Yulen ( bg, Юлен) is a nature reserve in

Pirin National Park Pirin National Park ( bg, Национален парк "Пирин"), originally named Vihren National Park, encompasses the larger part of the Pirin Mountains in southwestern Bulgaria, spanning an area of . It is one of the three national pa ...

, located in the homonymous mountain range in south-western

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

. It is situated in Bansko Municipality, Blagoevgrad Province. Yulen was declared on 26 August 1994 to monitor the growth of alpine plant species without human influence, as well as to protect rare plant and animal species. It spans a territory of 3156 ha or 31.56 km².

Geographic overview

Yulen is situated at an altitude between 1600 m and 2851 m. The rocks are predominantly

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

and

gneiss Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures a ...

, but there are also

carbonate rock Carbonate rocks are a class of sedimentary rocks composed primarily of carbonate minerals. The two major types are limestone, which is composed of calcite or aragonite (different crystal forms of CaCO3), and dolomite rock (also known as dolosto ...

. The reserve is rich in water resources and protects a number of glacial lakes, such as the

Vasilashki Lakes The Vasilashki Lakes () are situated in Pirin, Bulgaria in a large cirque between the Todorka and Vasilashki Chukar peaks. The cirque is opened to the east, where it faces the Demyanitsa river in which the water of the lakes pour. This cirque als ...

, Tipitski Lakes, Gazeyski Lakes, Polezhanski Lakes and others which are the source of several rivers. The climate is alpine due to the high altitude. The soils are mainly brown forest and alpine meadow soils.

Flora

The flora consists of over 700 species of

vascular plant Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They ...

s; of them 44 are included in the Red Book of Bulgaria. Some of the important species are globeflower ('' Trollius europaeus''), narcissus anemone ('' Anemone narcissiflora''), '' Aquilegia aurea'', lake quillwort ('' Isoetes lacustris'') – the only place where this plant is found in Bulgaria, '' Rhynchocorys elephas'', curly sedge ('' Carex rupestris''), etc. There are

glacial relict A glacial relict is a population of a cold-adapted species that has been left behind as the range of the species changed after an ice age ended. Glacial relicts are usually found in enclaves "under relatively benign conditions". Examples: *The ...

s such as black crowberry (''

Empetrum nigrum ''Empetrum nigrum'', crowberry, black crowberry, or, in western Alaska, blackberry, is a flowering plant species in the heather family Ericaceae with a near circumboreal distribution in the Northern Hemisphere. It is usually dioecious, but th ...

'') and creeping sibbaldia ('' Sibbaldia procumbens''). There are old growth forests of Macedonian pine ('' Pinus peuce''), Scots pine (''

Pinus sylvestris ''Pinus sylvestris'', the Scots pine (UK), Scotch pine (US) or Baltic pine, is a species of tree in the pine family Pinaceae that is native to Eurasia. It can readily be identified by its combination of fairly short, blue-green leaves and or ...

''), Norway spruce (''

Picea abies ''Picea abies'', the Norway spruce or European spruce, is a species of spruce native to Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. It has branchlets that typically hang downwards, and the largest cones of any spruce, 9–17 cm long. It is very close ...

'') and European silver fir (''

Abies alba ''Abies alba'', the European silver fir or silver fir, is a fir native to the mountains of Europe, from the Pyrenees north to Normandy, east to the Alps and the Carpathians, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and sou ...

''), as well as isolated groups of Bosnian pine ('' Pinus heldreichii'').

Fauna

The most typical mammals in Yulen are

brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is ...

, gray wolf and chamois. Birds are of species conservation importance and include

spotted nutcracker The spotted nutcracker, Eurasian nutcracker, or simply nutcracker (''Nucifraga caryocatactes'') is a passerine bird slightly larger than the Eurasian jay. It has a much larger bill and a slimmer looking head without any crest. The feathering over ...

, jack snipe,

western capercaillie The western capercaillie (''Tetrao urogallus''), also known as the Eurasian capercaillie, wood grouse, heather cock, cock-of-the-woods, or simply capercaillie , is a heavy member of the grouse family and the largest of all extant grouse species. ...

rock partridge The rock partridge or common rock partridge (''Alectoris graeca'') is a gamebird in the pheasant family, Phasianidae, of the order Galliformes (gallinaceous birds). It is native to southern Europe, and is closely related and very similar to its ...

horned lark The horned lark or shore lark (''Eremophila alpestris'') is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae found across the northern hemisphere. It is known as "horned lark" in North America and "shore lark" in Europe. Taxonomy, evolution and systema ...

golden eagle The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known birds of ...

, northern goshawk, etc. In sunnier areas there are common European vipers. The rivers and some of the glacial lakes have abundant brown trout populations.

Landmarks

On the territory of the Yulen Reserve there is fortress from the Antiquity. The fortress is located at about 12 km from the town of

Bansko Bansko ( bg, Банско ) is a town in southwestern Bulgaria, located at the foot of the Pirin Mountains at an elevation of 1200m above sea level. It is a ski resort. Legends There are several legends about who founded Bansko. According to o ...

. The excavations and the archaeological finds date its foundation from before the rule of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

. The fortress is almost 100 m in length and between 25 and 40 m wide. The only visible remains of fortification is a small section of the northern walls.

References

External links

* * {{Protected areas of Bulgaria Nature reserves in Bulgaria Pirin Geography of Blagoevgrad Province Tourist attractions in Blagoevgrad Province Protected areas established in 1994 1994 establishments in Bulgaria