The Forest Belt

The forest belt is situated in the temperate zone, south of the tundras and forest-tundras. It consists of taiga as well as mixed and deciduous forest areas, and covers the entire central part of Europe.

The Taiga. The climate of the taiga, or coniferous forest belt, is continental. Winters are cold, summers rather warm. These climatic conditions and a sufficiency of rainfall favour the growth of trees. The taiga forests of Europe are everywhere made up largely of such cone-bearing evergreen trees as pine and fir. Thick fir forests cover mainly the damp and clayey areas, thinner pine forests the sandy

areas. When a conifer forest is cut or burned, thickets of aspen and birch make their appearance, but they are soon forced out again by the pines and firs. There are many peatbogs in the taiga.
The taiga covers the bulk of the Scandinavian Peninsula, with the exception of its most northern and southern points and the flat sur-1'aces of the mountains. The central and southern parts of the Kola Peninsula and the regions between the Baltic and White Seas are also taiga area.
The surface of the western part of the European taiga is stony and covered with rounded rocks. In the depressions amidst the rocks are scattered lakes of all sizes with irregular and fantastically shaped shorelines. They are linked by swift streams and seething rapids. The hill slopes and river valleys are covered with pine and fir forests, with a sprinkling of birch here and there, especially in the northern, outlying regions of the taiga and in the Scandinavian Mountains.
Towards the east, on the East European Plain, the taiga belt widens, descending southward to latitude 57°N. Along the Ural Mountains it reaches even further south. The forests in this region contain, in addition to pine and fir, Siberian pikhta (silver fir) and larch (the latter sheds its needles in winter). These increase in number as they approach the Ural Mountains.
There is a great diversity of animal life in the taiga. It is the home of various fur-bearing animals: squirrel, hare, fox, marten, ermine and others. There is bear and lynx inside the thick forests, wolf on its edges. Of the large plant-eating animals the elk is most common. There are many forest birds: wood-grouse, hazel-grouse and others.
The taiga is more densely populated than the tundra. The greater part of the European taiga is Soviet territory. Its inhabitants are engaged in fishing and hunting. Lumbering and timber rafting occupy an important place in their activities, too. There are many sawmills and paper-mills. Dairy cattle graze on the water-meadows alongside the rivers.
Aurochs in the Bialowiez forest

Plots of arable land are scattered amidst the forests. Big towns sometimes occur. They are situated near the seacoast, on the banks of navigable rivers, or in mining regions.
Mixed and Deciduous Forests.

South of the taiga lies the mixed and deciduous forest belt. (A deciduous tree is one that loses its leaves in winter.) The climate here is rather wet. Summers are warm, winters not as long and cold as in the taiga. Broad-leaved trees that could not stand the severe cold of the North can, therefore, grow here. Oak, maple, linden, ash, hornbeam and beech grow side by side with pine, fir, birch and aspen.
The mixed and deciduous forests cover vast areas of Eastern Europe, from the Gulfs of Finland and Riga to the Carpathians. Further east, the mixed and deciduous forest belt gradually narrows and comes to an end in the Southern Urals. In these regions broad-leaved trees are predominant, especially oak, and in the southwest hornbeam. The oak requires a great deal of light and warmth and can stand neither severe winters nor late spring frosts. There are many grassy marshes in the lower places amidst the forests.
In Western Europe the mixed forests merge into broad-leaved oak and beech forests. These extend from the southern edges of the Scandinavian Peninsula to the mountains bordering on the Mediterranean Sea.
The beech requires a wet climate and can stand neither frost nor dry heat. Shadowy beech forests, their trunks high and smooth and their foliage thick and green, are widespread in the Pre-Atlantic areas and on the damp slopes of the mountains.
In the dampest spots, e.g., on the North Sea coast and in Great Britain and Ireland, the forests give way to evergreen meadows with sweet, juicy grass.
Animal life in the mixed and deciduous forests is almost the same as in the taiga, with the addition of wild cat, boar, roe and stag. These, however, are practically extinct now. The aurochs, or European bison, a former inhabitant of these places, is now to be found in government reserves only (in the Bialowiez forest).
The mixed and deciduous forest belt is densely peopled.

and many other of the larger industrial towns are situated in the mixed forest belt. The forests surrounding these towns are closely guarded. Around Moscow a protective forest belt has been grown.
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