Retezat National Park

Retezat National Park, located in Hunedoara county, Romania, was founded in 1935 and has an area of 380 km².

Containing more than 60 peaks over convert|7500|ft|m and over 100 crystal clear deep glacier lakes, the Retezat Mountains are some of the most beautiful in the Carpathians and include Romania's first national park. Retezat National Park is a natural reserve area covering more than convert|275|sqmi|km2|abbr=on., including 4.500 square acres in a strictly protected scientific reserve area called "Gemenele". The area shelters one of Europe's last remaining, unaffected natural primary forest and the largest single area of pristine mixed forest. Wolves, brown bear, wild boar, Eurasian Lynx, European Wildcat, chamois, Roe Deer and red deer, as well as small carnivore species such as Eurasian Badger and Eurasian otter populate the area. In 1979 the Man and Biosphere Program of UNESCO included the park in the international network of biosphere reserve.

The Retezat Mountains can be found in this Park, with the highest peak being "Peleaga Peak" at 2509 meters. The name derives from the name of the mountains and "retezat" means in Romanian "cut off", alluding to their shape. It also includes about 80 glacier lakes.

Here can be found 1190 of the 3450 plant species of Romania, of which 130 have the "endangered" or "vulnerable" status. A part of it is a 'protected area', which contains an intact primeval forest.

Proposed extermination of the wildlife

The Romanian Parlament is currently (September 2008) discussing a bill aiming to open 13 National Parks to commercial hunting, in order to eliminate the wildlife from these areas. It is the first step toward dismantling the National Parks in Romania and transformating them into human settled areas.

External links

* [http://www.retezat.ro/ Official site]
* [http://maps.retezat.ro/ Maps of the Park]
* [http://www.jiuvalley.com Jiu Valley Portal] - the home of the Official Jiu Valley City Websites and a gateway to the Retezat National Park and other destinations in the Transylvanian Alps
* [http://www.jiuvalley.com/engl/maps/index.asp Maps of the Retezat and other mountain ranges in the Transylvanian Alps]
* [http://retezat-mapy.wz.cz/ Touristic Maps of the Retezat Mountains]