Geography and Nature

Location: the southern part of the Vologda Oblast. The district boasts a very advantageous geographic and economic location. The extensive network of highways and railways runs through the district, the federal paved highway connecting Moscow with Arkhangelsk and the railways linking Saint Petersburg and the Urals, Moscow and Arkhangelsk among them. All this makes getting to the District of Gryazovets extremely easy.

Border regions: the districts of Vologda, Mezhdurech'ye, Babushkino and Tot'ma within the Vologda Oblast; the Yaroslavl Oblast in the south-west, the Kostroma Oblast in the south-east.

Total area: 502,900 has.

Terrain: morain plateau, mostly flat, shallow plains with gently rolling uplands.

Geography - note: watershed of the Volga River and the Northern Dvina.

Inland waters: numerous rivers, mostly shallow (56 all in all) - the Lezha, the Obnora, the Komela, the Monza, the Sot, the Sen'ga and others, Nikolskoye Lake (square - 11,000 sq m).

Soil: clay, loamy, podzol ans swampy.

Natural resources: loam, sand, peat, lime water, sapropel (with total reserves of 172,000 tons), an oilfield (with an extractive resource amounting to 113 mln tons).

Climate: temperate continental with long winters (average temperature in January is -11.9°C), short warm summers (average temperature in July is +17.3°C). Precipitates make up 540 mm a year. The average blanket of snow is 40-50 cm (highest - 100-110cm).

Forets: The main wealth of the district of Gryazovets is wood. This occupies over 74% of the territory (372,300 has). Main species are pine, spruce, birch, alder and aspen.