NATIONAL PARKS AND RESERVES

Pelister N.P. In the Republic of Macedonia, there are four national parks protected by law. These are the Pelister national park, Mavrovo national park, Mount Galicica and Jasen national park.
Motif from Pelister In 1948, Pelister national park near the town of Bitola, became the first national park in Macedonia. It covers an area of about 1,600 hectares, and the five-needle pine (also known as Pelister pine), is the only such variety in the world. It also contains two glacial lakes, known as Pelisterski Oci (Pelister Eyes).
In the western part of the Republic of Macedonia, the Mavrovo national park was found. It became a national park in 1949, and had an area of 11,750 hectares. In 1952 it was then enlarged to 73,100 hectares of this some 27,000 hectares are in forestry. It is assumed that it has more than 1,000 types of high plant forms, and about a 100 of which are extremely rare or endemic to the Balkans.
Galicica N.P. Between lake Ohrid and lake Prespa, the Galicica national park is found. It had become a national park in 1958, with an area of around 22,750 hectares. There are nineteen different forest communities in the national park, which indicates that the vegetation is very rich, and includes several extremely rare types of flora.
The Jasen national park stretches across the mountain massifs of Suva Gora, Suva planina and Karadzica. It is found in the north-west part of the Republic of Macedonia, and became a national park in 1958 covering an area of around 24,000 hectares. This national park comes into the category of special national reserves protecting many species of flora, fauna and other natural rarities.
There are also five natural reserves in Macedonia: Mount Korab, Mount Vodno, Katlanovsko Blato, Jorgov Kamen and Selecka Planina.
The three tectonic lakes - Ohrid, Prespa and Dojran have natural characteristics that are protected by law. The town of Ohrid which is found on the shores of lake Ohrid, also has natural and cultural heritage, so it has been placed under the protection of UNESCO.

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