Objects of Ukrainian natural reserve fund: history, modern state, problems and prospects of development

E-mail: park@uzhansky.uzhgorod.ua

4. Botanical garden. Kremenets

The city of Kremenets. Total area – 200 ha.

The botanical garden dates back to 1806. It was founded by the XIX century outstanding master of landscape architecture, Dionysus McClair from Ireland. In the beginning, the botanical garden occupied 4.5 ha and included a recreation park, breeding-grounds, rosarium, and greenhouse. To create expositions, its founder applied for saplings from other parks in Ukraine, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, England, and other European countries. By the year 1810, the botanical garden hosted 1,662 species of exotic plants and more than 600 species of local flora, while its territory increased to 20 ha.                                                                         

At present, Kremenets botanical garden has 551 species and 234 types of plants. Its collection of arboreal and fruit-bearing plants consists of 151 species and forms. The garden hosts 150 species of herbaceous vascular plants, 50 species and 40 sorts of fruit plants, 35 species and 70 sorts of vegetable-and-fodder plants, 30 species and four types of medicinal and kitchen herbs, and 80 species and 120 sorts of flowers and decorative plants. Its collection of hothouse plants includes 55 species. The garden is also notable for five endemic species in the region and 12 species of plants that were included in the Red Book of Ukraine.

3.5 Regional landscape parks

The “Meotida” landscape park, Donetsk region.

Early in August the Sea of Azov blooms just like rivers and lakes. The water surface is covered with a thick layer of duckweed making the sea look like a steppe of swaying grass. When the Romans saw this thrilling natural phenomenon, they called the sea Meotic Swamp (meots – ancient tribes, which inhabited the present territory of the of Azov in 1 millenium BC). The name was later given to the natural park located by the Sea of Azov – Meotida. The park is a marvelous place offering a view of the steppes blending with the sea in a single wavy mass. In 2001 the park was included to the international organization "Federation Europark”. The symbol of the park is a bird avocet. It covers a 2 km coast line of the Sea of Azov including Belosarayskaya Kosa (spit) and a number of small bays, which contribute to the high recreational potential of the area. The Sea of Azov is the smallest, the shallowest, the most limnetic, the most productive and the most distant from the World Ocean on the Earth. About 100 species of birds are nesting in the park, there are 47 species of mammals, 7 species of reptiles, 79 species of fish, 1500 species of insects in the park. Park’s prides are numerous colonial settlements of hydrophilic birds and nesting place on the arrow of Belosarayskaya Kosa (Curve Spit) is unique in the whole Europe. That is why the Sea of Azov is one of top attractions in the south of Donetsk oblast. The area is just the place, where you can mix recreation with heath improvement. A warm sea, sand beaches, mineral waters, therapeutic mud, favorable climate and geography make Meotida the best option for a city break.

Nadsyanskyi regional landscape park (19428 ha). It was created in 1997 for the protection and preservation of the beautiful Carpathian river – San. The park also has an international meaning, because it is situated at the border of Ukraine with Poland and it borders with the alike Polish regional landscape park. At the same time Park is the part of the world's first trilateral biosphere reserve "Eastern Carpathians"(Ukraine, Poland, Slovenia) by the UNESCO Man and Biosphere Reserve Program, since 1998. There is very favorable climate both for the rest and for the scientific researchers at the territory of the Nadsyanskyi regional landscape park. Here are wounderful mountain landscapes with the original architecture of lemkis(Ukrainian ethnic group which settles Carpathian mountains) and boyks while the industrial complexes are not developed. As a result of it this territory is very perspective for the tourism development.

Anyway this “young” park requires an inventory of flora and fauna with the view of fixing the borders of spreading the species and their places of habitation which are preserved in Ukraine and in the European Union. It is necessary to determine the borders of the forest reserves and natural monuments, to study historical and ethnocultural heritage and together with the local authorities and local inhabitants to state the optimal ways of preservation of this unique territory. Such an approach should also be fundamental for the economic development on the territory of the park through the implementation of steady strategy of development with the help of traditional ways of land using, manufacturing local products, recreation and tourism(hiking, biking and horse trekking).

