History of the Carpathian National Nature Park
On January 1, 1853, the oldest of the Austrian Empire nature protection document, called the Forest Statute, came into force. This document aimed to preserve forests of current Ternopil, Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk regions.
The first paragraph of this historical document firmly forbade reducing the area of forests.
Despite this fact, an area of forests decreased by two hundred thousand hectares during the 19th century.
This is explained by insufficient control of deforestation. The institution responsible for managing local forests was established only in 1872 and it was located far away, in Lviv.
First forest inspectors were appointed during late 1880-s – early 1900-s in order to protect local forests. In 1904, the forest police was established.
However, it was rather difficult to fulfil the first paragraph of the Forest Statute. At the beginning of the 20th century it was possible to perform a proper forest management on only 57 percent of all forest areas.
In addition to forest protection, first attempts to conserve threatened animals and plants, as well as valuable objects of living and non-living nature, were made. Forest protection was carried out by government institutions, and nature conservation was performed by public organizations and ordinary citizens.
At the beginning of the 20th century, enthusiasts from the Society of Naturalists contributed to the preservation of nature in the Carpathians, having developed a plan of nature conservation activities. This plan was adopted by the Tenth Congress of Doctors and Naturalists on July 22, 1907. After several visits of two high-ranking officials of the forest department of the Ministry of Agriculture and State Resources of Poland, 447 hectares of forests and mountain meadows in the Chornohora Massive were surrounded with barbed wire. This was the beginning of the nature reserve establishing. Then, according to the relevant decree, the area of the reserve in the Chornohora Massive was increased to 1,512 hectares, and 907 hectares of the total area were under a special protection. The real establishment of a national park in Chornohora began almost thirty years later.
In 1940, the Council of People's Commissars of the Ukrainian Soviet and Socialist Republic decided to establish state reserves, such as Chornohora (68 thousand ha) and Horhany (50 thousand ha) in the former Stanislav region (since 1962 ‒ Ivano-Frankivsk region) with the aim to preserve unique to Ukraine mountain landscapes. Virgin forests performed a particularly important hydrological and protective role in the Chornohora Massive. In 1955, in order to preserve mountain landscapes, the Stanislavsky Regional Executive Committee made a decision to allocate the valuable Chornohora massif belonging to the Hoverla Forestry of the Deliatyn Forest Enterprise into a nature reserve. In 1967, the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian Soviet and Socialist Republic created the State Committee of Nature Protection, which soon scientifically substantiated the importance of organizing four state reserves in Ukraine, including the Carpathian one. Reserves were legally approved, including the Carpathian State Reserve on an area of 12,672 hectares.
In 1980, according to the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian Soviet and Socialist Republic, the Carpathian State Natural National Park was founded in the Ivano-Frankivsk region on an area of 50.3 thousand hectares.
This is a long history of establishment of the Carpathian National Nature Park. Dozens of nature conservationists devoted themselves to this nature reserve and participated in its organization. Their goal was to preserve rare herbs, trees, birds, and animals for future generations.
Functional Zoning
The total area of the Carpathian National Nature Park is 50,495 hectares, including 38,322 hectares of lands of the permanent forest fund and 12,173 hectares of lands of other land users. These lands are included into the Park and traditional economic activities are performed there in compliance with general requirements for environmental protection.
According to a functional zoning, the following zones are allocated on the territory of the Park:
Core zone. This is an area of 11,401.4 hectares (22.6% of the total Park’s area) for protection and restoration of the most valuable natural complexes. Its regime is determined according to requirements established for nature reserves.
Controlled recreation zone. This is an area of 25,964.2 hectares (51.4% of the total Park’s area). A short-term recreation and rehabilitation of the population, as well as observation of especially picturesque places are held here. Arrangement and appropriate equipment of hiking and nature discovery trails is allowed here. Clear-cut logging, commercial fishing, and hunting, as well as other activities that can affect negatively on natural complexes and sites of the protected zone are prohibited.
Stationary recreation zone. This is an area of 96.2 ha (0.2% of the total Park’s area). Building of hotels, campgrounds, and other facilities for park visitors are allowed here.
Utility zone. This is an area of 13,033.2 ha (25.8% of the total Park’s area). Economic activities, which are aimed at fulfilling the Park’s tasks, are carried out here. There are settlements, communal facilities of the Park, as well as lands of other landowners and land users, where economic activities are carried out in compliance with general requirements of natural environment protection. The construction of residential, cultural, industrial, administrative, recreational, and other facilities according to general plans of settlements and district planning projects is allowed on these lands.