The reserve "Prutul de Jos" was created in 1991. Its main purpose was to protect the flora and fauna of the Prut floodplain and Lake Beleu. The area of the reserve is 1691 hectares and almost two thirds of the territory occupied by the waters of Lake Beleu.
 

The remaining area of the Prut is occupied by the valley of the river. According to the research conducted within the reserve “Prut de Jos”, Lake Beleu can be used as a natural ecological laboratory. The reserve includes land, marshes and water surface of the Prut River, and also it includes scenic landscape of steep floodplain areas.
Lake Beleu is very ancient, its width is 2 km and 5 km in length, the depth is 0.5-2 m Researchers attribute this lake to very ancient times - 5 or 6 thousand years ago, when the main part of the Danube Delta was under the cover of the Black Sea. At the moment, the water gets into the lake through two ducts, and finds an outlet through a third one. The water level of the lake depends on high waters of the Prut and Danube and summer and the prevailing spring floods.

When the amount of water in the lake reaches its normal level one can observe the following aquatic vegetation such as bulrush, pondweed, hornwort, cattail within the flooded lands of the lake. But if you're lucky you can even see the rare white lily or caltrop. In years of drought, when the water level in the lake drops significantly, the vast majority of the vegetation dries up.

In the vicinity of the lake grow willow and rare white poplar. Grass canopy of water meadow varies depending on soil moisture.

These places are inhabited by rare species of animals living in the water, such as the European mink and otter. It is recorded 168 species of birds, most of which are water, 36 species of migratory. The reserve has 160 species of plants. 30 species of fish inhabit in the waters of the lake.

Due to the unique geographical location of the reserve, its flora and fauna is diverse. The protected woodland is located relatively close to the Danube Delta and is on migratory birds track. Due to the fact that this place has huge reserves, it has enormous conservation value.