The Mid-Pripyat State Landscape Zakaznik lies along the middle reach of the Pripyat river between the towns of Pinsk and Turov and stretches across the four districts of Brest region: Pinsk, Stolin, Luninets, Zhitkovichi. It occupies the territory of 90447 ha at the elevation of 120-150m above the sea level, neatly placed within the Pripyat river floodplain and running 120km between the mouths of the Yaselda and Stviga rivers. With the width of 4 to 14km across, the Pripyat floodplain is subject to annual spring floods. It is dominated by alluvial, mostly oak forests, meadows and lowland bogs. The zakaznik is Belarus’ key breeding ground for water fowl and an important spot on the migration routes. The floodplain is the source of hay, it is used as a pasture and for fishing.

International importance of the -Pripyat State Landscape Zakaznik is cinfirmed by the following criteria:
- It is a fine example of flat river valleys, indicative for the biogeographical region of Polesie; - This section of the valley is important in terms of maintaining hydrological and biological functions within the basin of the transborder river of Dnepr;
- The valley is a home for 52 bird species listed in the Red Book of Belarus; 39 of them nest directly in the river valley;
- The reserve supports more than 20 000 individual water birds;
- Over 1% of the total European populations of bittern, black stork, garganey, gadwall, black and white-winged tern nest here;
- The valley is extremely important as spawining grounds for many of the fish species found in the Polesie region.
The Pripyat river valley occupies the central part of the Polesie lowland. The Pripyat river is the principal waterway of the Polesie lowland, its length is 761km; the water catchments area is 121965 км2 , of them 52700 км2 within Belarus. The Pripyat and its tributaries are of lowland river type. The largest left-bank tributaries are Yaselda, Lan and Sluch, right-bank – Styr, Goryn, Stviga. The Pripyat riverbed width varies from 80 to 170m. One of the peculiarities of this section of the valley is the presence of an ancient extended lake-like area which is flooded annually. The peak of the flood on most rivers is registered at the end of March - beginning of April, while its duration is subject to considerable variation – from 40-45 days at lesser rivers up to 3.5-4 months on the Pripyat itself. During floods the water covers the river plain together with the settlements and infrastructure present there. Under maximum flood levels the flooded area can make anything up to 425 000ha.
Within the bogs-rich Mid-Pripyat State Landscape Zakaznik two major types of landscapes are discerned:
- Valley landscape complexes with lowland bogs and black alder forests;
- Flat landscapes dominated by meadows, oak forests and grassland-sedge wetlands.

The river of Pripyat is the major waterway within the Pripyat Polesie region. The river’s hydrological regime influences the groundwater levels in the whole of the region. Conservation and restoration of the river and its tributaries’ natural hydrological regime will help to alleviate the current unfavourable environmental conditions in Polesie, which were brought about by the large-scale drainage of over 1 million ha of the river catchment area in the 1960-1990s.
The reserve’s forests extensively represent the diversity of forest types across the given geobotanic region: 66forest types of 10 formations. When compared to the geobotanical region, the river valley stands out thanks to the abundance of oak forests and black alder forests, while pine and parvifoliate forests are relatively sparsely present.
In relation to the geobotanic region average, we should point out the large share of such rare in the sub-zone communities as hornbeam, maple, linden and elm. In contrast to most unprotected territories, the forests growing in the Pripyat river valley boast a large number of old oak groves, ash and black alder forests. 52% of the reserve’s forests are constituted by the most valuable tree stock: matured oak groves, hornbeam and black alder forests. The major issues for the Pripyat forests is the distortion of the natural hydrological regime, which results in damping of the river valley forests.
Predominant vegetation type is the meadow. Meadows make over half of the reserve’s territory. This easily distinguishes Polesie from all other regions of the country. The territory of the Mid-Pripyat State Landscape Zakaznik can be regarded as a reference example of natural lowland and flood plain meadows. Prolonged floods and uniform landscape of the Pripyat valley conditioned low phytocoenotic variety. Still, the valley features some of the unique and rare in Belarus communities, which developed thanks to the specific soil-forming material and peculiar hydrologic regime; they are helium and wet meadow community.
Over the recent years the flooded meadows and lowland bogs saw an increase in shrub vegetation, which can be attributed to the fact that the local population stopped harvesting hay in the harder-to-reach areas of the valley and preference is now given to easily accessible drained territories.