6. Refuges

“Stone village” (Ukrainian Stonehenge)

The time of emerging is the boulder-period (nearly 20 thousand years BC).

The formation of the “Stone village” formed as a result of glacier descent 20 thousand years ago, which brought stones that subsequently get fancy forms through their gradual erosion. The “stone village” is one of the most mysterious places in Ukraine.  It is also called “Ukrainian Stonehenge”. A lot of stones with it’s forms resemble village houses, one can find “square” with school and even “church”. The stone with “the traces of God” known as “God’s track” is the most popular object among tourists. The leader is leaned against the stone. According to the superstitions this “trace” gives the pilgrims health and fulfillment of wishes. “Stone village” is the unique gathering of large boulders on the territory of 15 ha forest. The name of the refuge derives from the stones which draw up forming “street” notably like houses on the street. The “stone village” is situated near the rural area Rudnia-Zamislovitska, Olevsky district, Zhytomyr region (the area of Zamislovitskogo forestry). Tourists should be careful, because it is rather difficult to get to the village it is better to do trips in the period from May to October.

 The legend about the “Stone village”

The name “Stone village” is connected with such a legend. The story says that there was a rich village in the forest. Once an old man in the wretched clothes was going through this village. He stopped near one of the yard and asked an owner for a shelter. The owner of the house said that he was busy and didn’t allow the old man to come in. The old man silently walked ahead. After leaving the village he looked over the village and it turned to stones. The old man in reality was God who came down to the land. God punished evil people by turning them to the stones together with their houses. A huge barefooted trace remained at one of the stones where God was having rest. According to another legend the between God and the forces of darkness took place at the place of stone village. It lasted for a long time and eventually the dark forces were defeated. The deep scratches from the claws of devils stayed at the rocks. God, returning to the sky, took a few steps on a stone and left the prints on it.

3.7 Natural monuments

White rock

It is a monument of nature of national importance (1981) in the environs of Belogorsk. A formidable rock rises above the alley for more than 150 meters; its height above the sea level is 325 meters. In the upper part of the rock interesting stone pillars were formed in the process of wind erosion. And between them, shaded eye-sockets of inaccessible natural grottoes and oval niches, can be seen from a far against the white back-cloth; in the lower, more scoping part of the mountainside - falls and piles of huge limestone boulders. Ak-Kaya is also of great interest as an archaeological object. For the first time in Crimea, here the skull wreckage of the grown-up Neanderthal man was found, and at the foot of the rock, scientists dug out about 20 encampments of primitive men of the Muster Age (100-40 thousand years ago). The Sarmatians lived in a cave at the foot of White Rocks in the first centuries AD. the Sarmatian tamgi were found - generic characters that were carved in stone for the approval of the ownership of this territory. There are many Scythian burial mounds on the plateau. It is the natural monument of republican significance since 1981.                                                                                                                          

Bogdan Khmelnitsky was at the top of White Rock, the hostages were throwing down from the rock on his eyes in order to force Bogdan Khmelnitsky to pay ransom. In 1777, it housed as the headquarters for Suvorov. In 1783 representatives of the Crimean aristocracy gathered by Prince Potemkin took an oath of allegiance to Russia on the plateau of the White Rocks. A lot of movies were shooting here because of the unordinary mountain beauty. These films are: A Man from Boulevard des Capucines, "Mustang pacer", "Chief of the Red," Mirage, "Chipollino", "Armed and extremely dangerous," "Cabbages and Kings," "Lobo", "money-changers," “Wonderful valley”.

3.8 Ukrainian preserved sites

Mezhirich

The archaeological site of Mezhirich is an Upper Paleolithic (Gravettian) site located in Ukraine near Kiev, and it is one of the best preserved sites of its type excavated to date. The site is a large open air Upper Paleolithic site, dated to about 15,000 years ago. Mezhirich, discovered by a farmer in the mid-1960s, includes a quite substantial mammoth bone dwelling, a circular hut or house built incorporating the tusks, leg bones, and jaw bones of mammoths, extinct elephants. The hut has been estimated to have included nearly 100 animals in the making. Additional artifacts found in the interior of the hut included imported amber; a mammoth skull painted with red symbols and interpreted as a drum, one of the earliest known percussion instruments; and a mammoth tusk carved with what appears to be a map.

