THE PRESENT STATE AND TASKS OF COMPLEX MAPPING IN THE USSR

Recent developments in the Soviet Union's program of national thematic mapping and regional complex mapping are reviewed. A comprehensive mapping program along these lines, formulated in 1969 by GUGK, the government planning agency, has not been implemented. National thematic maps in the Soviet Union continue to be compiled by individual government agencies without coordination and without uniformity in legend and design, so that comparability is made difficult. The only thematic GUGK maps now being prepared are concerned with two long-term regional development programs in the Soviet Union–the rural development plan for the Nonchernozem zone of the European RSFSR and the construction of the Baykal-Amur Mainline (BAM) railroad in the Soviet Far East. The need for a comprehensive and coordinated program of national thematic maps and regional atlases or map series is once again stressed in connection with economic planning and environmental problems, and a program of continuously updated regional atlases, based on digital data banks, is proposed. Suggestions are also made for the coordination of thematic maps at the international level.     

AGRICULTURE IN THE NONCHERNOZEM ZONE OF THE RSFSR

A review of the physical geography and the agricultural economy of the nonchernozem zone of the RSFSR in light of the announced long-term program of development of the zone, with emphasis on dairy and beef cattle, vegetables and potatoes for the large urban population. (See “News Notes,” Soviet Geography, September 1974, p. 443.)     

THE NONCHERNOZEM DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM AND PROSPECTIVE SPATIAL SHIFTS IN GRAIN PRODUCTION IN THE AGRICULTURAL TRIANGLE OF THE SOVIET UNION

The Soviet program to proceed from further expansion of the grain area in the semi-arid steppe zone to intensification of graingrowing in the humid Nonchernozem Zone after decades of neglect is considered a landmark decision in the history of Soviet agriculture. If successfully carried out, the Nonchernozem program might yield by the late 1980s a grain increment equivalent to the amount now being imported by the Soviet Union for its own needs and for re-export to its allies. The implementation of the Non-chernozem program would also have consequences for regional grain-production patterns in the Soviet Union. The Nonchernozem Zone would be in a position to make a more significant contribution to the demand for grain in the industrial centers of European Russia, thus easing the pressure on the virgin lands of northern Kazakhstan and reducing the need for the present long grain hauls. Finally, a greater shift of grain production into the humid Nonchernozem would be in keeping with a program of water economies since grain output in the humid zone requires less than half of the water needed for grain production in the arid zone. The success of the Nonchernozem program is conditioned on greater attention to the development of rural infrastructure, particularly roads, which the author considers a key element in upgrading the agriculture of the region.     

THE IMPACT OF THE SYSTEM OF MINOR CIVIL DIVISIONS ON AGRICULTURE

Mathematical techniques are used to test the hypothesis that Soviet farm efficiency, as reflected in farm profit rates, is higher in areas where the boundaries of collective and state farms coincide with the boundaries of rural soviets, the lowest local government areas. Conversely, farm performance suffers when farm territories are broken up among two or more rural soviets. The use of Karl Pearson's coefficient of contingency, which may be used to measure the strength of a relationship between qualitative variables, shows a positive relationship between farm profit rates and boundary coincidence. The authors therefore urge frequent review of local government areas to insure that they correspond to the boundaries of agricultural operating units.     

BASIC TRENDS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FOREST INDUSTRY ALONG THE BAYKAL-AMUR MAINLINE

The zone served by the Baykal-Amur Mainline is expected ultimately to contribute roughly one-tenth of the Soviet Union's timber products, which would represent one-fourth to one-third of the freight traffic of the railroad in some segments. Total removals of roundwood are now roughly 15 million m³ in the zone to be served by the BAM, including 11 million in the inner zone (total Soviet roundwood removals now run 380–390 million m³ a year). In the foreseeable future, removals in the BAM zone are expected to reach 30 to 35 million m³, including 20 million in the inner zone. Projections for 10 logging districts suggest that most of the logging activities will be concentrated at the two extremities of the BAM—the Upper Lena district (34% of projected removals) and the Komsomol'sk district (39%). Timber processing complexes will also be concentrated in these two areas.     

