OverviewOn June 28, 2007 the UNESCO World Natural Heritage Committee on its meeting in New Zealand adopted a decision to include the Ukrainian-Slovak nomination "Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians" to the UNESCO World Natural Heritage.Beech Virgin Forests of the Carpathians are now equal to the famous Yellowstone Natural Park, the Niagara Falls and over 160 other natural phenomena.
This is a transboundary serial site that contains of 10 separate areas located along the 185 km axis from the Rakhiv Mountains and the Chornohora Mountain range in Ukraine to the Bukovské Vrchy and Vihorlat Mountains in Slovak Republic. These virgin beech forests represent all stages of beech forests in their entirety, contain the largest remaining primeval beech forests in Europe and the largest and tallest beech specimens in the world.
Primeval beech forests of the Carpathians are the best example of this forest type and its associated ecological processes that still remains and are a significant parts of the very last remnants of Europe's original nature. These virgin forests are the best of the last:
- Uholka - Shyrokyi Luh (Ukraine)
- Stuzhytsia (Slovakia/Ukraine)
- Svydovets (Ukraine)
- Havešová (Slovakia)
- Maramarosh (Ukraine)
- Rožok (Slovakia)
- Vihorlat (Slovakia)
- Chornohora (Ukraine)
Ancient virgin beech forests pure, ecologically stable and intact, cover extensive areas of these sites and include the largest virgin beech forest in Europe - the Uholka - Shyrokyi Luh massif in Ukraine. They are relics of forests that used to cover 2/5 of temperate Europe whose beauty undegraded habitats and immemorial processes are an important part of the continent's heritage.They are real paradise for fungi - about 700 species. Almost all species of wood-destructive fungi of Europe are distributed here.
The forest floor is very rich with early spring flowers growing here with high density. Fern species are rather diverse, too. Vast areas of virgin ecosystems help to preserve a number of animal populations which are ecologically associated with damage trees and dead wood, such as owls. All the European woodpecker species are found in these Primeval Beech Forests.Rare and endemic amphibian species are very common here, but these areas serve as a habitat for 73 species of mammals which is the highest number from all comparable World Heritage Sites in Europe.
The virgin forests embody freedom and the eternal beauty. So, from this point of view, they should represent an exceptional ethic and esthetic value.Thick candlelight trunks of beech trees make up a giant colonnade of a real temple of nature which admires us with its power, magnificence and ancient origin. Primeval beech forests exhibit the visual appeal commonly associated with old-growth forests that some believe, inspired European Gothic architecture. Wilderness and non-disturbance of virgin forests, precognitioned by total absence of any signs of human activity, presence of a great number of huge standing and lying dead trees covered with carpets of moss and beards of lichens give these sites a sense of an inimitable harmony of chaos and allows us seeing this beauty with the eyes of ancient philosophers.
Primeval beech forests of the Carpathians have the potential to become a real Mecca for a great number of naturalists from all over the world.
External LinksShort video documentary about Primeval beech forests of the Carpathians:
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