Tatra National Park (; abbr. TPN) is a

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

located in the Tatra Mountains in

Tatra County __NOTOC__ Tatra County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, southern Poland, on the Slovak border. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government ...

, in the

Lesser Poland Voivodeship Lesser Poland Voivodeship ( ) is a voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship in southern Poland. It has an area of , and a population of 3,404,863 (2019). Its capital and largest city is Kraków. The province's name recalls the traditional name of a h ...

in central-southern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

.en.poland.gov: Tatra National Park
. accessed 5.12.2013 The park is headquartered in the town of

Zakopane Zakopane (Gorals#Language, Podhale Goral: ''Zokopane'') is a town in the south of Poland, in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. From 1975 to 1998, it was part of Nowy Sącz Voivodeship; since 1999, it has ...

. The Tatra Mountains form a natural border between Poland to the north and

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

to the south, and the two countries have cooperated since the early 20th century on efforts to protect the area. Slovakia created an adjoining national park, and

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

later designated the area a transboundary

biosphere reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

Park history

The first calls for protection of the Tatras came at the end of the 19th century. In 1925, the first efforts to create a

, in cooperation with

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

, took place. The park was formally created in 1937, on an area that belonged to the state forests authority. In 1947, a separate administrative unit, Tatra Park, was created. In 1954, by decision of the Polish Government, Tatra National Park was created. It was established originally over an area of , but it is currently slightly smaller, at . Of this, is forest and the remainder mainly

meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non- woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as they maintain an open character. Meadows can occur naturally under favourable con ...

s. Strictly protected zones account for , of which are forest

ecosystems An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...

. In 1992, the Polish and Slovakian national parks in the Tatras were jointly designated a transboundary

, under its

Man and the Biosphere Programme Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) is an intergovernmental scientific program, launched in 1971 by UNESCO, that aims to establish a scientific basis for the 'improvement of relationships' between people and their environments. MAB engages w ...

Geography

;Mountains The National Park covers one of the two Alpine mountain ranges in Poland. The Polish Tatra range, which is a part of the Western

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

, is divided into two sections: the

High Tatras The High Tatras or High Tatra Mountains (; ; ,'' Vysoki Tatry''; ; ), are a mountain range along the border of northern Slovakia in the Prešov Region, and southern Poland in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. They are a range of the Tatra Mountains ...

(''Tatry Wysokie'') and the

Western Tatras The Western Tatras (; ) are mountains in the Tatras, part of the Carpathian Mountains, located on the Polish- Slovak border. The mountains border the High Tatras in the east, Podtatranská kotlina in the south, Choč Mountains in t ...

(''Tatry Zachodnie''). The landscape consists of sharp-edged peaks and hollows with numerous rock formations. The highest peak in Poland, Rysy (

AMSL Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level v ...

), is located here. ;Caves There are around 650 caves in the park, of which the Wielka Śnieżna cave system is the longest (), and the deepest (maximum depth ). Six caves of this system are open to public. ;Water Dolina Pieciu Stawow Polskich 2023-09-08

Dolina Pieciu Stawow Polskich 2023-09-08

There are several streams, the longest stream reaching . Waterfalls, such as Mickiewicz Falls are popular with tourists. The highest waterfall is Siklawa Falls at followed by Black Lake Falls and Siklawica Falls . The park has over 30 mountain lakes, called ''staw'' (Polish: pond). These water bodies are an important part of the High Tatra landscape. The largest lakes are: Morskie Oko with an area of 349,000 m² and maximum depth of ); and Wielki Staw Polski with an area of 344,000 m² and maximum depth of ).

Biology and ecology

Flora

Up to there are mainly

silver fir Silver fir is a common name for several trees and may refer to: *''Abies alba'', native to Europe *''Abies amabilis'', native to western North America *''Abies pindrow ''Abies pindrow'', the pindrow fir, West Himalayan fir, or silver fir, is ...

(''Abies alba'') and

European beech ''Fagus sylvatica'', the European beech or common beech, is a large, graceful deciduous tree in the beech family with smooth silvery-gray bark, large leaf area, and a short trunk with low branches. Description ''Fagus sylvatica'' is a large ...

(''Fagus sylvatica'') forests. Higher levels, up to , are covered with

European spruce ''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 clos ...

(''Picea abies'') forests, which turn into meadows and

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

s at higher elevations up to . The highest elevations, above , have

alpine flora Alpine flora may refer to: * Alpine tundra, a community of plants that live at high altitude * Alpine plant Alpine plants are plants that grow in an alpine climate, which occurs at high elevation and above the tree line. There are many different pl ...

habitats. Other typical species include Swiss pine (''Pinus cembra''),

edelweiss ''Leontopodium nivale'', commonly called edelweiss () ( ; or ), is a mountain flower belonging to the daisy or sunflower family Asteraceae. The plant prefers rocky limestone places at about altitude. It is a non-toxic plant. Its leaves and f ...

