Great Plan For The Transformation of Nature - Major Projects

Major Projects

A network of irrigation canals was built in the steppe belt of southern Soviet Union, and in the deserts of Central Asia.

A project was proposed to plant trees in a gigantic network of shelterbelts (Russian: лесополоса, lesopolosa, 'forest strip') across the steppes of southern Soviet Union, similar to what had been done in the northern plains of the United States in the 1930s following drought and extensive damage of the Dust Bowl years.

The government launched a number of extensive projects in land improvement, hydroengineering for water control, irrigation and power, and in supporting areas. Planned to be carried out until 1965, the projects were mostly abandoned after the death of Stalin. During the years of destalinization, his critics attacked the projects, chiefly because they were under the control of now discredited agronomist Trofim Lysenko. Despite their drawbacks in planning and implementation, the projects were based on ecological principles of developing natural environments that supported agriculture, which have been revived since the late twentieth century. The practices of planting appropriate crops, grasses and trees, for instance, is considered the best way to reduce soil erosion in dry areas rather than trying to impose practices from areas with more rain. The project diverted the rivers that fed into the Aral Sea, thus contributing to its disappearance.