Tahkuna Nature Reserve is a nature reserve situated on

Hiiumaa Hiiumaa ( , ) is the second largest island in Estonia and is part of the West Estonian archipelago, in the Baltic Sea. It has an area of 989 km2 and is 22 km from the Estonian mainland. Its largest town is Kärdla. It is located within ...

in western

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

Hiiu County Hiiu County ( or ''Hiiumaa'') is one of 15 counties of Estonia, being the smallest county both in terms of area and population. It consists of Hiiumaa (German language, German and ), the second largest island of Estonia, and several smaller isl ...

. The 1,869 hectare Tahkuna nature reserve has been created in order to protect areas of forest which have remained largely unaffected by human activity. The nature reserve also incorporates Estonia's largest single habitat of

yew Yew is a common name given to various species of trees. It is most prominently given to any of various coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus '' Taxus'': * European yew or common yew (''Taxus baccata'') * Pacific yew or western yew ('' Taxus ...

, dune forests and mires. A forest trail for visitors has been constructed in the nature reserve. The fauna is varied and the reserve is home to several nesting birds, e.g. spotted crake and

white-tailed eagle The white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), sometimes known as the 'sea eagle', is a large bird of prey, widely distributed across temperate Eurasia. Like all eagles, it is a member of the family Accipitridae (or accipitrids) which also ...

. The flora contains several species of orchids; Corallorhiza trifida and

Goodyera repens ''Goodyera repens'', an orchid in the genus ''Goodyera'', is called by the common name creeping lady's-tresses in Anglophone Europe and dwarf rattlesnake plantain or lesser rattlesnake plantain in North America. It is a green underground creeper ...

are common.

History

In 1924,

clear-cutting Clearcutting, clearfelling or clearcut logging is a forestry/logging practice in which most or all trees in an area are uniformly cut down. Along with shelterwood and seed tree harvests, it is used by foresters to create certain types of fore ...

was banned in the area of the yew trees growing in Tahkuna. The current conservation regulations were approved in 2006. On 6 November 1936, the Government of the Republic of Estonia decided to protect 4 forest quarters of the Kärdla Forest District, totalling 74.2 hectares, where felling of yew trees and grazing of animals were prohibited.Eesti Vabariigi Valitsuse otsus veekogu ja maa-alade looduskaitse alla võtmise kohta 6. novembrist 1936. Riigi Teataja 13. november 1936 On 28 May 1958, 20 September 1961 and 25 September 1962, the executive committee of the Hiiumaa District TSN decided to step up the protection of the yew-growing area. The protection area for the yuca trees was damaged in August 1967. Tahkuna Nature Reserve was established on 2 February 1997.

References

Nature reserves in Estonia Hiiumaa Parish Forests of Estonia Geography of Hiiu County {{Estonia-geo-stub