Risnjak National Park (Croatian: Nacionalni park Risnjak) is a national park in Croatia. Croatian language ( hrvatski jezik) is a South Slavic language which is used primarily in Croatia, by Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina in neighbouring A national park is a reserve of land usually declared and owned by a national Government, protected from most Human development and pollution Croatia (Hrvatska ˈxȓvatska officially the Republic of Croatia ( Republika Hrvatska) is a southern Central European country at the crossroads between It is located in Gorski kotar, the most mountainous and heavily forested region of the country, about 15 km inland from the Adriatic Sea. Gorski kotar (English Mountain District) is the mountainous Region in Croatia between Karlovac and Rijeka. The park covers an area of 63,5 square kilometers including the central part of Risnjak and Snježnik massif and the source area of the river Kupa. "Riverine" redirects here For the use of that term in Maritime geography, see there KUPA (1370 AM is a Radio station located in Honolulu Hawaii. The station is owned by Broadcasting Corp The administration and visitor center of the park are located in Crni Lug, a town on the eastern edge of the park. In Business, administration consists of the performance or management of business operations and thus the making or implementing of major decisions A visitor center, centre (see Spelling differences) or visitor information centre may be A visitor center at a specific attraction
Contents |
Ethmology
The name of the massif probably comes from the Croatian word for the lynx, ris. A lynx is any of four medium-sized wild cats. All are members of the Genus Lynx, but there is considerable confusion about the best way to classify Another interpretation suggests that it comes from the local word risje, which is a name for a type of grass.
History
The first recorded scientific visit was made in 1825 by the Budapest botanist Joseph Standler. Budapest ( also /ˈbʊ-/) is the capital city of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary it serves as the country's principal Political, Many other botanists visited subsequently. The most prominent 19th century explorer of Risnjak was the botanist Josip Schlosser who wrote numerous publications about Risnjak and its flora. In Botany, flora ( Plural: floras or florae has two meanings The first meaning flora of an area or of time period, refers to all The first organized mountaineering visit was mounted by the Rijeka alpine club, and the first mountain refuge in the area was built in 1932. “Alpinist” redirects here See also Alpinist (magazine Mountaineering is the Sport, Hobby or Profession of Rijeka (other Croatian dialects Rika and Reka, Reka Italian and Hungarian: Fiume, Sankt Veit am Pflaumb is
In 1949 botanist Ivo Horvat suggested for the first time that the area around Risnjak should be protected. On his advice, the parliament of the then Socialist Republic of Croatia declared 36. Socialist Republic of Croatia ( Croato-Serbian and Croatian: Socijalistička Republika Hrvatska) was a Socialist state that was a Constituent 00 km² around Risnjak to be a national park. In 1956 the area of the park was reduced to 30. 14 km², of which 21. 06 km² were put under stricter protection. Finally, in 1997, the Croatian parliament voted to enlarge of the park to its current size. The areas of Snježnik and Kupa source were added to the park but also for the first time inhabited areas of villages of Razloge, Razloški okrug and Krašćevica.
Geography
The park is entirely in Primorje-Gorski Kotar county, and is divided between the city of Čabar, the city of Delnice and the municipality of Jelenje. Primorje-Gorski kotar county - Primorsko-goranska županija is a County in western Croatia that includes the Bay of Kvarner and the surrounding Čabar is a town and municipality in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar county in western Croatia. Delnice is a town in western Croatia, the largest settlement in the mountainous region of Gorski Kotar, in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar county. Jelenje is a municipality in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar county in western Croatia. The highest point of the park is Veliki Risnjak (1528 m) and the lowest is the area around the source of the Kupa (313 m). The massif is located on the northern part of the Dinaric Alps, and marks the divide between the Adriatic and Black Sea watersheds. The Dinaric Alps or Dinarides ( Croatian and Bosnian: Dinarsko gorje or Dinaridi, Alpet Dinaride A drainage divide, water divide, divide or (outside North America) watershed is the line separating neighbouring Drainage basins The Black Sea is an inland Sea bounded by southeastern Europe, the Caucasus and the Anatolian peninsula ( Turkey A drainage basin is an extent of Land where Water from Rain or Snow melt drains downhill into a body of water such as a River,
Like most of the Dinaric Alps, the park is dominated by limestone and dolomite rocks and shows major karst features: ponikve, karren on bare rocks, rock falls, swallow holes, caves and so on. Limestone is a Sedimentary rock composed largely of the Mineral Calcite ( Calcium carbonate: CaCO3 Dolomite (ˈdɒləmaɪt is the name of a Sedimentary Carbonate rock and a Mineral, both composed Karst topography is a landscape shaped by the dissolution of a layer or layers of soluble Bedrock, usually Carbonate rock such as Limestone Because the limestone is very porous there are few surface flows of water. Porosity is a measure of the void spaces in a material and is measured as a fraction between 0–1 or as a Percentage between 0–100%
Climate
Although Risnjak is of only a modest altitude, it is nevertheless a very significant climatic and vegetational barrier between coastal and continental parts of Croatia. Adriatic and continental weather patterns collide here and play a significant role in determining the park's climate. It has pleasantly warm summers and an average temperature of up to 22°C; springs and autumns are rainy, and the winter is long and snowy. The average year-round temperature at the Risnjak mountain lodge is 2. 5 °C with an annual rainfall of 3600 mm, which is amongst the highest in the country, and an average snow depth of between 122 and 448 cm. "Snowfall" redirects here For other uses see Snow (disambiguation or Snowfall (disambiguation.
