Yulen () is a nature reserve in

Pirin National Park Pirin National Park (), originally named Vihren National Park, covering the larger part of the Pirin Mountains in southwestern Bulgaria, spanning an area of . It is one of the three national parks in the country, the others being Rila National ...

, located in the homonymous mountain range in south-western

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

. It is situated in

Bansko Municipality Bansko Municipality () is situated in southwestern Bulgaria and is one of the municipalities of Blagoevgrad Province Blagoevgrad Province (, ''oblast Blagoevgrad'' or Благоевградска област, ''Blagoevgradska oblast''), also k ...

Blagoevgrad Province Blagoevgrad Province (, ''oblast Blagoevgrad'' or Благоевградска област, ''Blagoevgradska oblast''), also known as Pirin Macedonia or Bulgarian Macedonia (), (''Pirinska Makedoniya or Bulgarska Makedoniya'') is a province ('' ...

. Yulen was declared on 26 August 1994 to monitor the growth of alpine plant species without human influence, as well as to protect rare plant and animal species. It spans a territory of 3156 ha or 31.56 km².

Geographic overview

Yulen is situated at an altitude between 1600 m and 2851 m. The rocks are predominantly

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

and

gneiss Gneiss (pronounced ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. This rock is formed under p ...

, but there are also

carbonate rock Carbonate rocks are a class of sedimentary rocks composed primarily of carbonate minerals. The two major types are limestone, which is composed of calcite or aragonite (different crystal forms of CaCO3), and Dolomite (rock), dolomite rock (also kn ...

. The reserve is rich in water resources and protects a number of glacial lakes, such as the Vasilashki Lakes,

Tipitski Lakes The Tipits Lakes () are two lakes that are located in the Tipits cirque of the Northern Pirin mountains of Bulgaria. The upper lake has a surface area of 17,7 decares and is 2,3 m deep; while the Lower lake has a surface area of 15,9 decares and ...

, Gazeyski Lakes, Polezhanski Lakes and others which are the source of several rivers. The climate is alpine due to the high altitude. The soils are mainly brown forest and alpine meadow soils.

Flora

The flora consists of over 700 species of

vascular plant Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes (, ) or collectively tracheophyta (; ), are plants that have lignin, lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They also have a specialized non-lignified Ti ...

s; of them 44 are included in the Red Book of Bulgaria. Some of the important species are globeflower (''

Trollius europaeus ''Trollius europaeus'', the globeflower, is a perennial flowering plant of the family Ranunculaceae. The plant is native to Europe and Western Asia and is a protected species in Russia and Bulgaria. In Udmurtia, this plant is one of the national ...

''), narcissus anemone (''

Anemone narcissiflora ''Anemone'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. Plants of the genus are commonly called windflowers. They are native to the temperate and subtropical regions of all regions except Australia, New Zealand, and ...

''), ''

Aquilegia aurea ''Aquilegia'', commonly known as columbines, is a genus of perennial flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae (buttercups). The genus includes between 80 and 400 taxa ( described species and subspecies) with natural ranges across the Norther ...

'', lake quillwort (''

Isoetes lacustris ''Isoetes lacustris'', the lake quillwort or Merlin's grass, is a boreal quillwort native on both sides of the northern Atlantic Ocean. In Europe, it is distributed from Poland west to northeastern France, throughout Scandinavia, the west and nor ...

'') – the only place where this plant is found in Bulgaria, '' Rhynchocorys elephas'', curly sedge (''

Carex rupestris ''Carex rupestris'', called the curly sedge and rock sedge (names it shares with other members of its genus), is a species of flowering plant in the family Cyperaceae, native to temperate and subarctic North America, Greenland, Iceland, Europe, ...

''), etc. There are

glacial relict A glacial relict is a population of a species that was common in the Northern Hemisphere prior to the onset of glaciation in the late Tertiary that was forced by climate change to retreat into refugia when continental ice sheets advanced. They ar ...

s such as black crowberry (''

Empetrum nigrum ''Empetrum nigrum'', crowberry, black crowberry, mossberry, or, in western Alaska, Labrador, etc., blackberry, is a flowering plant species in the heather family Ericaceae with a near circumboreal distribution in the Northern Hemisphere. Desc ...

