The Princely Forest Nature Reserve ( ro, Rezervația naturală Pădurea Domnească, ) is a scientific reserve in

Glodeni District Glodeni District () is a district () in northwestern Moldova, with its administrative center at Glodeni. , its population was 61,900. The district consists of 35 localities, 18 communes, 16 villages and one city (Glodeni). History The oldest ar ...

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states ...

, which founded in 1993. It covers an area of 6,032 hectares, the largest of all of the Moldova scientific reserves. Pădurea Domnească stretches along the bank 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 ...

, next to the border of Moldova with

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. The nearest settlement is

Glodeni Glodeni (; russian: Глодяны; pl, Głodziany; uk, Глодяни) is a city in the northwest of Moldova; it is the seat of Glodeni District. Its population as of 2012 was 11,600. One village, Stîrcea, is administered by the city. Media ...

Biodiversity

Pădurea Domnească is the only area in Moldova where

European bison The European bison (''Bison bonasus'') or the European wood bison, also known as the wisent ( or ), the zubr (), or sometimes colloquially as the European buffalo, is a European species of bison. It is one of two extant species of bison, along ...

live. The species is classified as extinct in the country. Bison, which had previously disappeared in the territory of Moldova, were brought from the Polish

Kampinos Kampinos is a village in Warsaw West County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Kampinos. It lies approximately east of Sochaczew and west of Warsaw. The village lie ...

and

Białowieża Białowieża ( be, Белавежа, Biełavieža) is a village (population 2,000 as of 2002) in Poland's Podlaskie Voivodeship, Podlasie Province, in the middle of the Białowieża Forest, to which it gave its name. The village is some east of ...

national parks in 2005. Then, one male and two females lived in a nursery with an area of 32 hectares. In 2018, there were already seven bison in the forest. In 2019, Moldova held negotiations with the Ministry of the Environment of

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

on the exchange of several more animals. Belarusian state media reported that Moldova spends $25,000-30,000 on the bison program annually. The reserve was created in order to preserve the massif of floodplain and swampy forests in the valley of the middle reaches of the River Prut, conservation of rare and endangered species of animals and plants. Pădurea Domnească is home to 49 species of mammals and more than 150 species of birds. 19 plant species with varying degrees of threat of extinction are included in the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

. In total, around 575 plant species can be found in the reserve. The average height above sea level is from 40 to 60 m.

Hiking trails

The reserve is part of several local hiking trails that connect Pădurea Domnească and nearby natural sites. * Landscape reserve O sută de movile (''one hundred mounds''), a natural landscape covered with more than 3500 mounds, springs and small lakes. * Cheile Buteşti, a

gorge A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tenden ...

located near Butești. The limestone cliffs in the gorge are more than 2 km long, 125 meters wide and up to 40 meters high. * Stînca Mare reefs, remains of an ancient limestone coral reef (millions of years ago this area was the bottom of the sea). Located south of Koban, 1000 meters long, 100 meters wide and up to 40 meters high. * Plots of oak groves (123 hectares), with huge oak trees about 250 years old and up to 35 m high.

Gallery

Valea_100_movile_rez._Padurea_Domneasca_Glodeni_(1).jpg, Sută de movile 100_movile_rez._Padurea_Domneasca_Glodeni_(3).jpg, Sută de movile File:Pestera_in_reciful_Butesti_Glodeni_(4).jpg, Cheile Buteşti File:Stinca_Mare_Cobani_Glodeni_02.jpg, Stînca Mare

Bibliography

Moldovan Forest Agency: Pădurea Domnească

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Padurea Domneasca Protected areas established in 1993 Glodeni District Scientific reserves in Moldova