Areas within the park called ponikvas experience a microclimate where, because of temperature inversions, the lower regions are colder than those at higher altitudes. A microclimate is a local atmospheric zone where the Climate differs from the surrounding area In meteorology an inversion is a deviation from the normal change of an atmospheric property with altitude In ponikvas the winter snow lasts much longer than elsewhere.
Biology
Flora
Although the park occupies only a relatively small area, very diverse types of flora can be found. It marks the point where the coastal and continental vegetation zones meet, as well as combining the Dinaric and Alpine zones. This produces great floral variety across the multiple ecotones found in the park. An ecotone is a transition area between two adjacent ecological communities ( Ecosystems.
Most of the park is covered by a mixture of beech and fir trees growing on limestone and dolomite. For the babyfood see Beech-Nut. Beech ( Fagus) is a genus of ten Species of Deciduous Trees in the Firs ( Abies) are a genus of between 45-55 species of Evergreen conifers in the family Pinaceae. Numerous variations characterised by local microclimates and types of soil can also be found. Soil, often typeset as SOiL, is a four piece rock band from Chicago Illinois United States founded by Shaun Glass Tom Schofield Tim King and Adam Zadel Here one can find single trees of sycamore maple, elm, ash, and sometimes some yew. A tree is a perennial Woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or Acer pseudoplatanus ( Sycamore or Sycamore Maple to distinguish it from other plants called Sycamore) is a species of Maple native Elms are Deciduous and Semi-deciduous Trees comprising the genus Ulmus, family Ulmaceae, found An ash can be any of four different tree genera from four very distinct families; most commonly in a combined form (e Taxus baccata is a conifer native to western central and southern Europe, northwest Africa, northern Iran and southwest The beech and fir forest gradually gives way to another large forest zone - the subalpine beech forest with lettuce grass, which grows in areas of the park at heights of between 1200 m and 1400 m above sea level. The term subalpine refers to the biotic zone immediately below Tree line around the world
The upper border of this ecotone is marked by impenetrable underbush in form of shrubs creating a unique ecosystem, which has been termed the Fagelatum croaticum subalpinum fruticosu. A shrub or Bush is a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category of Woody plant, distinguished from a Tree Above the subalpine beech forest there grows the last, highest forest ecosystem - crooked shrubby pine. This article is about the tree For other uses of the term "pine" see Pine (disambiguation.
