Site Implementation Plan: Novy, Russia

Table of Contents

1. Site information
2. Summary
3. Location description
   1. Land degradation
   2. Soils
   3. Annual rainfall and seasonality
4. Stakeholder information
5. Land use
6. Conservation measures and experimental setup
7. Monitoring activities
8. Analysis

Location description

Coordinates: 51°82' N; 47°03' E

Physiographic setting of the plots

The Novy Study site belongs to the territory of Marksovsky District, which is belonging to the Saratov Region (Oblast) of Russian Federation. This region from geographical point of view is situated in the southeast of the Eastern European plain named "Great Russian Plain" in the Lower part of Volga River, called Nighnee Povolzhie. (an area surrounding Volga downstream). Total surface area of the Marsovsky District is about 29·103 km².

Administrative maps of a) Saratov Region; b) Marks District, both Russian Federation.

The natural divider of Saratov Region is Volga River. The Saratov Region is very diverse territory. To describe the study area it is important to take into account on which bank of the Volga River is bordering the area. The right bank of the river represents a strip of Eurasian steppe considered of different grass, but left bank is a western province of middle Asian zone of deserts of moderate climatic zone.

The Saratov Region is considered as a zone of risky agriculture where cultivation is impossible without irrigation. The predominant original and current land use type is cropland, specifically annual and perennial (non-woody) cropping.