Poloniny National Park ( sk, Národný park Poloniny) is a national park in northeastern

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), 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 s ...

at the Polish and Ukrainian borders, in the Bukovské vrchy mountain range, which belongs to the

Eastern Carpathians Divisions of the Carpathians are a categorization of the Carpathian mountains system. Below is a detailed overview of the major subdivisions and ranges of the Carpathian Mountains. The Carpathians are a "subsystem" of a bigger Alps-Himalaya Sy ...

. It was created on 1 October 1997 with a protected area of and a buffer zone of . Selected areas of the park are included into Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians UNESCO

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

Location

The park is located in the Snina District in the Prešov Region. It is adjacent to

Bieszczady National Park Bieszczady National Park (; pl, Bieszczadzki Park Narodowy) is the third-largest national park in Poland, located in Subcarpathian Voivodeship in the extreme southeast corner of the country. In 2021, the national park became a UNESCO World Heri ...

in Poland, together they are part of the

East Carpathian Biosphere Reserve The East Carpathian Biosphere Reserve is a transboundary protected area, designated as an area of global importance under UNESCO's Programme on Man and the Biosphere.It is located in the Eastern Carpathians and includes parts of three countries: ...

. The highest point lies at AMSL on a point where the borders of Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine meet, near the summit of the mount Kremenec. The National Park is the easternmost and least populated area of the country. Hiking trails starts from several villages, most notably Nová Sedlica but also from Runina, Topoľa and Uličské Krivé.

Biology and ecology

Forests cover about 80% of the area; beech and beech- fir forests are dominant. The National Park has the highest concentration of old growth forests in Slovakia, which are protected by national nature reserves. Meadows, called ''poloniny'' in Eastern Slovak dialects, situated on the main ridge of the Bukovské vrchy mountain range are common. Many species found in the park are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found else ...

and rare. Altogether, 800

fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from ...

and 100

lichens A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.invertebrates Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordat ...

(for example, 91

molluscs Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is estim ...

, 1,472

true bugs Hemiptera (; ) is an order (biology), order of insects, commonly called true bugs, comprising over 80,000 species within groups such as the cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, Reduviidae, assassin bugs, Cimex, bed bugs, and shield bugs. ...

, 819 butterflies, and 403

spiders Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species di ...

) and 294

vertebrates Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () (chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, with c ...

. Among the vertebrates are 13 species of amphibians, 8 reptiles, 198 birds, 55

mammals Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur o ...

, including the

Eurasian lynx The Eurasian lynx (''Lynx lynx'') is a medium-sized wild cat widely distributed from Northern, Central and Eastern Europe to Central Asia and Siberia, the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas. It inhabits temperate and boreal forests up to an eleva ...

, bear, and others. About 1,000 species of vascular plants have been found in the park. Many of them are endangered and protected. A small herd of

wisent 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 ...

(Bison Bonasus) was reintroduced in the area in 2004.

Tourism

The National Park is open to the public all year with winter (cross-country skiing) as well as summer hiking trails. Besides several mountain trails there is also one connecting outstanding wooden churches from the 18th century in Topoľa, Uličské Krivé, and Ruský Potok.

World Heritage Site

The primeval beech forests of Havešová, Stužica, and Rožok (all three areas being in the Bukovské vrchy) were designated as a

by the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

on June 28, 2007 because of their comprehensive and undisturbed ecological patterns and processes. Together with another Slovak site in

Vihorlat Vihorlat Mountains ( sk, Vihorlatské vrchy; ua, Вигорлат, ''Vyhorliat'') or colloquially Vihorlat is a volcanic mountain range in eastern Slovakia and western Ukraine. A part of the range is listed as a World Heritage Site. Etymolog ...

and additional six in Ukraine they form Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians. In order to protect the extraordinary value of these forests, only one of them, namely Stužica, is accessible to the public.

Gallery

image:panorama_poloniny.jpg, Panoramic view at the Poloniny mountains. image:starina.jpg, Water reservoir Starina. image:Runina vilage from Saddle under Durkovec.JPG, Runina village from Saddle under Durkovec. image:Poloniny_2008.JPG, Hiking trail in the National Park. image:Poloniny_2008b.JPG, View of the Bukovské vrchy mountain range. image:Rusky potok wooden church.JPG, Wooden church in Ruský Potok. image:Ulicske krive wooden church.JPG, Wooden church in Uličské Krivé.

References

External links

Poloniny National Park
a
Slovakia.travel

Poloniny National Park
a
Snina Region homepage

Official website
at th
State Nature Conservancy of the Slovak Republic website

Wooden Churches in Slovakia

National Park Poloniny, cross country skiing.
{{authority control National parks of Slovakia World Heritage Sites in Slovakia Protected areas established in 1997 Protected areas of the Eastern Carpathians Geography of Prešov Region Tourist attractions in Prešov Region Primeval Beech Forests in Europe