Triglav National Park (TNP) ( sl, Triglavski narodni park) is the only

national park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

. It was established in its modern form in 1981 and is located in the northwestern part of the country, respectively the southeastern part of the Alpine massif. Mount

Triglav Triglav (; german: Terglau; it, Tricorno), with an elevation of , is the highest mountain in Slovenia and the highest peak of the Julian Alps. The mountain is the pre-eminent symbol of the Slovene nation. It is the centrepiece of Triglav Nati ...

, the highest peak of the

Julian Alps The Julian Alps ( sl, Julijske Alpe, it, Alpi Giulie, , ) are a mountain range of the Southern Limestone Alps that stretch from northeastern Italy to Slovenia, where they rise to 2,864 m at Mount Triglav, the highest peak in Slovenia. A large p ...

, stands almost in the middle of the national park. From it the valleys spread out radially, supplying water to two large

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of ...

systems with their sources in the Julian Alps: the

Soča The Soča ( in Slovene) or Isonzo ( in Italian; other names fur, Lusinç, german: Sontig, la, Aesontius or ') is a long river that flows through western Slovenia () and northeastern Italy (). An Alpine river in character, its source lies i ...

and the

Sava The Sava (; , ; sr-cyr, Сава, hu, Száva) is a river in Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. It flows through Slovenia, Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally t ...

, flowing to the

Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to the ...

and

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

, respectively.

History

The proposal for the protection of the Triglav Lakes Valley area was first put forward by the seismologist

Albin Belar Albin may refer to: Places * Albin, Wyoming, US * Albin Township, Brown County, Minnesota, US * Albin, Virginia, US People * Albin (given name), origin of the name and people with the first name "Albin" * Albin (surname) ;Mononyms * Albin of ...

in 1906 or 1908. However, the proposal was not accepted, as there was no legal base for it and the then valid laws prohibited any restriction of pasture. The strategic basis for the protection of the area, titled ''The Memorandum'' (), and which explicitly mentioned the proposal of Belar, was submitted to the Provincial Government for Slovenia in 1920. The idea was finally implemented in 1924. Then, at an initiative by the Nature Protection Section of the Slovene Museum Society together with the

Slovene Mountaineering Society Slovene or Slovenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Slovenia, a country in Central Europe * Slovene language, a South Slavic language mainly spoken in Slovenia * Slovenes, an ethno-linguistic group mainly living in Slovenia * Sl ...

, a twenty-year lease was taken out on the Triglav Lakes Valley area, some 14 km². It was destined to become an ''Alpine Conservation Park''; however, permanent conservation was not possible at that time. The name ''Triglavski narodni park'' was first used in 1926 by

Fran Jesenko Fran Jesenko (14 March 1875 – 14 July 1932) was a Slovenian botanist and plant geneticist who became notable for his work on the hybridisation of wheat and rye. After attending high school in Ljubljana, Jesenko enrolled in the University of Vi ...

. In 1961, after many years of effort, the protection was renewed (this time on a permanent basis) and somewhat enlarged, embracing around 20 km². The protected area was officially designated as ''Triglav National Park''. It was named after Mount Triglav, a symbol of

and of Slovene character. However, all objectives of a true national park were not attained and for that reason over the next two decades new proposals for expanding and modifying this protection were put forward. Finally, in 1981, Triglav National Park was officially established in the modern form. A rearrangement was achieved and the park was given a new concept and expanded to 838 km². In 2010, the park expanded to include the settlement Kneške Ravne ( Tolmin), according to wishes of its inhabitants, thus the new park area amounts to 880 km², which is 4% of the area of Slovenia.

Biodiversity

Flora

Systematic surveys of plants, especially of ethnobotanically useful species, in Triglav National Park have been carried out by

Chandra Prakash Kala Chandra Prakash Kala is an Indian ecologist and professor. His research interests include alpine ecology, conservation biology, indigenous knowledge systems, ethnobotany and medicinal aromatic plants. He is an assistant professor in the facult ...

and Petra Ratajc covering various microhabitats, elevations, aspects, and terrain types. The park has over fifty-nine species of ethnobotanical values, of these 37 species (which contribute 62%) fall under four major categories of medicinal plants as per the ''Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia'' such as H, Z, ZR and ND.Kala, C.P. and Ratajc, P. 2012. High altitude biodiversity of the Alps and the Himalayas: ethnobotany, plant distribution and conservation perspectives. Biodiversity and Conservation, 21: 1115-1126 https://rd.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10531-012-0246-x Some important species such as ''Aconitum napellus'', ''Cannabis sativa'', and ''Taxus baccata'' are not allowed to be collected and used as per the ''Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia''.

Hydrology

Waters in Triglav National Park consist of two watersheds: the

River watershed and the

River watershed. Many waterfalls can be found in the park, and most of them are located in the valleys of Soča River and its tributaries. The highest waterfall is Boka Falls (106 m). The Tolmin Gorges on the Tolminka River are located in the national park. The lakes in the park are all of glacial origin. The largest among them is Lake Bohinj. Others are the Triglav Lakes (located in the Triglav Lakes Valley), Lake Krn, and Lower and Upper Križ Lake.

References

External links

Triglav National Park
Official site.

Slovenia-Landmarks. Virtual panoramas of sights in Triglav National Park. Boštjan Burger. {{Authority control National parks of Slovenia Protected areas established in 1981 Julian Alps Protected areas of the Alps