Shipunovskiy District: Lakes, Wetlands and Steppes

• The natural monument “Ozera Kharkovskoye i Syropyatovskoye” lies in Shipunovskiy and Mamontovskiy Districts.
• Lake Kharkovskoye lies in both districts; Lake Syropyatovskoye lies entirely in Mamontovskiy District.
• The “Charyshskaya step'” protected area covers 5,971 hectares.

The natural monument “Ozera Kharkovskoye i Syropyatovskoye” protects the ecosystems of low-mineralization lakes and their surroundings. These include cattail and reed thickets, floating mats, willow-birch swamps, meadows with varying moisture and salinity, mixed forest, pine forest, and adjacent steppe areas. Floating mats are floating plant cover. The description thus includes not only the lakes but also a diverse mosaic of wetlands, meadows, forest and steppe.

The two lakes are located in different districts: Lake Kharkovskoye lies in both Shipunovskiy and Mamontovskiy Districts. Lake Syropyatovskoye, by contrast, lies entirely in Mamontovskiy District. This distinction between the individual lakes provides a helpful geographical overview of the natural monument.

The state complex nature reserve “Charyshskaya step'” preserves species-rich, tall-bunchgrass steppes transitioning into meadow steppes. The protected habitats also include a poplar floodplain forest where the very rare bay-leaved poplar occurs. Steppe, meadow steppe and poplar floodplain forest give the area a different character from the lake landscape. At 5,971 hectares, the reserve provides a clearly defined scale for this diversity of landscapes.

In the wider destination of the Altai Region, the Altai Foothills Nature Park is another natural highlight. A botanical survey recorded about 700 plant species there, including relicts of deciduous forests, endemic plants and 20 rare species listed in the Red Book. In the steppe-meadow zone, up to 70 different plants bloom in succession within one square meter. The nature park is also home to 19 rare animal species, including the golden eagle, steppe eagle, peregrine falcon, eagle owl and musk deer. These examples relate to the Altai Region as a whole, not to the description of the two protected areas in Shipunovskiy District.

More than half of the nature park in Smolensk and Altai Districts is designated as a recreation and tourism zone. The existing educational trails in Altai Foothills Nature Park lead to rock formations, a former tungsten mine, abandoned mines and factory villages. This is distinct from the permitted construction of ecological educational trails with observation platforms for birds and animals. The regional nature context thus includes both described trail destinations and permission to build additional facilities of this kind.

Discover more destinations: Mamontovskiy District, Talmenskiy District, Chemalskiy District, Kulundinsky District, Zonal'nyy District, Ongudayskiy District, Egoryevskiy District, Mayminsky District.

Which lakes are in Shipunovskiy District?

Lake Kharkovskoye lies in Shipunovskiy and Mamontovskiy Districts. Lake Syropyatovskoye lies entirely in Mamontovskiy District.

Which habitats does the natural monument protect?

It protects the ecosystems of low-mineralization lakes, including reed beds, floating mats, swamps, meadows, mixed and pine forest, as well as adjacent steppe areas.

What defines the “Charyshskaya step'” protected area?

It covers 5,971 hectares and preserves steppes transitioning into meadow steppes, as well as a poplar floodplain forest with the very rare bay-leaved poplar.

For the broader travel overview: Altai Region.