3.9 Arboretum (Dendrological park)

Sofiyivsky Park

Sofiyivsky Park is an arboretum and a scientific-researching institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The park is located in the northern part of the Uman city, Cherkasy Oblast near the river Kamianka. Some areas of the park are reminiscent of an English garden. Today the park is a popular recreational spot, annually visited by 500 000 visitors. Soviyivka is a scenic landmark of world gardening design at the beginning of 19th century. The park accounts for over 2,000 types of trees and brush (local and exotic).                                                        

 Since 1980 director of the park is the member-correspondent of the Academy of Sciences, doctor of biological sciences Ivan Kosenko. In 1985 small planet #2259 was named "Sofiyivka" after this park.                                                                        

It was founded in 1796 by Count Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki, a Polish noble who rebuilt Uman after the Koliyivschyna. The city of Uman at that time was part of the Russian Empire. The park is named after his Greek wife Sofia (Zofia Potocka) and was built in 1802, it was a gift of Statinslaw Potocki to his wife on her birthday. The cost of the original park was estimated at roughly 15 million złoty, a fortune by contemporary standards. The main contractor was Ludwik Metzel, a Polish military engineer who imported many rare plants from all around Europe. By original idea of the architect, the park illustrates different parts of Homer's poems Odyssey and Iliad. The land for the park was highly undeveloped with numerous ravines and divided by the Kamianka river. The main composition of the park is located by the very same river with series of artificial basins and ponds, waterfalls (the highest one is 14m tall), locks, subterranean river Akhenront (length-224m), fountains. The park is decorated with a number of sculptures, mostly antique ones, and artificial cliffs, grottoes, and gazebos. It is one of the world famous garden-park art creations. There are many scenic areas in the park including waterfalls, fountains, ponds and a stone garden. It is one of the most famous examples of late 18th or early 19th century European landscape garden design that has been preserved to the present time. The Sofiyivsky Park was named one of the Seven Wonders of Ukraine on August 21, 2007, based on voting by experts and the internet community.

3.10 Zoological parks.

Kiev Zoo was founded in 1908 by the Nature Lovers Society and financed by private donations. At the beginning the zoo experienced difficult times and could not boast a great amount of animals: there were just 17 kinds. The first winter the animals had to spend in the food department of the main Kiev railway, as the zoo founders did not find a shelter for the animals they possessed. For a short time the zoo inhabitants lived in the University Botanical Garden, but each month the quantity of animals was increasing, there were not enough space for all of them, and sometimes some of them frightened the university students and professors. Only 4 years after the zoo foundation it was given a relatively large area on the outskirts of the city. In 1913 the animals celebrated the house-warming. In 1914 the zoo greeted its first guests, but the Civil War and the World War I put obstacles in the way of the zoo development. Only in the 20s the zoo was reborn. During the World War II the territory of the zoo was occupied by German military garrison, as for majority of animals, they were evacuated beforehand.

After the end of the war the animals were returned to Kiev, all the cages were restored and renovated. The birds pavilion, open in 1970, was considered to be the largest in Europe. In 1982 the guests to Kiev Zoo could see the animals island, which was separated from the rest of the zoo by wide ravines and housed tigers and lions. In 1996  Kiev Zoo was included in European association of zoos and aquariums.  

Nowadays the zoo is located in the center of the city and occupies the territory of 40 hectares. The landscape relief allows all the zoo inhabitants live in comfortable conditions. The collection of Kiev Zoo numbers over 2,000 fauna representatives from all over the world, including mammals, birds, snakes, fishes and insects. The zoo boasts a pair of elephants. Over 130 kinds of trees and bushes decorate the zoo lands. Kiev Zoo also serves as a scientific research center, where the specialists work on acclimatization of the far lands animals, preserving and reproduction of rare animals, such as Amur tiger, bison, Przhevalsky horse and some others.