THE ROLE AND MAIN FUNCTIONS OF THE OUTER ZONE IN THE TERRITORIAL STRUCTURE OF THE MOSCOW REGION

The proposed basic functions and structure of the “Outer Zone” of the Moscow Region are outlined as part of a long-term physical planning model. The zone, which includes the Transition Zone, Linear Anti-Cores I and II, and Peripheral Zone I of the original model (Soviet Geography, February 1987), is to serve primarily as a check to territorial growth of the Core (a function once assigned to the more centrally located, but now largely developed Buffer Zone) and a potential base for new economic development in the future. A ranking of sites for limited, more immediate development is included (translated by H. L. Haslett, Birmingham, UK).     

THE BAYKAL-AMUR MAINLINE AND THE INTEGRATED ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE EASTERN REGIONS OF THE USSR

The construction of the BAM is viewed as serving two purposes: one, the development of new resource sites for export through Soviet Pacific ports, particularly to Japan; second, the accelerated development of new parts of East Siberia and the Far East, serving ultimately as a bridgehead for further advance toward the Northeast. Key resource areas to be given priority in development are the Neryungri coking-coal basin of South Yakutia, for export to Japan; the Udokan copper deposit, and the Molodezhnoye asbestos deposit. Because of the harsh environment, it is unlikely that any processing activities beyond mineral concentration and forest products industries will be located in the BAM zone, at least in the early stages of development. Food supply for the growing population will be largely dependent on hauls of bread and feed grains from southern portions of West Siberia and vegetables from as far away as Central Asia. Future territorial production complexes along the BAM are tentatively outlined.     

THE WATER ASPECT OF THE GEOGRAPHY OF AGRICULTURE IN THE USSR

The long-term grain requirements of the growing Soviet population are calculated. On the basis of the relationship between water use and grain yields by natural soil zones of the USSR, the authors show that the amount of water needed per unit of output declines with a growth of productivity, especially in the non-chernozem zone of the Soviet Union. It is therefore concluded that greater water savings might be assured by expanding grain production in zones with an adequate supply of natural moisture rather than by the use of artificial irrigation of arid lands.     

AN APPRAISAL OF THE SOVIET CONCEPT OF THE TERRITORIAL PRODUCTION COMPLEX

The paper, contributing to one of the research goals of the Commission on Industrial Systems, International Geographical Union, provides an appraisal of the Soviet approach to spatial organization of the economy known as the territorial production complex. The authors review the genesis of the concept, definitional criteria, and its practical formation and operation, making occasional comparison with Western approaches to spatial economic organization. An unresolved problem for Soviet planners is the provision of a coordinating administrative authority for each territorial complex that would integrate the activities of individual industrial ministries involved in the creation of the complex; the current thinking of Soviet planners is illuminated by a recent statement appended to the paper. (For a previous Western view of Soviet regional development models, see G. A. Huzinec in Soviet Geography, October 1976.)     

SOVIET POLICIES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF MOUNTAIN REGIONS (with particular reference to the Caucasus)

Mountain regions represent a substantial part of Soviet territory, a total of 652 million hectares, which is 29.5 percent of the total area, or 21 percent of the usable agricultural area (including livestock range), but only 3.8 percent of the arable land. Soviet policy toward mountain development has varied over time. At first, mountain areas were considered a symbol of backwardness, and were not allocated a role in the Soviet modernization program. In recent decades, attitudes have been changing, but solutions have differed. The author, focusing on the eastern portion of the Greater Caucasus, shows on the basis of the literature and personal observations how the policy in Dagestan and in Azerbaijan, by allocating lowland activities to mountain populations, differs from Georgian policy, which since 1976 has actively sought to foster a revival of mountain economies.     