Plants: 725 plant species have been registered in the reserve. The mid-Pripyat valley is characterized by the highly natural character of the vegetation conditioned by low accessibility and negligible human intrusion due to prolonged floods and absence of road network: at the very best, the flood meadows were used as pastures and source of hay. This had little impact on the number of plant species and helped to preserve them in the natural state. The reserve is a home for 11 species listed in the Red Book and a number of unique, previously not registered in Polesie species, such as three-toothed saxifrage, fen vilet and small-flowered bitter.
Forest areas in Pripyat valley are much better preserved and feature 6 protected species. Some of them are unique in being southernmost or having islands as the predominant habitat.
Valuable animal species: the diversity of the reserve’s animal world can be attributed to the presence of many landscape types creating a highly varied living environment. Among the important habitats are natural lowland bogs; an extensive network of floodplain lakes and intermittent impounded bodies; riverbeds and sandy dunes; waterlogged and steppificated flood meadows; various flooded forests and shrubs.
In total, the number of terricole vertebrates registered within the reserve is as follws: 36 mammal, 182 bird, 6 reptile, 10 amphibian and 37 fish species.
Mammals: the Pripyat river plain is most important in terms of supporting near-water species. It is Belarus’ largest breeding ground for beavers, otters, American minks and European polecats. Waterlogged forests and shrubs provide refugium for moose and wild boar.
Birds. Birds are the most diversified species compared to other vertebrate inhabitants of the reserve. 155 bird species breed here. This makes 68% of the total number of breeding bird species in Belarus – the highest figure among Belarusian protected areas.
Over the period of record, 52 bird species listed in the Red Book were registered here; of them 39 nest on the flood plain. The well-being of 14 protected species depends solely on the situation in the Pripyat river valley. 30-100% of their populations breed on the territory if the reserve, including little bittern, night heron, great white egret, black stork, pintail, white-eyed scaup, greater spotted eagle, little crake, ring plover, Terek sandpiper, bluthroat, penduline tit and azure tit.
The Pripyat river plain has international; significance for the conservation of a whole number of rare and endangered in Europe species. Among the most important of them are aquatic warbler (150-400), greater spotted eagle Aquila clanga (15 pairs), corncrake (500-2000), snipe (50), rarely breeding is the white-eyed scaup, lesser white-fronted goose is regularly found during spring migration.
The Pripyat plain is also crucial for the survival of a number of other species declared endangered in Europe, as it retains there natural habitats that are reducing and disappearing elsewhere in Europe: lowland sedge and reed bogs, large flood meadows, flooded oak groves. Breeding here is over 1% of bittern (300 males), black stork (50-70 pairs) and black tern (500-1000 pairs) populations. Over 1% of the country’s population of 27 bird species inhabits the suggested biosphere reserve.
Pripyat plain is the crucial breeding ground for Belarusian water game: mallard, gadwall, garganey, common shoveler, and during prolonged spring floods – for red-headed scaup and coot.
Pripyat plain is of international importance for a number of water bird species during the spring migration. Polesie lowland is Europe’s largest spring migration route, the Pripyat plain being its axis. This migration course overlaps with the borders of several major glaciations and was probably formed under their influence back in Pleistocene. Its eastward vector distinguishes it from the general northern and north-eastern migration routes of most terricole birds that migrate extensively in Eastern Europe. The total number of geese migrating along Pripyat plain makes, according to preliminary estimates, about 50 thousand, the number of widgeon Anas Penelope reaches 30 thousand.
This section of the Pripyat plain creates favourable conditions for various amphibian and reptile species. Almost all snakes living in Belarus (16 species) have been registered here. Among them are rare fresh-water turtle, natterjack and tree frog.
37 species of fish inhabit the river of Pripyat and inundable ponds. Pripyat is one of the major Belarusian rivers in terms of fishing capacities. 22 species of fish are commercially important: pike, roach, nerfling, redfin, asp, tench, sneep, bream and silver bream, blue bream, sabrefish, crucian carp, golden carp, European carp, catfish, eelpout, pike perch, river perch, several varieties of ruff. This section of the river is important for conservation of catfish – a species that only in 1993 was removed from the Red Book of Belarus.