Nowadays the state of the zoo is terrible. The European commission PETA(People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) listed Kiev Zoo to the top-5 of the worst zoos in the world. 51 animals died beginning from 2008, among them Indian elephant, 3 penguins, Przewalski's horse, zebra, tiger, bears, female camel. During the year and a half 54 monkeys died. The previous owner Berzina is accused in spending money in her own purposes.

3.11 Parks, monuments of landscape architecture

Alexandria

Alexandria is one of the best parks in Ukraine. It is located in Bila Cerkva. Alexandria is a monument of landscape architecture XVIII-XIX centuries. It beauty once admired A.S. Pushkin and T.G. Shevchenko. Alexandria is a perfect example of a romantic park. Park was created in place of the natural oak forests near the river Ross and it surrounded by fields and meadows.

At first it was summer, and then the main residence of the Counts Branicki. The park is named in honor of his mistress and founder of the Alexandra Vasilevny Branitskaya - "Alexandria". Creation of the park "Alexandria" is inextricably linked with the historical past of the Right-Bank Ukraine. For services to the crown, F.K. Vranitsky in 1774 was appointed grand crown hetman of Poland and the elder Belotserkovsky. It is area Belotserkovsky name with forest land of 400 thousand acres (437 hectares). Construction of the park began in the late XVIII century. During this period in Western Europe in vogue were English or landscape style of construction, so Alexandria arranged in the same style. The author of the master plan for the park was a famous French architect Myuffo. Many plants for laying the park were imported from the Kingdom of Poland and from abroad. Almost simultaneously with the tree planting work began on the general improvement of the park and construction of residences and other architectural structures. During the Great Patriotic War of 1941 -1945 years was damaged much of the trees, still heavily damaged monuments. Valuable Park tracks overgrown with weeds and self-sowing of low-grade wood. On the eastern edge of the park were completely destroyed by the pine plantation area of 3 hectares. Nowadays Alexandria is one of the beautiful parks in Ukraine.

4. Problems of Ukrainian preserve fund

In the program of the perspective development of Ukrainian natural preserves it is emphasized that the main problems in development of the Ukrainian conservation business (“Preserves”) are mainly connected with the inaccurate system of management in this area. Also the area of nature reserve fund in Ukraine is insufficient and remains much lower than in most European countries, where the average percentage of nature reserved area is 15%.                                              

 Another one problem is an environmental protection which is diverse and complicated. Some measures for this problem should be implemented, for instance: the rational usage of the vegetational and other natural resources; creation of optimal conditions for the growth of plants for the purpose of increasing their productivity (drainage engineering, irrigation, fertilizing), organization of nature preservations and protection of natural monuments(unique kinds of trees, highly productive plantings, long-lived plants). The protection of environment presupposes tight connection between plans of development of industry and building with the preventive measures, in accordance with the legislation about environmental protection. At present time there is a danger of the industrial pollution of the atmosphere all over the world. People learned how to use nature and usually not in the best way. As a result of household activities nearly 300 thousands of chemical substances get into the atmosphere annually. Only the problem of carbonic acid forced the well-known scientists to think about its harmful consequences for manufacturing of foodstuff. Currently nearly 20 tons of mineral raw materials are obtained annually, the biggest part of which would become the waste on the Earth surface or in its reservoirs. Plenty of environmental problems have been caused by economic activities. There are many consequences of damaging environment. One of them is the water pollution. The Dnipro and others rivers are in danger. They are filled with poison: industrial waste, all kinds of chemical elements and pesticides. Industrial enterprises of large cities waste harmful substances into river and sea’s waters. The emissions destroy fishing industry and lead to damage of wildlife.                                                                                                                                One more problem is the air pollution. For example, pumping waste gases from a power station or metallurgical plants do not get rid of them. The waste gases cause acid rains.  The next ecological problem is the problem of the Azov Sea. The Azov Sea is the special case. Because it is such a small sea, it becomes dirty very easily. Many industrial centers such as Mariupol, Berdyansk pour into the sea all kinds of chemicals. It naturally influences the state of the sea water and the shore line flora and fauna.   But the most terrible ecological problem of Ukraine is Chernobyl. The effect of Chernobyl disaster is dangerous and tragic, because we don’t know up to the end all the consequences of radioactive contamination. One of the largest sections of nature and recreation is human’s rest in nature. Stressful rhythm of city life makes a person search for recreation outside his usual environment: often outside the city. The biggest part of tourists spends their free time in various natural, rural, regional and national parks. A large crowd of people on a territory also does not pass for it without a trace. Chaotic tourism has destroyed plenty of unique corners of nature. That is why the process of recreation as the kind of nature management should be ruled. The human’s impact on the nature more often acquires the character of the irreparable trouble. A person cannot do not to consume products of nature. Another one problem is insufficient financial support from the government together with the lack of resources in general and lack of effective mechanisms of use of available resources for implementation of adequate management tools in protected areas. Economic value of land is changed resulting in legal nihilism and hindering the Environmental Network development.                                                                                

