Unlike North America, Europe isn’t necessarily known for its national parks. Go ahead, name one national park on the continent without googling it. I’m willing to bet you can’t. The national parks of North America, on the other hand, are the most popular in the world, with visitors traveling from all over just to visit the land. But that doesn’t mean Europe is completely void of protected land.
Some of the most beautiful national parks in the world are located in Europe, like Norway’s Jotunheimen National Park, or Germany’s Bavarian Forest National Park. Mount Olympus, the home of the Greek gods, is located in Olympus National Park, and Iceland’s Vatnajokull National Park features Europe’s largest glacier. But that’s not what you’re here for. You’re here for “a Yellowstone in Europe”. You’re here for the Southern Carpathian Mountains.
Formerly nationalized forests of Romania have been clear cut since the land was returned to private ownership beginning in 2005. To make matters worse, thousands of hectares of woodland has been illegally logged, tearing apart the ecosystem of the Carpathian Mountains. These mountains form some of Europe’s largest contiguous forests, containing the largest population of large carnivores in the continent and the highest percentage of untouched woodlands. Foundation Conservation Carpathia (FCC) hopes to protect these lands.
“We aim to create a world-class wilderness reserve in the Southern Romanian Carpathians, large enough to support significant numbers of large carnivores and to allow evolutionary processes to happen.“
By combining the Făgăraș Mountains Natura 2000 site, Piatra Craiului National Park and Leaota Mountain, the site of the potential park could wind up being over 600,000 acres. For comparison, the real Yellowstone National Park is around 2.2 million acres, but the Carpathian Mountain park would still be enormous. The FCC has employed wildlife snow tracking, genetic monitoring, remote camera traps, and much more to monitor the area’s wildlife, which includes bears, wolves, lynx, and European bison.
“The first eight European bison are now part of the native fauna again and we are currently preparing the grounds for reintroduction more of these mighty herbivores, in the innitial area and in outer two points.”
Related: Woman & Child Stand On Precarious Perch For Pictures @ Olympic National Park
Featured Image Credit: Fundatia Conservation CARPATHIA via YouTube