Rila Monastery Nature Park Management Plan - part - usaid

February 2004
- 22 habitats endangered on a European scale, requiring special conservation
measures pursuant to Resolution # 4 (06.12.1996) and 28 habitats listed in Annex # 1
to the EU Directive on Habitats;
- the only location of Rila oak worldwide;
- the only habitat in Europe based on permanently moistened slopes of bedrock
(Vorniya Rid);
- one of ten most significant locations in Bulgaria where peat-based
communities are preserved;
• The territory in Bulgaria with the highest degree of naturalness, stability,
typicality and representative value of the ecosystems:
- typical altitudinal zoning of the vegetation, comprised of six characteristic
zones: homogeneous deciduous, mixed deciduous, mixed deciduous-and-coniferous,
coniferous, sub-alpine and alpine vegetation;
- one of four protected areas in Bulgaria with the highest degree of naturalness,
over 70% of its territory being occupied by all-natural ecosystems;
- the presence of some of the most pristine forest ecosystems in Europe, almost
unaffected by human impact: about 94.8% of all forests all-natural in origin;
- the most representative spruce and common fir ecosystems in the world, in
combination with the endemic Macedonian pine;
- the most representative populations in Europe of King Boris’s fir, a Balkan
endemic, having the highest percentage of specimens of that species within its forest
ecosystems;
- some of the most representative dwarf-pine ecosystems in Europe (11% of the
Park’s territory);
- a representative sample of the “mixed mountain systems of complex zoning”
biome in Europe;
• One of the three most significant territories in Bulgaria in terms of the
conservation of alpine birds, a key element of the international network of
Important Bird Areas of world significance for birds of the alpine biome (this also
holds true of the entire group of alpine fauna);
• One of five most important natural centers of new species formation in Bulgaria
for both plants and invertebrate organisms:
- one of the places in Bulgaria with the highest concentrations of relic species;
- one of the most important centers of endemicity: of the species and subspecies
of endemic higher plants found here, six local, 27 Bulgarian and 90 Balkan endemics
and invertebrates species – two local, 41 Bulgarian and 52 Balkan endemics;
• A protected area featuring an exceptionally high concentration of habitats,
communities and species of conservation significance:
- breeding ground for 35 species of vertebrate animals listed in the Red Book of
Bulgaria, and of 54 vertebrate species having populations of national conservation
significance within the Park;
- a high degree of representation of European significance of the Macedonian
pine (a Balkan endemic), making up to 11.6% of the composition of forest
ecosystems;
- one of the locations in Bulgaria with the highest concentrations of vertebrate
species of European conservation significance: 186 (90% of all vertebrate species
within the Park territory);
- breeding ground for populations of European significance of 32 vertebrate
species (one species of reptile, 25 birds, and six mammals);
Rila monastery Nature Park
ManaegmentPlan - Draft
2004 - 2013
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