18,533 hectares. The plots are 12 km apart from each other: the area
of the Southern plot is 11784 ha, the area of the Northern one is
6749 ha. The reserve is surrounded by a buffer zone within 200 m
from the borders. About 20 rivers and streams flow on the territory
of the reserve.
The climate of the reserve is temperate
continental. West and southwest winds prevail. The average annual
rainfall is 596 mm. The average annual temperature is +4.4 °C.
Panorama of the Russian-Polish battle in 1632
(engraving by Gondius "Defense of Smolensk").
A notch along the
edge of the defensive line is the only image of a notch forest left by a
contemporary of those events. Such notches were temporary, unlike
permanent notches, the trunks in them often fell randomly, and not tops
in the direction of the expected raid.
Kaluga notches - the name
that was used for part of the territory of the Kaluga province, which
was part of the Zaokskaya notch line of the Moscow state. The Kaluga
notches included the Kozelsky, Przemyslsky notches, part of the
Likhvinsky and Belevsky notches. The territory of the reserve included
the Kozelskaya Dubenskaya notch, the southern half of the Kozelskaya
Stolpitskaya notch, as well as fragments of the Belevskaya Bobrikovsky
notch located on the territory of the Kozelsky district.
The
territory, which became part of the Kaluzhskiye Zaseki nature reserve,
has been known from ancient chronicles since the 9th–10th centuries as
part of a large impenetrable massif of broad-leaved forests. Since that
time, a rather intensive agricultural development of this massif by the
Slavs begins. The edge of the forest bordering on the forest-steppe
remained untouched and served as a natural barrier to the movement of
the steppe cavalry and a place of shelter for local residents. For about
500 years, the southern border of broad-leaved forests was preserved by
the specific princes and local residents.
The notch line
consisted of sections of natural barriers - forests, rivers, swamps and
ravines, which were supplemented, “linked” with each other by artificial
structures - forest blockages, ramparts, ditches, gouges, palisades,
stockades, a stake stuffed into the bottom of the river. The forest,
where the notch was established, was called reserved. It was forbidden
to cut trees, hunt, just go in, so that there were not even paths in the
forest.
From the 16th century, the creation and maintenance of a
single notch line became the concern of the Muscovite state and its
tsars. The Pushkar order appointed and maintained a staff of officials
who guarded the notch mainly from the local population. In addition, the
notches were divided into small units, for the protection of which the
inhabitants of the nearest settlements were responsible. The frequent
raids of the Tatars prompted the government to urgently resume the
fortification of the outlying areas - in 1638, the reconstruction of the
Zaokskaya line was carried out. According to the code of Alexei
Mikhailovich in 1649, zasechnye forests were singled out in a separate
category, in addition to patrimonial, local, general, entry and district
forests. From 1638 to 1654, a field army of small numbers advanced to
the notch line only 4 times. The abysses were still guarded by watchmen,
trying to "take away the damage", which at that time were being repaired
in large numbers in the abysses. After the crisis of the beginning of
the 17th century, the population began to increase again, at the same
time industry began to develop. The government, concerned about the
imminent development of the zasechny massifs, in 1659 issued a ban on
establishing new factories in the zasechny forests and near the zasechs
without a special sovereign order. In the second half of the 17th
century, a new reconstruction of the notch line was carried out.
The last time the forests were cut under Peter I during the war with
Charles XII in 1709, after which in 1722 it was allowed to take the best
trees of reserved species in the forests - oak, elm, ash, pine, which
were used for the needs of shipbuilding, artillery , factories and
plants. At the same time, a number of laws were adopted that strictly
limited the use of forests and prescribed artificial reforestation. In
1737, the Kozelskiye notches were taken over by the Tula Arms Plant and
were used for harvesting wooden parts for guns, firewood, and burning
coal. In 1732, Anna Ioannovna issued an instruction "On the plant and
sowing for the fleet again forests." It recommends: “Oak and other trees
suitable for the fleet should be cleaned, preserved and planted in
convenient places for forest crops; cut off the cleaned and sown areas
with ditches. The sites of the oldest oak cultures that have survived to
this day, as well as fragments of boundary ramparts, probably belong to
this time. By the end of the 18th century, the state of plantings in the
zasechnye forests deteriorated.
Paul I initiates significant
transformations in forestry. First of all, this is the establishment of
the Forest Department and the issuance of instructions to the
foresmeisters, who were to "not only preserve, but also re-cultivate
forests." In 1798 - 1804, reforms were carried out in the field of
protection, afforestation, and forest education. In 1845, the first
forest inventory was carried out in the Kozelsky Zasek. The quarterly
network and the numbering of quarters have remained almost unchanged to
this day.
In the late XIX - early XX centuries, the creation of
forest plantations in the Kaluga Zasek continued. Since 1914, the
creation of crops and care for them have been discontinued. Since 1917,
cuttings have been carried out "the most disorderly, mostly selective,
there were also continuous cuttings in small areas on the best soils in
order to clear and transfer to other lands." The origin of the modern
generation of trees of a significant part of the small-leaved (primarily
aspen) and coppice broad-leaved forests dates back to this time.
Only in 1937 were unsystematic cuttings stopped and silviculture resumed
- oak plantations were planted in small areas inside the acres. During
the Second World War, forest management again became erratic; especially
significant cuttings in the aisles were made during 1941-1943, when the
front lines passed along the right bank of the Vytebet and Zhizdra. In
the first post-war years, pine and spruce cultures were established. In
the 1970s - 1980s, spruce crops were especially actively created. Until
the mid-1980s, active secondary forest management continued (first of
all, forest grazing, removal of dead wood, collection of deadwood).
Nevertheless, large areas of broad-leaved forests turned out to be
slightly disturbed. The main reason that determined the high
conservation of forests was the administrative-geographical position of
the territory - in one way or another it was borderline for many
centuries. Long before the creation of the reserve, nature management in
this territory was limited for various reasons. In the 15th-17th
centuries, the forests of the zasek preserved their defensive
significance on the border of the state from destruction; in the
XVIII-XIX centuries - the care of the state about the reserves of ship
and timber timber; in the 20th century - the lack of (satisfactory roads
and a reduced (especially after the Second World War) population.
There are 703 species of vascular plants in the reserve. On the territory of the reserve there are 55 species of mammals, 178 species of birds, 5 species of reptiles, 9 species of amphibians, 21 species of fish. About 450 species of butterflies have been noted.