Rila Monastery Nature Park Management Plan - part - usaid

February 2004
its annexes. Of these, 23 are included in Appendix # 3, 22 in Appendix # 2, and five
species are listed in Appendix # 4.
Habitats of conservation significance for vertebrate animal species
Old beech, beech/oak and oak forests. (habitats 41.1912 southwestern-Moesian
neutrophilic beech forests - Fagus sylvatica; 41.763 Heleno-Moesian durmast forests
- Quercus dalechampii; 41.7372 Moesian forests of hairy oak - Quercus pubescens;
41.762 Helen-Moesian forests of blagun - Quercus frainetto). All of the above
mentioned habitats are listed in Appendix # 1 to the Biological Diversity Act and in
the List of Resolution # 4 of the Bern Convention. Within the Park’s perimeter, such
forests can mostly be found in the Rila Monastery Forest Reserve, and are of
European conservation significance as habitats of vertebrate fauna. Beech-dominated
forest massifs provide breeding grounds and a food base for the woodpecker
Dendrocopos leucotos lilfordii, for most species of owl and for several large
predatory birds, as well as for other vertebrates (the salamander Salamandra
salamandra, the grass-snake Elaphe longissima, all three species of dormouse, the
marten a.o.), listed in Appendices # 2 & 3 of the Biological Diversity Act (Appendix
20).
Mixed deciduous forests. (habitats 41.19123 southwestern-Moesian hornbeam and
beech forests - Carpinus betulus, Fagus sylvatica), listed in Appendix #1 to the
Biological Diversity Act, in the List of Resolution # 4 of the Bern Convention, etc.
The mixed broad-leaf forests are characterized by a diversity of species that is above
the average for Park forests in general. Of the mammalian class, typical inhabitants of
this type of forest are the various dormice, some other small rodents, and the black
polecat, and in areas rich in rivers and streams, otters, river rats, water shrew and
Mediterranean water shrew, etc. This type of forest provided the principal habitat for
Bonasa bonasia, Angius fragilis, Rana dalmatina and some other species, some of
which are protected under BDA and listed in Annexes 2 & 3 thereof.
Mixed deciduous/coniferous forests. (habitats 41.19122 southwestern-Moesian
beech and common fir forests (Fagus sylvatica, Abies alba), listed in Appendix # 1 to
the Biological Diversity Act, in the List of Resolution # 4 of the Bern Convention,
etc. These are generally richer in species than the mixed deciduous-only forests. Of
the mammalian world, 26 species are encountered here, among which the badger, the
wild cat, three species of dormice and the common forest mouse. The black polecat
can occasionally be spotted as well. Many species of birds are represented there,
including the green and gray woodpeckers, several owls, etc. A large portion of the
species listed here are included in Annexes 2 & 3 of BDA. The largest number (10) of
mammal species of high conservation significance inhabits the zoocenoses of broadleaf
and mixed broad-leaf and coniferous forests: five species of world significance,
four of European and one of national conservation significance.
Coniferous forests. (habitats 42.1613 Western Rhodope forests of common fir -
Abies alba; 42.2413 Moesian-Macedonian spruce forests - Picea abies; 42.5C2
Rhodope forests of Scots pine - Pinus sylvestris; 42.171 Forests of King Boris’s fir -
Abies borisii regis; 42.723 Rila-Pirin and Macedonian forests of Macedonian pine -
Pinus peuce, etc.).; 42.6618 Rhodope forests of black pine (Pinus nigra subsp.
Rila Monastery Nature Park
Management Plan -Draft
2004 - 2013
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