Grasslands of the World.pdf - Disasters and Conflicts - UNEP

The Russian Steppe 381
Chapter 10
The Russian Steppe
Joseph G. Boonman and Sergey S. Mikhalev
SUMMARY
The steppe crosses the Russian plain, south of the taiga , penetrating deep into
Siberia. It comprises three main types , which run in roughly parallel bands from
east to west: forest steppe in the north, through steppe, to semi -desert steppe in
the south. Within these belts, zones of temporary inundation on floodplains or in
zones of internal drainage provide valuable hay land. The steppe was increasingly
ploughed for crops during the twentieth century; initially crops were rotated with
naturally regenerated grassland , but from mid-century cultivation was increasingly
intensive. During the collective period, the emphasis was on industrial stock
rearing, with housed cattle and high inputs; since decollectivization, intensive
enterprises are closing for economic reasons, and systems have yet to stabilize.
If ploughed land is left undisturbed it will return naturally to steppe vegetation
in six to fifteen years. Hay is very important for winter feed, and much is made
from seasonally flooded meadows. Many marginal, semi-arid areas of the steppe
have been put under crops, but are not economically viable; much of the cereals
so produced are fed to livestock, but grain yields are very low and yield no more
livestock products than would natural grassland, but at far higher cost. Marginal
cropland should return to grass .
INTRODUCTION
North of the Black and Caspian Seas, straddling both Don and Volga
catchments, lies a stretch of steppe that saw some of the last horse-mounted
nomadic tribes of Europe in action as late as the end of the fifteenth century.
These were the Tatar of the Golden Horde. Then an equally heroic force, now
of self-proclaimed free farmer-soldiers, whose mixed -farming with crop and
livestock was community- and family-based, later called Cossacks, emerged to
hold the newly acquired frontiers of Tsarist Russia .
Throughout history, the Russian steppe had been a natural boundary that
deterred major civilizations or migrations from entering through its southern
gateways. Not physical obstacles – in fact both Don and Volga are major navigable
rivers and run from north to south – but the sheer size and emptiness
of country that had to be traversed effectively separated the north from the
south. Although in search of new granaries, ancient Greek colonization did not
extend much further than the coastal rims of the Black Sea. In a similar fashion,