ECONOMIC REGIONALIZATION OF THE EASTERN ZONE OF INFLUENCE OF THE BAIKAL-AMUR MAINLINE (CONCEPTUALIZATION AND METHOD)

Soviet geographers thus far have conceptualized regional development in the future BAM zone as a series of resource-based industrial complexes arrayed along the east-west mainline. An alternative regional design presented here involves a series of compensatory regional complexes in which a developed southern tier along the Trans-Siberian would be complemented by a resource-based northern tier along the BAM. A number of developed industrial centers along the Trans-Siberian that might serve as the bases for such south-north oriented regions are identified, along with transverse transportation routes linking segments of the Trans-Siberian and of the BAM within each of these proposed regional units.     

PECULIARITIES IN THE FORMATION OF POPULATED PLACES ON THE SEABOARD OF THE USSR

A number of investigators have noted a movement of Soviet population toward the seacoasts, contrasting with the nation's traditional inland development. The pull of the coast has been linked to the increasing foreign trade of the USSR and to greater involvement in ocean affairs in general. The author analyzes the recent growth of maritime urban places in terms of the nation's major maritime regions: Azov-Black Sea, Baltic, Caspian, Pacific and Arctic, compares the rates of urban population growth and discusses some of the factors that account for differences in regional development.     

THE BAM AND THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOVIET FAR EAST

The construction of the Baykal-Amur Mainline, which began in 1974 and is scheduled to be completed in 1983, is expected to have a profound impact on the economy of the Soviet Far East, whose development has long lagged because of lack of transport access to regional resources. The BAM is expected to foster the development of new industries, such as coal and steel, oil and gas, hydropower, metal fabrication and chemicals, and stimulate the expansion of traditional activities, such as gold and tin mining, fisheries and forest products. The BAM is also expected to play a key role in expanding trade between the Soviet Far East and the countries of the Pacific basin and the Indian Ocean. In light of the complex aspects of the BAM project, it is suggested that integrated planning procedures encompass not only the transport aspects of the project, but all economic activities to be generated as a result of the construction of the new railroad. In view of the labor shortage, a high level of labor-saving technology is recommended. Concern for the local environment is expressed in view of the extensive construction activities in permafrost. (Previous articles on the BAM appeared in Soviet Geography, April and October 1975.)     

THE FORMATION OF THE INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX OF THE KURSK MAGNETIC ANOMALY

The industrial complex in the area of the vast iron-ore bearing province known as the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly (Central Russia) has been shaped in the past by an advantageous economic-geographic situation in the heart of the European USSR, by the availability of labor resources and by the presence of a wide range of agricultural raw materials for industry (sugar beets, sunflower, hemp). Further development will hinge on the massive use of mineral resources, both iron ore for the iron and steel industry, and cement materials in the overburden of open-pit iron mines. In 1975 the KMA will supply one-sixth of all the iron ore mined in the Soviet Union. About 60 percent of the ore (direct-shipping ore and concentrates derived from low grade-quartzites) moves to nearby plants at Lipetsk and Tula, and 25 percent moves to the Urals. If plans for a 12-million-ton integrated iron and steel plant for the Comecon countries materialize, 40 percent of the ore will be consumed locally, still leaving 60 percent for shipment to other steel plants. See also Soviet Geography, November 1974, pp. 593–94.     

MODERNIZATION OF SOVIET AGRICULTURAL MACHINE BUILDING: THE EXAMPLE OF TRACTOR PRODUCTION

The Soviet agricultural equipment industry produces over 40 percent of the world's tractors. It also is a major world producer of combines and other agricultural equipment. Nevertheless, almost three-fourths of the 33 million Soviet agricultural workers are classified as manual laborers. This paper focuses on how the industry is being modernized to address this problem, and how this effort fits into the overall program of economic restructuring. It also briefly examines some of the spatial dimensions of agricultural machinery production, including the distribution of tractor assembly plants within the country and some of their locational factors.     

