The Carpathian National Nature Park ( uk, Карпатський національний природний парк) is a

National Park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

located in

Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast ( uk, Іва́но-Франкі́вська о́бласть, translit=Ivano-Frankivska oblast), also referred to as Ivano-Frankivshchyna ( uk, Іва́но-Франкі́вщина), is an administrative divisions of Ukrain ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. The park was established on 3 June 1980 to protect landscapes of the

Carpathian Mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretches ...

. The headquarters of the park are in

Yaremche Yaremche ( uk, Яре́мче, translit=Jaremče, pl, Jaremcze or Jaremcza) is a city in Nadvirna Raion, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast (province) of west Ukraine. The city is located at the altitude of around above mean sea level. Yaremche hosts the ...

. Carpathian National Nature Park is the first national park of Ukraine and one of the biggest national parks of the country.

Topography

The area of the park is shared between Nadvirna Raion and

Verkhovyna Raion Verkhovyna Raion ( uk, Верхови́нський райо́н, translit=Verchovynśkyj rajon) is a raion (district) of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast (region). The urban-type settlement of Verkhovyna is the administrative center of the raion. The raio ...

in the southwest of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, at the border with Zakarpattia Oblast. The area of the park is , of which is the area where any economic activity is prohibited. The park is located in the highest part of the Ukrainian Carpathians, on the eastern slopes in the

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...

s of the

Prut River The Prut (also spelled in English as Pruth; , uk, Прут) is a long river in Eastern Europe. It is a left tributary of the Danube. In part of its course it forms Romania's border with Moldova and Ukraine. Characteristics The Prut originates ...

and the Black Cheremosh River. The Prut has its source in the park, and the highest point of Ukraine, Mount Hoverla (), is located at the borders of the park. The lowest point of the park is about . In 1921, in the highest part of the Ukrainian Carpathians a nature reservation was created which originally had the area of . In 1968, it was merged into the newly created Carpathian State Reserve. Carpathian National Nature Park was established in 1980 by the decree of the Council of Ministers of

Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...

, and included about a half of the area which previously belonged to the Carpathian State Reserve. The park is an independent unit subordinated to the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine.

Ecoregion and climate

The park is in the ''

Carpathian montane forests The Carpathian montane conifer forests, also known as Carpathian montane forests, is a temperate coniferous forests ecoregion in the Carpathian Mountains of the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine, and Romania. Geography The ecoregion cover ...

'' ecoregion. Because of its altitude, the climate of the Carpathian Park is '' Subarctic climate, without dry season'' (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

Subartic climate (Dfc)). This climate is characterized by mild summers (only 1–3 months above ) and cold, snowy winters (coldest month below ).

Flora and fauna

The landscapes in the park include Alpine meadows and forests. The three most common tree species in the park are silver fir, European beech, and

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...

. The Huk Waterfall, located within the park, is the highest single-drop waterfall in the Ukrainian Carpathians (). There are two lakes of glacial origin.

Public use

The area of the Carpathian National Nature Park was historically inhabited by

hutsuls The Hutsuls (sometimes the spelling variant: Gutsuls; uk, Гуцули, translit=Hutsuly; pl, Huculi, Hucułowie; ro, huțuli) are an ethnic group spanning parts of western Ukraine and Romania (i.e. parts of Bukovina and Maramureș). They ...

and contains a number of monuments of history and architecture, including historical wooden buildings. It is actively used for tourism, with 48 maintained trails (as of 2012). Carpathian National Nature Park

References

External links