What can be done to protect nature? Еnvironmental disasters can be avoided if people broaden ecological education and every person understands that the beauty of nature is extremely fragile and people must obey the unwritten laws of nature. Governments must be prepared to take action against pollution. Air pollution could be reduced if plants and factories are made to fit effective filters on chimneys and car exhausts. Green zones around big cities must be protected and extended. Natural resources should be used economically because their stocks are not unlimited. Thus the preservation of nature in the modern understanding it is the rational consumption of it first of all and depends on us.                                                                                           

   Summary

Nature reserve fund is a part of dry land and water space, which natural complexes and objects have special environmental, scientific, aesthetic, recreational and other value and are singled out with the purpose to preserve natural variety of landscapes, flora and fauna. The most floristically rich regions of Ukraine are the Crimean and Carpathian Mountains (2,220 and 2,012 species of vascular plants respectively). Natural or semi-natural vegetation covers about 29% of Ukraine’s territory and is represented mostly by forests (14.3%), meadows (9.7%), mires (2%), steppes and saline habitats (3%). Useful plants are also well represented and include medicinal (more than 1000 species), vitamin-producing (200), oil-producing (300), melliferous (more than 1000), tannin- and natural dye-producing (up to 100 species) plants.                                                                                                    The territories and objects of nature reserve fund may be used for: environmental, scientific investigation, health care and recreation, education and bringing up, needs of environmental monitoring.                                                                             Ukraine is home to a very wide range of living species, and is divided into two main zoological areas. One of these areas, in the west of the country, is made up of the borderlands of Europe, where there are species typical of mixed forests, the other is located in eastern Ukraine, where steppe-dwelling species thrive. In the forested areas of the country it is not uncommon to find lynxes, wolves, wild boar and martens, as well as many other similar species; this is especially true of the Carpathian mountains, where a large number of predatory mammals make their home, as well as a contingent of brown bears. Around Ukraine's lakes and rivers beavers, otters and mink make their home, whilst within, carp, bream and catfish are the most commonly found species of fish. In the central and eastern parts of the country, rodents such as hamsters and gophers are found in large numbers. All these rare species of animals and plants, as well as Ukrainian picturesque localities can be found in protected areas throughout objects of Ukrainian reservation fund such as: Ukraine Biosphere reserves, wildlife preservations, national natural parks, regional landscape parks, refuges, natural monuments, preserved sites, botanic gardens, arboretum, zoological parks, and monuments of landscape architecture.   Thus these objects provoke a huge interest both among Ukrainian and foreign tourists.  Each year state important objects of Ukraine’s nature fund are visited by over 1.4 million people, 172 tourist routes have been created, and stationary recreational objects of total capacity more than 40 thousands beds are working. Ukraine has a huge potential in this sphere, the only thing we should remember is the careful attitude to the nature. Ukrainian nature reserved fund is suffering from the lack of financial support and the environmental problems. Nature reserve fund shall be protected as a national inheritance.                                                                                Long, chaotic usages of medicinal plants, unfavorable ecological situation, have lead to the crisis state of the majority wild growing and medicinal plants. During just 20 years the amount of species of animals and plants has increased 4 times. Conservation of Ukrainian genetic resources, different landscapes is one o the most important task of nature conservation activity of the country.