National Park Pirin

Pirin
national
park
Teodor 10 b
Pirin
Pirin National Park, originally
named Vihren National Park,
encompasses the larger part of
the Pirin Mountains in southwestern
Bulgaria, spanning an area of
403.56 km2. It is one of the three
national parks in the country, the
others being Rila National
Park and Central Balkan National
Park. The park was established in
1962 and its territory was expanded
several times since then. The altitude
varies from 950 m to 2,914 m
at Vihren, Bulgaria's second highest
summit and the Balkans' third.
History
Pirin National Park was established on 18 November
1962 in order to preserve the natural ecosystems and
landscapes along with their plant and animal
communities and habitats. Originally named Vihren
National Park, the protected area initially covered
67.36 km2. Its territory was expanded several times
until it reached its current area of 403.56 km2 in
1999. In 1983, Pirin National Park was added to the list
of UNESCO World Heritage Sites as an area of
outstanding natural importance. By the Constitution of
Bulgaria, the park is exclusively state-owned.
Relief and

Geology
The Pirin mountain range is divided
into three sections: northern, middle  The relief of Pirin National Park is alpine and highly
and southern, with the northern one fragmented and is characterized with steep slopes, high
being the highest and containing all ridges and deep river valleys. The highest point is Vihren at
glacial formations and lakes. The park an altitude of 2914 m. The lowest altitude in the park is at
covers the northern section, itself 950 m near Bansko. Nearly 60% of the park's area is
divided into two zones. The northern situated above 2000 m.
zone consists of the
steep marble Vihren ridge with the  Geologically Pirin is a massive anticline formed
three highest summits in the by metamorphic rocks — gneiss, biotite and
mountain: Vihren , Kutelo and Banski crystalline schists, amphibolite, quartzite and marble.
Suhodol. The southern zone consists
of granite ridges and includes Pirin's
fourth highest summit Polezhan, at
2851 m.
Clima
te
Pirin falls within the continental
Mediterranean climate zone and due to its
altitude the higher sectors have Alpine
climate. Pirin has three altitude climate
zones — low between 600 and 1000 m,
middle between 1000 and 1800 m and high
above 1800 m . annual temperature is
around 9–10 °C in the lower, 5–7 °C in the
middle and 2–3 °C in the higher altitude.
The coldest month is January with average
temperature −5 °C. The hottest month is
July with temperature averaging 20 °C.
The annual precipitation is 600–700 mm in
the lower altitude zones and 1000–
1200 mm in the higher ones.
Hydrology
The average
The territory of
annual discharge of the
Pirin National
01 Park is almost 02 park's rivers is 355,6
million m3. , of them 188,5
equally divided
million m3 flow to the
between the
Struma and 167,1 million
basins of the
m3 to the Mesta.
rivers Struma and
Mesta
Biolo
gy
Pirin National Park falls within the Rodope
montane mixed forests terrestrial ecoregion of
the Palearctic temperate broadleaf and mixed
forest.
Forests cover 231.10 km2 or 57.3% of the park's
total area. Of them 95% are coniferous forests
and 5% are deciduous forests.
There are 16 tree species; of them three are
Balkan endemic taxa with limited areal — the
Bulgarian fir, Macedonian pine and Bosnian
pine. The largest area is occupied by dwarf
mountain pine – 59.62 km2, Macedonian pine –
54.15 km2, Norway spruce – 23.79 km2,
European beech – 10.98 km2 and Bosnian pine –
8.93 km2.
Flora
The flora of the park is diverse and is
characterized with high endemism due to the
combination of southern geographic latitude and
high altitude variation. The varied relief creates
various ecological environments for plants
Non-vascular plants constitute the The vascular plants in Pirin National

least researched part of Pirin's Park include 1315 species of
flora. The least studied of them are 94 families and 484 genera, or
the algae with 165 species, including
two endemics. The Bryophytes, are approximately 1/3 of Bulgaria's flora.
represented by 329 known species. The number of species included in the
The number of lichen species is 367, Red Book of Bulgaria is 114. There are
or 52% of Bulgaria's total diversity 18 species endemic to the park and
another 17 are restricted only to
Bulgaria
Some plant species
Fauna
The vertebrate fauna The total number of The ichthyofauna
of Pirin National Park bird species is 159. Of includes 6 fish
consists of 229 species. them 91, or 57%, species: common
The number of are passerine. The minnow, European
mammal species is 45. park's rarest residents eel , western
Among the species of are lesser spotted vairone, brown
highest conservation eagle, booted trout, rainbow
value are brown eagle, golden trout and brook trout.
bear, gray eagle, short-toed snake The number of identified
wolf, wildcat, Europea eagle, saker invertebrate species in
n pine marten, wild falcon, peregrine Pirin National Park is
boar, red deer, roe falcon, western 2091.
deer and Balkan capercaillie, hazel
chamois. grouse.
Some animal species

National Park Pirin

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Pirin

Non-vascular plants constitute the The vascular plants in Pirin National

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