KGZ14 Kurp-Say Key Biodiversity Area

Area: 4 500 ha.
Category of KBA: B1
The species that initiated the allocation of KBA [and other species under threatened with global extinction, which are present in the KBA, but which have not been confirmed to meet the global KBA criteria]:
Plants: Cousinia abolinii, Phlomoides adylovii, Phlomoides kurpsaica, Scutellaria andrachnoides, Silene fetissovii
Availability of PA: (none)
Settlements on the territory of the KBA: Kurup-Sai 1, Kurup-Sai 2, Kurup-Sai- 3
Adjacent to the territory of the KBA: -
Location: Ak Zhol village district of Jalal-Abad region KR.



General Description:A river flows through the Kurp-Sai gorge, flowing (as one of the right tributaries) into the Naryn River in the area of the Kurp-Sai reservoir.
In spring, the gorge is very picturesque and famous for its beautiful views. In summer, starting from August, the bright colors of the gorge are replaced by a monochromatic mountain steppe landscape: nature “fades” along with ephemerals and ephemeroids, which make up most of the local grass cover.



Species that initiated the isolation of KBA: Cousinia abolinii, Phlomoides adylovii, Phlomoides kurpsaica, Scutellaria andrachnoides, Silene fetissovii
Settlements on the territory of the KBA: - Kurp-Sai 1,- Kurp-Sai 2,- Kurp-Sai 3 (24 households - 133 people).



The Kurp-Sai reservoir
Kurpsai hydroelectric power station — HES on the Naryn River in Kyrgyzstan. The second most powerful, after the Toktogul HES, the country's hydroelectric power station. Included in the Naryn-Syrdarya cascade of HEP. The HES dam forms the Kurpsai reservoir of weekly regulation. It is located in a narrow mountain gorge. In the area of the dam, the gorge with a slope of 35-40 degrees rises from 180 to 380 meters above the bed of the Naryn River.



The construction of the dam began in 1976. Completed in 1980. First electricity was supplied in 1981. The canyon-type reservoir has a length of about 40 km, an average width of 300–500 m. The area of the reservoir is 12 km², the total volume is 370 million m³, and the useful volume is 35 million m³. Used for energy purposes. HES capacity - 800 MW, average annual output - 2.63 billion kWh.



The Kurp-Sai HES covers peak loads in the Unified Energy System of Central Asia, which increase with the onset of cold weather.

Source: https://open.kg/about-kyrgyzstan/nature/water-resources/reservoir/33365-kurpsayskoe-vodohranilische.html
Additional Information: http://www.cawater-info.net/review/kurpsay.htm



Ecology: In the high mountain glaciers of the Kurp-Sai, Kor-Koktu, Razan-Sai and Kyzyl-Beyit gorges, the right tributaries of the Naryn River originate, which flow into the place where the Kurpsay reservoir was formed. All gorges are a storehouse of unique biodiversity, and endemic species listed in the Red Book of the Kyrgyz Republic grow in all of them. For example, Persian mountain ash (Sorbus persica), which a public research group (PF EcoMiR together with a specialist from the National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic) found in the amount of 986 trunks in the upper reaches at the headwaters of the rivers of the gorges.



At the same time, a number of serious threats emerged. The discovered population of mountain ash is under the threat of destruction by the gold mining LLC "Oriel Gold" at the Taktazan deposit. And there are many such examples. For the sake of coal or a few kilograms of gold, mountains are dug up and turned into the surface of the moon.



In order to solve the problem and conduct a full-fledged dialogue with the state and business companies for the protection of biodiversity, local ecological groups need a thorough information and statistical base, including the locations of Red Book species in gorges, as well as developed ecotourism routes that reveal the potential of the area.

KGZ14 Kurp-Say: Kurp-Say Key Biodiversity Area