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RETEZAT NATIONAL PARK


Retezat National Park is widely recognised as Romania's key mountain Protected Area.



Location

Retezat National Park is located in a high mountainous area of the Carpathians in South Western Romania.

  • Maps 7 and 8 show the location of Retezat and other Protected Nature Conservation Areas in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania.

  • Map 9 shows the location of Retezat in its regional context along with the locations of many other nominally Protected Areas such as Nature Reserves and Forest Reserves in South West Romania.

    See also other Maps

    • History

    Retezat National Park was established in 1935 when its feudal owners renounced their ownership of this royal hunting territory following the passing, in 1930, of Romania's first conservation law.

    The objective of designation as an area for nature conservation was to restrict pastoralism, woodcutting, hunting and fishing, but the protection powers were inadequate until 1955 when the Park was enlarged to 13 000 ha and placed under a more effective authority (Turnock, 1993, p. 152; IUCN, 1995a ; ProNatura, 1995)



    Extent

    Sources differ widely as to the extent of the Park and of Gemenele, the strictly protected scientific reserve at its core, where grazing and other economic activities are totally prohibited:

    Retezat Total Area (ha)
  • 10 000 (ProNatura, 1995) Map 9. (see above) indicates that this is probably the closest estimate.
  • 13 000 (MWFEP, 1996b)
  • 23 000 (Vadineanu, 1991b, p. 106)
  • 31 789 (MWFEP, 1996a, p. 111)
  • 38 047 (REC, http)
  • 54 440 (Muica and Popova-Cucu, 1993, p. 15; Vadineanu, 1991b, p.124)
  • 54 500 (IUCN, 1995a, p. 39)

    • Gemenele Strictly Protected Scientific Reserve Area (ha)
  • 1 800 (IUCN, 1995a, p. 39; REC, http; Vadineanu, 1991b, p. 106)
  • 3 700 (Burford, 1993, p. 252)
  • 18 400 (Muica and Popova-Cucu, 1993, p. 15)

    • Data on All Protected Areas of South West Romania
  • Table 1 Internationally Recognised National Parks of South West Romania.

  • Table 2 The Romanian Government's "Suggested National Parks (NP) and Biosphere Reserves (BR)" of South West Romania.

  • Table 3 Miscellaneous Nature Reserves, Nature Parks and Forest Reserves of South West Romania.
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