Krasnovodsk Preserve

(until Oct. 1, 1969, the Gasan-Kuli Preserve), a preserve in Gasan-Kuli Raion, Turkmen SSR, created in 1932 to protect birds in their wintering places on the southeastern coast of the Caspian Sea. Area, 270,000 hectares (1970). It occupies a coastal land strip and part of the water area and floodlands of the Atrek River. The lakes and bays are surrounded by reeds and cattails. In the Atrek floodlands there are tamarisks and heavy growths of matrimony vine and liana. More than 160 species of birds winter there, including various ducks, species of the suborder Limicolae, seagulls, greylags, swans, coots, flamingos, bustards, (and representatives of the orders Passeriformes and Falconiformes. A very rare bird—the black partridge —is also found there. Mammals found in the preserve include the boar, jackal, short-tailed bandicoot rat, and porcu-pine.