The rocky peak of Risnjak is characterised by some especially interesting flora. The peak is home to a variety of rare and sometimes endangered species such as the edelweiss, black vanilla orchid, mountain milfoil, alpine yellow violet, livelong saxifrage, alpine snowbell, mountain avens and hairy alpine rose. Gymnadenia nigra is a species of Orchid. The alpine snowbell or blue moonwort Soldanella alpina, is a member of the Primulaceae native to the Alps and Pyrenees. Dryas octopetala ( Common names include mountain avens, white dryas, and white dryad) is an Arctic-alpine Flowering
Fauna
The fauna is just as diverse as the flora. Fauna is all of the Animal life of any particular region or time The park is home to mammals such as the brown bear, deer, roe deer, chamois, wild boar, wolf, pine marten, stone marten, badger, weasel, squirrel and dormouse. Mammals ( class Mammalia) are a class of Vertebrate Animals characterized by the presence of Sweat glands, including sweat glands The Brown Bear ( Ursus arctos) is an Omnivorous Mammal of the family Ursidae, distributed across much of northern Eurasia and A deer is a Ruminant Mammal belonging to the family Cervidae. The European Roe Deer ( Capreolus capreolus) is a Deer species of Europe, Asia Minor, and Caspian coastal regions The chamois ( Rupicapra rupicapra) is a Goat -like animal native to the Carpathian Mountains of Romania the European Alps, the Gran The boar or wild boar ( Sus scrofa) is an Omnivorous, gregarious Mammal of the biological family Suidae. The grey wolf or gray wolf ( Canis lupus) also known as the timber wolf or simply wolf, is a Mammal of the order Carnivora The Beech Marten ( Martes foina) also known as the Stone Marten, is the most common species of Marten in Central Europe. Badger is the Common name for any animal of three subfamilies which belong to the family Mustelidae: the same Mammal family as the Weasels are Mammals in the genus Mustela of the Mustelidae family. A squirrel is one of the many small or medium-sized Rodents in the family Sciuridae. Dormice are Rodents of the family Gliridae. (This family is also variously called Myoxidae or Muscardinidae by different taxonomists The most important animal used to be the lynx, after which Risnjak got its name, but it was exterminated during the 19th century and has only returned to Risnjak three decades ago. A lynx is any of four medium-sized wild cats. All are members of the Genus Lynx, but there is considerable confusion about the best way to classify The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar There are also numerous bird species living in Risnjak: capercaillie, grouse, sparrowhawk and owl, amongst others. The Capercaillie ( Tetrao urogallus) also known as the Wood Grouse or more specifically Western Capercaillie is the largest member of the Grouse Grouse are a group of birds from the order Galliformes. Often considered a family Tetraonidae, the American Ornithologists' Union The Eurasian Sparrowhawk ( Accipiter nisus) is a small Bird of prey in the family Accipitridae which includes many other diurnal raptors such The Owls are an order of birds of prey. Most are Solitary, and nocturnal, with some exceptions (e There are also numerous butterflies, insects and snails. A butterfly is an Insect of the order Lepidoptera. Like all Lepidoptera butterflies are notable for their unusual life cycle with a Insects ( Class Insecta) are a major group of Arthropods and the most diverse group of Animals on the Earth with over a million described The word snail is a Common name that can be used for almost all members of the Molluscan class Gastropoda which have coiled shells in the
Place of interest
Due to its closeness to major road connections (motorway Zagreb - Rijeka) and vicinity of major tourist centers on the coastline it is most visited National Park in Croatia. A road is an identifiable route, way or path between two or more places.
Risnjak
Veliki Risnjak is the highest peak in the park and the second in Gorski kotar next to Bjelolasica. A mountain is a Landform that extends above the surrounding Terrain in a limited area with a peak On its southern slope is located the mountain lodge called Šloserov dom, built by Josip Schlosser. The peak can be reached only on foot, from Crni Lug (3 h) or from an unpaved road beginning in Gornje Jelenje (1h).
Snježnik
Snježnik is the second highest peak in the park (1506 m). Its name comes from the word for snow - snijeg. The mountain should not be confused with Snežnik, a peak 20 km to the north-west in Slovenia. On its grassy peak is located a mountain lodge called Albaharijev dom. It is about 1. 5 hours' walk from the ski resort of Platak; this has made it the most common place for tour skiing in Croatia.
Guslica
Guslica is a peak about an hour's walk from Snježnik, with an altitude of 1490 m. It is the site of an abandoned Yugoslav People's Army complex. The Yugoslav People's Army (JNA YPA ( Serbo-Croatian, Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian: Jugoslavenska Narodna Armija or Jugoslovenska Since the army left in 1991 the whole place was left to rot, giving it something of the appearance of a ghost town. A ghost town is a Town or City that has been abandoned usually because the economic activity that supported it has failed or due to natural or human-caused There have been proposals to renovate the complex to create a mountain refuge, but these have not come to fruition.
Educational path Leska
This path was created by the park administration 1993. Year 1993 ( MCMXCIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar) It is a circular walk 4. 5 km long, beginning and ending at the visitor center in Crni Lug. The path passes through areas of different vegetations and through many different karstic features.
Source of Kupa
The river Kupa has its source at the park's lowest point, in an oval pond some 50 m wide. The pond has the been target of numerous expeditions to determine its depth. The researches made so far show that the water springs out of two separate channels. The narrower channel is 86 m deep and the wider one 57 m. The source can be reached by half an hour's walk from the village of Razloge.
External links
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic