Geography and Nature

Location: the north-western part of the Vologda Oblast

Border regions: Republic of Karelia in the north, the Arkhangelsk Oblast in the east, the Leningrad Oblast to the west, the districts of Kirillov, Belozersk, Vashki within the Vologda Oblast

Geographic coordinates: between 60 25 N and 61 35 N, between 35 10 E and 38 20 E

Total area: 13,100 sq km

Area - comparative: the oblast's biggest district

Total population: 38,200 people

Climate: temperate continental with long winters (average temperature in January is -10.8 C), short warm summers (average temperature in July is +16.5 C)

Terrain: mostly broad, shallow plains with gently rolling uplands

Geography - note: watershed of three seas (the Baltic, the White Sea, the Caspian Sea) - a unique joint of the basins of two oceans (the Atlantic and the Arctic) in Russia, the Andoma Hills with its highest point of the sea level of 300 m which is not typical of ocean watershed.

Inland waters: numerous rivers - the Samina, the Megra, the Vytegra, the Andoma (all in all 108) and many lakes (the Onega, Kovzhskoye Lake, Megorskoye Lake, the Tudozero) that are used for water supply, transport communication, fishing and tourism.

Lake Onega (9,890 sq km) situated between Lake Ladoga and the White Sea is the largest lake in the District of Vytegra. The second largest lake in Europe, it is 240 km (150 mi) long with a maximum width of 100 km (60 mi) and a maximum depth of 110 m (360 ft). The lake is located on the heavily glaciated Baltic Shield. Its shores are low and sandy in the south, rocky and indented in the north. It is frozen from November to May. The lake receives the Vytegra and the Volga rivers and drains south-west through the Svir River into Lake Ladoga. Parallel to the southern shore of the lake runs the Onega Canal, 72 km (45 mi) long, which joins the Svir and Vytegra rivers and forms part of the Volga-Baltic Waterway.

Some lakes of the District of Vytegra (the Kushtozero, Shimozero, Undozero, Dolgozero) sometimes suddenly disappear together with their fish. It usually happens in winter. In this case the inhabitants of the shores see only a silt bottom and a crater left here and there, through which all the water has gone down. Once in a while (in 2-3 years), the water comes back, very often together with fish. However, some species, such as perch and bream, do not return to these lakes for a long time. The secret of this mystery lies in the nature of Vytegra bowels of the earth. They consist of limestone layers penetrated through with labyrinths of karst cavities, which take in any quantity of water.

Natural resources: gravel and construction sand (with total reserves of 3,3 mln cu m), quartz (deposits of 2,9 mln cu m), dolomite (35,3 mnl cu m), limestone (with the reserves equalling 410 mln cu m), fire-clay (318,700 cu m), brick earth (with reserves amounting to 577,000 cu m).

Flora and fauna: 34 species of fish - salmon, trout, white-fish, bream, pike perch, perch, pike and others; species of birds - wood grouse, hazel grouse, loom, golden eagle, black grouse; mammals - bear, wolf, fox, elk, wild boar, marten, nutria, lynx, badger and others. The plant life map looks quite mixed.

Protected areas: the Andoma geological profile exposing Devonian layers on the shore of Lake Onega, natural reserves located near the karstic lakes that disappear from time to time, the karstic lakes, virgin fir-woods, pine forests rich in red bilberries, rock exposure and weathering in the valley of the Tagazhma river and the Patrov brook.