(''Leontopodium alpinum''), and stemless carline thistle (''Carlina acaulis''). Spring in the Kościeliska Valley is notable for the fields of giant crocus (''Crocus vernus'', syn: ''Crocus scepusiensis'').

Fauna

The National Park contains several

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

fauna species, and many endangered and protected ones. Animals include: the Tatra chamois,

Alpine marmot The alpine marmot (''Marmota marmota'') is a large ground-dwelling squirrel, from the genus of marmots. It is found in high numbers in mountainous areas of central and southern Europe, at heights between in the Alps, Carpathians, Tatras and N ...

and Tatra marmot, protected since the mid-19th century;

brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear native to Eurasia and North America. Of the land carnivorans, it is rivaled in size only by its closest relative, the polar bear, which is much less variable in size and slightly bigger on av ...

Eurasian lynx The Eurasian lynx (''Lynx lynx'') is one of the four wikt:extant, extant species within the medium-sized wild Felidae, cat genus ''Lynx''. It is widely distributed from Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe to Cent ...

gray wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though gr ...

European otter The Eurasian otter (''Lutra lutra''), also known as the European otter, Eurasian river otter, European river otter, common otter, and Old World otter, is a semiaquatic mammal native to Eurasia and the Maghreb. The most widely distributed member o ...

and the

lesser spotted eagle The lesser spotted eagle (''Clanga pomarina'') is a large Eastern European bird of prey. Like all typical eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. The typical eagles are often united with the buteos, sea eagles, and other more heavy-set Ac ...

Culture

The Górale

The Podhale region of the Tatras is home to the '' Górales'' or the Goral (highland) people. Distinctive elements of their culture include the Podhale dialect (language), music, and traditional artisan customs such as clothes, wooden vernacular architecture,

cheesemaking Cheesemaking (or caseiculture) is the craft of making cheese. The production of cheese, like many other food preservation processes, allows the nutritional and economic value of a food material, in this case milk, to be preserved in concentrate ...

, and craft works.National Geographic Magazine; "The Górale People"
c. 1980s issue; pp 105 - 130. The historic Górale culture was traditionally passed on in oral stories.

Environment

The area of the Tatra mountains was exploited by human activities in the past. During summer, domestic animals such as goat, sheep, and cows pastured on the meadows, which contributed to soil erosion. In the 18th and 19th centuries, several mines and

ironworks An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''. Ironworks succeeded bloome ...

were built here, industries that used substantial harvests of local timber. Current environmental threats include: the proximity of the fast-developing town of

; and

air pollution Air pollution is the presence of substances in the Atmosphere of Earth, air that are harmful to humans, other living beings or the environment. Pollutants can be Gas, gases like Ground-level ozone, ozone or nitrogen oxides or small particles li ...

from the industrial zones in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

Ostrava Ostrava (; ; ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 283,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rivers: Oder, Opava (river), Opa ...

, and Orava. Fauna is threatened by

poachers Poaching is the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set against the hunti ...

and habitat loss. The high number of tourists is the largest threat to the park's

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...

currently. Also, the infrastructure, such as hotels and car parks, is not sufficient for the current volume of visitors.

Tourism

Tourism was first developed in the Tatras in the late 19th century, and continues in the 21st. It is the most visited national park in Poland. There are more than of hiking trails in Tatra National Park.

Gallery

File:Polana Kalatówki Dolina Goryczkowa.jpg, A field of crocuses in the Goryczkowa Valley,

File:Mnichy Chochołowskie a2.jpg, Mnichy Chochołowskie File:Siklawa a2.jpg, Siklawa Falls File:Hala Gąsienicowa - sierpień.jpg, Hala Gąsienicowa File:Czarny Staw i Morskie Oko widok z Rysów.jpg, Czarny Staw pod Rysami and Morskie Oko lakes File:Kościelec view 4.jpg, Kościelec,

File:Kościelec view 6.jpg, Snow covered Tatras in May 2019 File:Dolina chocholowska.jpg, Chochołowska Valley in winter File:Dolina Małej Łąki a5.jpg, Hala Mała Łąka File:Imgp7951.jpg, A Tatra chamois File:Two young M.marmota latirostris (Volovec, Tatra).jpg, Tatra

Marmot Marmots are large ground squirrels in the genus ''Marmota'', with 15 species living in Asia, Europe, and North America. These herbivores are active during the summer, when they can often be found in groups, but are not seen during the winter, w ...

s File:On the move (14283835994).jpg, European brown bear File:Gentiana verna a4.jpg,

Gentiana verna ''Gentiana verna'', the spring gentian, is a species of flowering plant in the family Gentianaceae, and one of its smallest members, normally only growing to a height of a few centimetres. The short stem supports up to three opposing pairs of e ...

References

External links

Official Tatra National Park website
— ''(English)'' {{authority control National parks of Poland Biosphere reserves of Poland Parks in Lesser Poland Voivodeship Protected areas of the Western Carpathians Protected areas established in 1954 Tatra County High Tatras Western Tatras Tatra Mountains 1954 establishments in Poland Ramsar sites in Poland