The Russian Steppe 4: Vegetation

The last post located Molotschna within the larger Eurasian steppe. To be specific, Molotschna was in the westernmost third of the Eurasian steppe, in the Pontic–Caspian Steppe, in a subregion of that area known as the Azov Uplands: a plateau region characterized by “slightly undulating ground … occasionally dissected by shallow ravines and gullies” (Staples 2003, 6).

Volodymyr Kubijovyč provided the starting point for this post by noting that “the natural vegetation [of the steppe] is that of a mixed herbaceous, fescue-feather-grass.” The term feather grass is encountered most frequently in discussions of the dominant steppe vegetation, but we can also refer to this vegetation by its scientific name: Stipa pennata.

As can be seen in the photograph from the Central (or Kazakh) Steppe below, feather grass is clearly the characteristic vegetation of the Eurasian steppe. Note further the absence of trees and, like the Azov Uplands, the gently rolling but overall flat terrain.

Although the area of the Molotschna colony does not resemble the photo above today, it certainly did when the first settlers entered the region. John R. Staples explains that the Azov Uplands were “characterized in their natural state by a luxuriant growth of feather grass intermixed with timothy, spear, and broom grass, wild oats, wild rye, and wild wheat” (Staples 2003, 6).

Fortunately, we do not merely have to imagine what the steppe land of and around Molotschna looked like. A natural history museum in Zaporizhia, a city roughly 45 miles northwest of Molotschna, contains a painting of that area’s steppe before the land was settled and transformed into farmland.

Painting of the south Ukrainian steppe. Photograph by Patty, posted on Flickr here.

Be honest: If you had not been told that the painting was of the south Ukrainian steppe, where would you have placed it? Obviously, the landscape and wildlife evoke thoughts of Nebraska before the first settlers transformed that state into a center of agriculture. The fact that Molotschna before our family settled there and Nebraska before our family settled there were so remarkably similar cannot be missed.

As already mentioned, and as is obvious in the photograph and the painting, the stepple land was characterized not merely by what it contained (feather grass) but also by what it lacked: trees. David Moon explains why the steppe had few trees, and then only along rivers and streams:

the treeless grassland was to some extent created by human activity. For many centuries, the indigenous, nomadic population burned the steppe to encourage the growth of fresh grasses for their herds of livestock to graze on. The combined effects of fire and grazing contributed to the evolution of the grassland, restricting the spread of trees and shrubs from those parts of the landscape where they grew naturally. (Moon 2013, 7)

This is the land that the early Mennonites encountered when they emigrated to Molotschna. Most had previously lived in at least partially forested areas; now they entered a sea of grass with hardly a tree in sight. The dominance of the feather grass and the absence of trees was not the only obstacle that they encountered. They also had to deal with climate challenges, which will be the subject of the next post in this series.

Works Cited

Kubijovyč, Volodymyr. 2001. Azov Upland. Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine. Available online here.

Moon, David. 2013. The Plough That Broke the Steppes: Agriculture and Environment on Russia’s Grasslands, 1700–1914. Oxford Studies in Modern European History. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Staples, John R. 2003. Cross-Cultural Encounters on the Ukrainian Steppe: Settling the Molochna Basin, 1783–1861. Tsarist and Soviet Mennonite Studies. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.