baumzaehlen - Primeval Forests & Their Trees

Steneto Reserve is a part of Central Balkan National Park and also a UNESCO biosphere reserve. It includes the best preserved forests in the National Park ¹ and is the second largest (36 km ² , after Dzhendema Reserve ) virgin forest in Bulgaria ² . Most of the reserve is situated in one large valley including the magnificent Steneto Gorge. The uppermost slopes are mostly outside the reserve. The elevation ranges from 760 m to 1940 m. The “middle mountain belt” is the most extensive altitudinal zone, where mean annual temperature is 4.8–7.0°C and annual precipitation 800–1300 mm with a May–June maximum ³ . Slopes vary from gentle to vertical.

The region is one of the richest in Europe in regard to tree species diversity ⁴ . The entire national park has more than 50 tree species in its 720 km ² . Warm, dry sites of Steneto Reserve may have up to 20 tree species/hectare ¹ . However, most of the reserve is overwhelmingly dominated by Fagus sylvatica (European beech), mixed with a few other species, most abundant of these being Abies alba (European silver fir), Picea abies (Norway spruce) and Acer pseudoplatanus (sycamore maple). The conifers are more abundant in shady ravines and near the timberline. Ostrya carpinifolia (hop hornbeam) is common on sunny cliffs. F. sylvatica reaches about 300 years ¹ .

The reserve also protects a rich fauna including 90 nesting bird species ⁵ . Large herbivores, particularly roe deer, were very numerous until 1990 but reintroduced wolf and, unfortunately, poaching keep their numbers much lower nowadays ³ . Cattle graze freely on the meadows bordering the reserve and also stray into some peripheral areas of the reserve.

A few marked trails run through the reserve. Staying overnight is possible in a few huts at the borders of the reserve. Camping is possible around the huts. It is not possible to drive the road to the northern end of Steneto Gorge. For the gorge, it is best to start from the southern side of the mountain range, stay overnight at Dermenka Hut and enter the gorge from the south.

References:

1 whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6013/

2 Veen, P. et al. (2010): Virgin forests in Romania and Bulgaria: results of two national inventory projects and their implications for protection. Biodivers Conserv 19 :1805–1819.

3 Sakalian, M. (ed.) 2000: Biological Diversity of the Central Balkan National Park. USAID.

4 Svenning, J.-C. (2010): Geography, topography, and history affect realized-to-potential tree species richness patterns in Europe. Ecography 33 : 1070-1080.

5 http://visitcentralbalkan.net/assets/userfiles/%D0%91%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%8A%D1%82/broj%201%20-%202013.pdf

Official site:

http://visitcentralbalkan.net/en/

Video clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=typCTQQXEYI