In 1999, the Chazy reserve was merged with the Maly Abakan reserve. This is how the Khakassky State Nature Reserve appeared, spreading across the endless mountainous taiga expanses.
Relief of the protected area
The steppe of the reserve captured a piece of the left bank of the Minusinsk basin. The mountain steppe zone included in the Khakassky nature reserve is attached to the Altai-Sayan system. Here lakeside basins and river valleys are interspersed with squat hills, ridges and hills, the height of which does not exceed 800-900 meters.
The mountain area is characterized by three types of relief. The alpine alpine relief focused on the ridges. It is represented by sharp-angled peaks, cirques, kars and rocky ridges. The massively high-mountain relief was subdued by flat peaks, gently sloping weakly dissected slopes. Rocks, collapsing, cover the slopes with scree.
Mid-mountain relief covers areas along which erosive divisions, narrow valley plains and slopes with great steepness lie. The expanses around large rivers are dotted with terraces. well-definedfloodplains of small streams include no more than one terrace.
Climatic conditions in the reserve
Khakassky State Reserve is dominated by a sharply continental climate. In the steppe, it is arid, with characteristic monthly and daily temperature fluctuations. In the valley near the Yenisei, the climatic conditions are milder. Snow does not linger on flat areas. The winds blow it into the lowlands and ravines. In the mountain zone, summers are short, and winters are long and cold. High humidity reigns here and cyclones dominate.
Reservoirs in the reserve
The steppe belt of the reserve is strewn with lakes. There are over two hundred of them. The lakes differ in the degree of overgrowth and mineralization. They are distinguished by the size of the water areas. The mountain area is covered with a network of streams and streams. The rivers crossing the Khakass Nature Reserve are endowed with a mountain temper. The water flows in them are stormy and swift, interrupted by multiple rapids, rifts and shivers. Pebbles are scattered along the river banks. On them there are blockages of stony blocks, giant boulders and windbreaks. There are tarn lakes in the highland zone.
On the shores of lakes and river valleys there are reed, sedge and tuber reed bogs. The windows of the swamp water are covered with canaries, reeds, horsetails, cattails, ditches and arrowheads.
Flora
Steppe soils are 40% covered with grayish panzeria, thyme, cold wormwood, cochia, snakehead, dwarf cragan and small sod grasses. The basis of the herbage in the steppes,that covered the Khakassky Reserve, are drought-resistant grasses, represented by false sheep fescue, thin-legged slender, feather grass, bluegrass, sedge and serpentine.
Park-type forests predominate here. Rare and developed undergrowths are overgrown with meadowsweet, cotoneaster, wild rose and acacia. The mountain-taiga belt is overgrown with dark coniferous trees. Insignificant areas are covered with dark coniferous-birch forests. Cedar, cedar-fir and cedar-larch massifs settled in the upper forest belt.
Stand mixed in places. It is represented by birches, cedars, firs, spruces, willows, larches and aspens. The undergrowth is formed by willows, undersized birch trees, Kuril tea, spirea, currants, alder and bird cherry. Blueberries and lingonberries settled in the shrub layer. Blueberries, alpine bison and hairy buzzard are found among the rarefied herbage.
Fauna
The Khakassky National Reserve is inhabited by mammals, fish, birds, reptiles and amphibians. More than 50 species of mammals settled on the territory of the reserve. Hare, muskrat and mink are considered acclimatized species. Steppe lemmings, various voles, ground squirrels and hamsters live here.
Foxes and hares are recognized as habitual inhabitants of the reserve. Hori, badgers and wolves make their homes here. Roe deer are found on its territory. Brown bears, wolverines, lynxes, musk deer, deer and moose have found their abode here. Sayan deer are found in the mountains. To the rareinhabitants include otters, sables and Siberian cats.
The reserve "Khakassky" is rich in birds. There are 244 species found here. In different parts of the reserve, passerines, shorebirds and anseriformes settled down. Nuthatches, Muscovites, taiga crickets, tits, woodpeckers, hazel grouses, wood grouses, scops and owls settled in the forests. Found a place for nesting predators - black kites, hawks, imperial eagles and saker falcons. Rivers and lakes have become a home for whooper swans, hook-nosed scoter, shelducks, shelducks, diving ducks, gulls, shorebirds, eagle owls, demoiselle cranes.
32 species of fish were found in the reservoirs of the reserve. The reservoirs are inhabited by chum salmon and trout, peled and bream, vendace and omul, carp and pike perch. Aboriginal fish here are perches, pikes, crucians and minnows. Occasionally, graylings, taimen, lenok, sterlet, sturgeon and tugun are found in reservoirs.
