Simsky Pond, Artificial pond and natural monument in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia

Simsky Pond is an artificial reservoir in the upper reaches of the Sim River in the city of Sim, Chelyabinsk Oblast. It covers 36.7 hectares, with a maximum depth of 9 metres and an average depth of 4.3 metres. In the centre of the pond rises Zhukova Shishka, a limestone rocky hill about 300 metres high, surrounded by water on three sides. The banks are steep and covered with spruce and fir forest.

The pond was put into operation in 1761 to supply water to the Sim ironworks, built under the direction of dam master A. Isaev. In the 1960s the dam was rebuilt in reinforced concrete, and the full reconstruction was completed in 1972. Since 6 October 1987 the pond has been a protected geological natural monument of regional importance.

The name Zhukova Shishka comes from a priest named Zhukov who served at a memorial to Ashа residents killed in the Great Patriotic War, placed at the foot of the hill; the Bashkir word shesh means swelling. The hill's slopes hold relict spruce and huge pines, and two plants grow only here: podmarennik udivitelny, found from 1927, and timyan dvuzhilkovy.

The pond lies in the southern part of Sim, with its banks bordering the Republic of Bashkortostan. The protected area covers 36.7 hectares, its boundary set at the mean water level of 209.7 m in the Baltic height system. The shores are steep and built of carbonate rock, so approach the water on foot with care; Zhukova Shishka stands on an island in the middle.

The protected area covers 36.7 hectares, and its boundary follows the long-term average water level of 209.7 m in the Baltic height system. The limestone hill Zhukova Shishka, about 300 m high, rises in the middle of the pond and holds two endemic plants found nowhere else: Galium paradoxum and Thymus bivalens.