Specialization of Agriculture in Relatively Similar Natural Environments of the USSR and the United States

Four pairs of minor civil divisions in the United States and the USSR are compared to determine differences of agricultural land use in areas with similar soils and heat and moisture supplies. In the United States, crops exceed animal products as a source of farm income only in the driest area. In the Soviet Union, crops are the principal source of farm income in both dry and more humid areas. This is related to the fact that the United States produces forage grasses and forage root crops mainly in more humid areas, while the Soviet Union relegates forage crops to a secondary role after bread grains and industrial row crops. Grain yields in the United States rise markedly from drier to more humid areas. In the Soviet Union the highest yields are achieved in the moderately dry chernozem zone.     

BASIC PRINCIPLES FOR A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF DEVELOPMENT AND LOCATION OF PRODUCTIVE FORCES IN THE NONCHERNOZEM ZONE OF THE RSFSR

A development strategy is proposed for the Nonchernozem zone of the European RSFSR, which is now the object of a major program of rural modernization (see S.G., March, April 1975). The principal factors affecting future strategy are geographical situation and physical setting, resource potential, level of economic development and settlement, availability of skilled labor and technical progress. The proposed strategy calls for focusing northern development on resource exploitation, fostering manufacturing development in the central oblasts outside the major industrial nodes, where industrial expansion should be restricted, and limiting industrial construction in the southern grain-growing oblasts to avoid diverting valuable agricultural land to nonfarm uses. The Nonchernozem zone will continue to be the nation's research and development center and aim at economic growth through intensive methods in view of a labor shortage.     

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE LOCATION OF SERVICES AND RURAL SETTLEMENT

Soviet planners are advised to consider the linkage between rural settlement patterns and the provision of services, an issue that is assuming particular significance in connection with the present development program in the Nonchernozem Zone of the RSFSR. The number of service establishments per 1,000 population is not considered a useful indicator because it tends to be high in areas with widely dispersed settlement in small inhabited places, and yet does not reflect a high level of services because of the small size of the establishments. It is desirable to cluster sets of services in central places; the presence of a single kind of service (store, school, etc.) in a small place is found tantamount to having no service whatever. Adequate provision of services is found to reduce, or even reverse, rural out-migration.     

ANTHROPOGENIC MODIFICATION OF A HILLY SOUTHERN TAIGA LANDSCAPE IN THE SPHERE OF INFLUENCE OF A COPPER SMELTER

The environmental impact of copper-smelter emissions in a southern taiga landscape is analyzed in terms of three concentric zones: (1) an inner zone of total environmental disruption; (2) a zone of heavy modification; (3) a zone of slight modification. The changes in vegetation cover resulting from the emissions are described for each zone. [The study area is not identified beyond being in Chelyabinsk Oblast of the southern Urals, but the context makes clear that the paper deals with the copper smelter of Karabash, a town with a population of 20,000, 50 miles northwest of Chelyabinsk–Editor, S.G.] A related article on smelter pollution in the taiga appeared in Soviet Geography, April 1977.     

SOVIET ASIAN-PACIFIC TRADE AND THE REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOVIET FAR EAST

During the 1970s and early 1980s it was generally accepted, by both Soviet and Western specialists, that in the Soviet Far East the expansion of exports to the nations of the Pacific Basin offered a solution to the region's economic problems. However, recent policy statements suggest the rejection of this export-led development strategy. This study examines the changing structure and dynamics of Soviet trade with the Asian-Pacific region. At present, for a combination of economic and political reasons, Soviet trade with the Asian-Pacific region is dominated by exports of machinery and equipment and petroleum to the socialist nations of the region, inasmuch as Japanese demand for Soviet natural resources is stagnant. Therefore, because of the resource orientation of the Far Eastern economy, contemporary trade relations do not favor the expansion of the Soviet Far Eastern export base. Consequently, the future role of the region in the national economic system will be determined largely by the availability of domestic capital investment funds.