Voronezh Preserve

a preserve located 40 km north of Voronezh with an area of 30,800 ha (1969). It was established in 1927 for the protection and restocking of the European beaver in the USSR. Subsequently, the preserve’s functions were expanded to include the conservation and study of the entire natural complex.

The Voronezh Preserve occupies a large portion of the Usman’ Forest that grows on sandy deposits in the middle of a steppe of fescue and feathergrass. The Usman’ and Ivnitsa rivers, tributaries of the Voronezh River, flow through the preserve. The floodplains of these rivers are covered with moist alder and willow thickets. The plant cover of the Voronezh Preserve includes an ecologically fairly complete range of forest types, from dry lichenous pine forests to subori (pine forests growing on sandy loam) and oak forests to swampy alder thickets. There are also small relict sphagnous swamps—unusual for a forest-steppe region—where cotton-grass, cranberry, and sundew grow. The common animals are beaver, red deer, roe deer, elk, wild boar, hares (grey and mountain), pine marten, squirrel, and badger; the desman is also found here. By 1969 more than 2,300 beavers, 1,300 red deer, and 200 wild boar had been moved from the Voronezh Preserve to restock other regions of the USSR. In 1932 a beaver farm was established at the Voronezh Preserve for the purpose of breeding and studying beavers under conditions of captivity. Some basic problems of both free and farm beaver raising and methods of resettling valuable hunting animals were worked out at the farm. Research has also been conducted on a number of problems dealing with the dynamics of the plant cover in relation to climatic and anthropogenic factors and with the forest’s biological resistance and defense against pests.