Great Plan for the Transformation of Nature

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

[3] The idea was that planting windbreaks around rivers of southern Russia and around collective farms would supposedly stop the drying winds from Central Asia that were thought to have caused the drought.

The plan was to be overseen by the Glavnoe Upravlenie Polezashchitnogo Lesorazvedeniya (GUPL) ("Main Directorate of Field-Protective Forestry") which came under a scientific technical committee that included Trofim Lysenko.

Although the plan achieved none of its stated goals, some collective farms surrounded by plantations produced better yields due to improved water storage.

[4] The Soviet government launched a number of extensive projects in land improvement, hydroengineering for water control, irrigation and power, and in supporting areas.