FORESTS IN ROMANIA,    FORESTS IN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

A tremendous importance for the forest area biodiversity conservation has the natural forests (old-growth and semi-virgin) that host many species of flora and fauna that are characteristic for the temperate zone as well as an important collection of relict and rare species.
In Romania, the national system of protected areas consists of 29 major protected areas (National Parks, Nature Parks and Biosphere Reserve Danube Delta) and more than 900 smaller natural protected areas.
There are more than 650.000 hectares forests in the national and nature parks and almost 2 million hectares forests in the Natura 2000 network.

The most important National and Nature Parks in Romania:

Maramures Mountains Nature Park
It is the largest nature park of Romania, which includes a zone of continuous habitats in the north of the country. Limited access due to the border area and steep relief maintained in Maramures Mountains representative samples of flora and fauna of the Carpathians, as a protected area created by nature.

Steam train (Mocanita), houses, wooden churches and gates come to complete a landscape still untouched in the middle of the Carpathians.

Piatra Craiului National Park
Piatra Craiului is the longest limestone ridge of Romania, hosting the densest network of valleys and residual shapes such as: walls, belts, notches and hollows. Dianthus calizonus is referred as an icon for the massif, as well as a site-specific endemic species.

Some of the big carnivores are representative for this park: brown bear, wolf and lynx. Chamois is also representative for upper belt of the mountain.

Vanatori Neamt Nature Park
Lying on the north-eastern side of the Romanian Carpathians, in the historic province of Modavia, the Vanatori Neamt Nature Park is the only one in Romania which developed an European bison reintroduction program, that’s why, the Park is well known as the “Bison Land”. It is recognized as a Sacred Natural Site, because of the presence of 16 famous Romanian Orthodox monasteries and hermitages, the living monastic communities (about 1,100 monks and nuns) represent the second largest Christian monastic concentration in Europe.

Agapia Veche Convent

European Bison

Retezat National Park
This park  is the oldest Romanian National Park, established in 1935. The Retezat famous treasures are to be found in the alpine zone, where may be found more than 80 lakes. As for unique landscapes, the glacial cirques and valleys are breathtaking the visitors; Bucura lake, the widest glacial lake in Romania, Zanoaga lake, the deepest glacial lake; impressive old-growth forests of beech and Norway spruce. It is considered that Retezat Mountain hosts between 31 % and 47 % of the Romanian flora.

“Slavei” glacial Lake

Chamois on Retezat’s screes

Apuseni Nature Park
The specific of the park is the karstic landscape which shows off a wide variety of shapes: cliffs, steep valleys, lapis, caves, underground water bodies.

Piatra Altarului Cave

Landscape in Apuseni Nature Park

/Apuseni Nature Park Administration)