Järvselja Nature Reserve is a nature reserve situated in south-eastern

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

, in

Tartu County Tartu County ( or ''Tartumaa'') is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is located in eastern Estonia bordering Põlva County, Valga County, Viljandi County and Jõgeva County. The area of Tartu County is , which covers 6.9% of the territory of E ...

. The purpose of the nature reserve is to preserve the

old-growth forest An old-growth forest or primary forest is a forest that has developed over a long period of time without disturbance. Due to this, old-growth forests exhibit unique ecological features. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Natio ...

of the area, consisting mainly of

Scots pine ''Pinus sylvestris'', the Scots pine (UK), Scotch pine (US), Baltic pine, or European red 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-gr ...

trees, including the so-called ''King's Pine Tree'' (), which is over 360 years old. The nature reserve also functions as an important habitat for several species of birds, including

pygmy owl Pygmy owls are members of the genus ''Glaucidium''. They belong to the typical owl family, Strigidae. The genus consists of 29 species distributed worldwide. These are mostly small owls, and some of the species are called "owlets". The genus in ...

, grey-headed woodpecker and wood grouse. A 5-kilometre trail has been prepared for the convenience of visitors.

References

Nature reserves in Estonia Kastre Parish Geography of Tartu County {{Estonia-geo-stub