Uzbekistan state university of world languages

4. Nature reserves and national parks in Uzbekistan.
The vegetation of the reserve is represented by ephemero-juzgun and amber-ephemera associations typical of Kyzylkum. The most important species are dzhuzgun, sedge (oleaster), osprey, astragal, bojalych and amber. The desert is wonderfully beautiful in early spring when the grass begins to green and blossom, shimmering in all kinds of colours and their combinations. It is the wild tulip bloom, so the desert turns scarlet in some places. Spring is also marked by the return of birds to the nature reserve. Various species of ducks, swans, geese, cranes and hornbills fly here. The ruffed pelican, cormorant, herons, geese, terns, snipe, pheasant and sandpiper can be found on the territory of the nature reserve. Spoonbills and herons nest. In a relatively large area belonging to the Arnasoy Nature Reserve, muskrat, wolf, corsac, wild boar, jackal, fox, badger, cane cat live in the coastal scrub and reed belt, in the water area – carp, catfish, asp, bream, rudd, roach. Among the sandy areas one often meets marmot, yellow ground squirrel, steppe tortoise, long-eared hedgehog, boa constrictor, various species of waterfowl, ram, steppe agama.
The settlement had important strategic, industrial and commercial value during this period. It was a frontier point with nomadic Turks. The Arabs, led by Kuteyba, conquered Bukhara in 706, and in 708-709 they finally subdued Romitan and the possessions of the Vardan-Khudats. In the middle of the XIX century, this area was part of Vardanzi Tumen (municipality), a considerable part of which was covered with sand in 1868. Besides the ruins of Vardanzi, a high mud hill visible from several kilometres away, the area is famous for the Shapurkam Canal, the construction of which dates back to pre-Muslim times and is also popularly believed to have been attributed to the Sassanid prince Shapur. This canal was used to irrigate the lands of the Vardan Khudats.
Despite its small area, the nature reserve is of great importance as an area reclaimed from the desert through hard work. Of great interest here are the black saxaul tree forms, which are unique in size. Kandym, Richter’s cherkez, crested grass also grow here. Hares, foxes and jackals are often seen in the forest. Inhabitants of the forest include corncrake, Egyptian turtle dove, kestrel, nightingale, barred owl, mute swallow, woodpecker. The Zeravshan pheasant, a very beautiful subspecies, inhabits the area of the nature reserve. Reptiles are represented by the steppe agama, arrow snake, cross-banded snake, sand boa and the steppe tortoise.


Due to its extremely poor geographical location, Zarafshan Nature Reserve is under constant pressure from the local population, who perceive its territory exclusively as a place of economic activity. Entire herds of cows and sheep are forced to graze and trample through the nature reserve. Most of the neighbouring villages have no gas and the nature reserve is exposed to deforestation. These problems are the same for all the zapovedniks of Uzbekistan. And unfortunately, the workers themselves are not in a position to change the situation.
In Uzbekistan, Bukhara deer are bred in Badai-Tugai and Kyzylkum reserves, where wild populations of these animals still exist. In Badai-Tugai there are about one and a half hundred individuals and in Kyzylkum reserve – about a hundred. In the latter, there are almost no problems with the local population, as the nearest village is fifteen kilometres from the reserve. And Badai Tugai is slowly drying up – there is not enough water in the Amudarya River. Six Bukhara deer were relocated from these two nature reserves to Zarafshan Nature Reserve in 1996-97. By 2004, there were twenty-three.
In 2004, the general situation regarding the conservation of forest areas in Uzbekistan is as follows: Forests make up only one per cent of the country’s land area. According to official data, the area of floodplain forests has increased tenfold in the last forty years. Those that are left are under the control of the main forestry department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, which, due to their specificity, already considers every forest as potential firewood. Not only has no protected area been established in Uzbekistan in the last 17 years, but one of the two clusters of the Surkhan Protected Area, Aral-Paigambar, has even lost its status. In 1992, this island, which lies on the Amu Darya River between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, was taken over by enterprising Afghans who hacked away at the island as if it were their home, brutally clearing the riparian forest and transporting it to their side on pontoons. The special forces intervened, drove out the “interventionists” and the island was handed over to the Border Guard. This is not the only loss of protected areas. The area of the Nurata Nature Reserve has also been reduced by about three thousand hectares. And according to some reports, the area of the Maidan Valley section of the Chatkal Nature Reserve, the oldest in the republic, has been reduced.