'') and creeping sibbaldia ('' Sibbaldia procumbens''). There are old growth forests of Macedonian pine (''

Pinus peuce ''Pinus peuce'' (Macedonian pine or Balkan pine) (Serbo-Croatian and Macedonian: молика, molika; Bulgarian: бяла мура, byala mura) is a species of pine native to the mountains of North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Montenegro, Kos ...

''), Scots pine (''

Pinus sylvestris ''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 plant, native to Eurasia. It can readily be identified by its combination of fairly s ...

''), Norway spruce (''

Picea abies ''Picea abies'', the Norway spruce or European spruce, is a species of spruce native to Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. It has branchlets that typically hang downwards, and the largest cones of any spruce, ...

'') and European silver fir (''

Abies alba Firs are evergreen coniferous trees belonging to the genus ''Abies'' () in the family Pinaceae. There are approximately 48–65 extant species, found on mountains throughout much of North and Central America, Eurasia, and North Africa. The g ...

''), as well as isolated groups of Bosnian pine (''

Pinus heldreichii ''Pinus heldreichii'', the Bosnian pine or Heldreich's pine, is a species of pine native to mountains of southeast Europe in the Balkans and southern Italy. Description It is an evergreen tree up to in height, and in trunk diameter. The bark i ...

'').

Fauna

The most typical mammals in Yulen are

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 ...

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 ...

and

chamois The chamois (; ) (''Rupicapra rupicapra'') or Alpine chamois is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope native to the mountains in Southern Europe, from the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Apennines, the Dinarides, the Tatra Mountains, Tatra to the Carpa ...

. Birds are of species conservation importance and include

spotted nutcracker The northern nutcracker (''Nucifraga caryocatactes''), previously known as spotted nutcracker and Eurasian nutcracker, is a passerine bird in the crow family Corvidae. It is slightly larger than the Eurasian jay but has a much larger bill and a s ...

jack snipe The jack snipe or jacksnipe (''Lymnocryptes minimus'') is a small stocky wader. It is the smallest snipe, and the only member of the genus ''Lymnocryptes''. Features such as its sternum and its continuous 'bobbing up and down' make it quite dis ...

, western capercaillie,

rock partridge The rock partridge or common rock partridge (''Alectoris graeca'') is a gamebird in the pheasant family, Phasianidae, of the order Galliformes (gallinaceous birds). It is native to southern Europe, and is closely related and very similar to its ...

horned lark The horned lark or shore lark (''Eremophila alpestris'') is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae found across the northern hemisphere. It is known as "horned lark" in North America and "shore lark" in Europe. Taxonomy The horned lark was Sp ...

golden eagle The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known bird of pr ...

northern goshawk The northern goshawk has been split into two species based on significant morphological and genetic differences: * Eurasian goshawk The Eurasian goshawk (; ''Astur gentilis'', formerly ''Accipiter gentilis'') is a species of medium-large bird of ...

, etc. In sunnier areas there are common European vipers. The rivers and some of the glacial lakes have abundant

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a species of salmonid ray-finned fish and the most widely distributed species of the genus ''Salmo'', endemic to most of Europe, West Asia and parts of North Africa, and has been widely introduced globally ...

populations.

Landmarks

On the territory of the Yulen Reserve there is fortress from the Antiquity. The fortress is located at about 12 km from the town of

Bansko Bansko ( ) is a town in southwestern Bulgaria, located in Blagoevgrad Oblast near the city of Razlog. Once mainly a stockbreeding and travelling merchant community, the town is now an international centre for winter and summer tourism. More rec ...

. The excavations and the archaeological finds date its foundation from before the rule of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

. The fortress is almost 100 m in length and between 25 and 40 m wide. The only visible remains of fortification is a small section of the northern walls.

References

External links

* * {{Protected areas of Bulgaria Nature reserves in Bulgaria Pirin Geography of Blagoevgrad Province Tourist attractions in Blagoevgrad Province Protected areas established in 1994 1994 establishments in Bulgaria