The  Basegi Reserve

Perm scientists and community have been much concerned about the destiny of the Basegi mountain ridge since long. The issue about founding a reserve has been raised time and again. Common efforts being taken during many years have proved to be successful: the year 1982 saw the decision to found the Basegi reserve.

Research expeditions had been made for many years before the reserve was founded. Botanic investigation started as long as in 1940, when members of the complex expedition, organized by the USSR Academy of Sciences, came here. Afterwards Perm botanists worked in the area.

The reserve is situated in the eastern part of the Perm region close to the Ural ridge. The 30 kilometers long, meridionally stretched belt used to be a single whole mountain range. As a result of long intense destruction the Basegi ridge has changed into a range of mountain chains with such outstanding peaks as Northern, Middle and Southern Basegi. The ridge culminates in mountain Middle Baseg (photo) at a height of 1005 metres above sea level (997 m. according to other data). Dark coniferous fir and silver fir taiga are typical to be at the foot of the mountains. At the mountainside closer to peaks the forest gets thinner, lower, there is elfin woodland with dwarf birches followed by subalpine meadows. The Baseg peaks are stony, covered with moss and lichen sometimes changing into tundra zone with whortleberry, bog whortleberry and Siberian juniper.

At the mountainside there is a number of terraces which are bosky for the most part. Separate chains of mountains are made up of ranges, hills and ridges with bare, often open and comb-shaped peaks. Their flanks are steep and stony, piled confusedly with stones and lumps reaching 1metre and sometimes up to 3 meters in diameter. The rocks outcrops form queer shapes at the tops.

There are 11 large rivers on the reserve territory, 8 among them are spawning areas for precious fish species such as grayling and especially taimen, which has already become comparatively rare. The rivers are mountain with a considerable slope of a river-bed.

The river Usva is the largest in the reserve, it has its rise at the eastern flank of stone Hariusny  ( sounds like grayling). The river is 266 km. long. It bounds the reserve area, bending round its northern part in about 110km. from the head.
The soils are quite diverse: there are 9 main soil and ground types in the reserve area.
The features of the European and Siberian boreal floras harmonize uniquely with each other in the Basegi nature. At the glacial epoch glacier hasn’t reached this area, it had dozens kilometers more on its way. So, in this part of Ural, and Basegi in particular, many species of plants and animals were lucky to survive. The Baseg flora includes 17 endemic and 14 relict species of the preglacial and post-glacial periods. All in all there are over 480 species of vascular plants occurring in Basegi mountains, including 40 rare and precious species, among which there is one included in the Red Book of the USSR (Schivereckia podolica). Five plants species are the interglacial period relicts: nettle-leaved bellflower ( Campanula trachelium ), Alpine aster(Aster alpinus), Daisy (Dendranthemum Zawadskii), Dotted Dryad (Dryas), blue-gray foxtail (Alopecurus). Besides particular plants species, plant associations are to be conserved and thoroughly studied.
The Baseg fauna is represented by 51 mammalians, 120 birds, 2 reptiles and 4 amphibians species. The habitation of game birds (such as black grouse, wood grouse and hazel grouse) and fur-bearing animals (such as polecat, European mink, marten, kolinski or Siberian striped weasel and ermine) is typical for the reserve area. Among scanty species are badger, polecat as well as wolverine. From time to time a fox occurs at meadows and in elfin woodland.  Wolves come to mountain forestland skirts which are thinned because of felling. A bear is a usual habitant of the forest belt.

Basegi is also of great scientific value in terms of geology. Queer shapes of the rocks outcrop considered to be the result of congelifraction and deflation should be conserved. They make up piles of different forms which are as picturesque as well-known Krasnoyarsk “Piles” and the Northern Ural rocks. The permanent study of the Basegi area under reserved environment will undoubtedly help find new geological objects which should be preserved in a particular way.
The reserve water protection is of paramount importance.  Hydrologic system, water resources regulation, the importance of forests in soil protection are the very reasons enough to relate this area to the reserved ones.

Voronov G. A.