NATIONAL FOREST ADMINISTRATION ROMSILVA

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NATIONAL FOREST ADMINISTRATION ROMSILVA ORADEA
FORESTRY DIRECTORATE APUSENI NATURE PARK
ADMINISTRATION APUSENI NATURE PARK ROMANIA
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ROMANIA National and nature parks network
Total number of the Romanian parks is 27.
Aditionally Parcul Natural Lunca Prutului
Inferior Parcul National Defileul Jiului
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• General information
• Situated in Western Romania in the heart of
  Apuseni Mountains
• First declared in the year 2000
• Administration formed in 2004 as a team of young
  professionals, 14 out of 21 positions filled at
  present
• Geologilcal, biological and cultural importance
  at national level
• Area of main tourist atraction in Apuseni
  Mountains, more than 300 000 visitors/year
• The biggest and most famous karst phenomenas in
  Romania are located here
• Area of historical importance, the proud of
  local people

HUNGARY
MOLDAVIA
ROMANIA
CARPATHIANS
BUCHAREST
SERBIA
BLACK SEA
BULGARIA
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Management
Apuseni Nature Park Administration is a subunit
of National Forest Administration, Oradea
Forestry Directorate, functioning on the basis of
a management contract signed between Ministry of
Environment and Waters Management and National
Forest Administration starting with 2004 for a
period of 10 years. OFD is offering material and
financial support for the park administration.
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Management

• Management team
• Apuseni Nature Park Administration - 21 persons
• - 6 persons in the office
• Park director
• Chief ranger
• Biologist
• Outreach expert
• IT-GIS specialist
• Economist
• 15 rangers field work survey, control and
  monitoring of all kind of human activities on the
  park territory, wildlife monitoring, etc
• main tasks analysis, planning, supervision and
  control

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Management
Consultative Committee for Administration, formed
by the main stakeholders (local public
administrations, governmental institutions,
companies, NGOs, etc) whose competence was
approved by ministerial order. They have to
provide expertise, to debate, to advise and to
reccomend management solutions for park
administration in order to meet their needs.
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Management
Scientific Committee formed by scientists,
experts, whose competence was approved by
ministerial order and endorsed by the Romanian
Academy-Natural Monuments Comission. They are the
supervisor and control body of the park
administration activities.
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Management

• Management plan
• first draft finalised in June 2006
• not entered into force yet
• designed together with the stakholders, with the
  support of international consulting company
• financial support offered by EU through PHARE CBC
  programme

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Management

• Surface 75784 ha
• Natural ecosystems prevails in Northern and
  central park area
• Sensitive forested karst areas are the most
  important to be preserved
• Covers land from 3 different counties Bihor,
  Cluj and Alba
• 55 small and medium villages are located inside
  the park
• One of the most populated parks in Romania,
  10.000 inhabitants
• The most densely populated area is in
  South-Eastern side

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Access
Main access roads to the park

• to the North from NR1 Oradea-Huedin-Cluj Napoca
• to the West from NR76 Oradea-Beius-Deva
• to the South from NR75 Lunca-Câmpeni-Turda

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Nature

• More than 20 tourist routes in the park are
  connecting the main tourist objectives

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Nature

• Cetatile Ponorului
• (The Fortress of Ponor)
• The largest karst phenomena in Romania
• Tallest cave portal 70

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Nature
Cetatea Radesei (The Fortress of Radeasa) A
classic example of a tunnel cave and a gorge
formed by the falling of a caves ceiling
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Nature
Groapa Ruginoasa (The Rusty Hole) The greatest
natural erosion phenomenon of Romania
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Nature
Focul Viu (The Living Fire) A cave that shelters
an ice block (third largerst in Romania),
illuminated through a window of the ceiling
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Nature

• Molhasurile de la Izbuce
• -peat bog
• one of the most important at national level
• unique plants association
• lowest altitude for Pinus mugo
• proposed to be declared scientific reserve

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Nature
Ghetarul Scarisoara

• Scarisoara Glacier
• the cave that shelters the biggest fossil ice
  block of Romania, second in Europe
• over 4000 years old, the oldest of Europe

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Nature

• Pestera Ursilor
• The Bears Cave
• -best visitor infrastructure in Romania
• hundreds of bear scheletons
• beautiful speleothemes
• partly scientific reserve
• 80 000 visitors/year

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Nature
Apuseni Mountains Sunset Mountains
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People and landscapes

• Typical landscapes as a result of long term
  interactions between humans and nature
• Local people are so called motzi, they are
  representing the most eloquent example of unique
  population from mountain area at national level

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People and landscapes
culture and traditions.
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People and landscapes
culture and traditions.
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People and landscapes

• Local economy based on forest exploitation and
  farming
• Over exploitation of natural rources generates
  negative changes at local and regional level, the
  most relevant example is illegal logging,
  jeoperdising sensitive forested karst ecosistems

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People and landscapes

• Pessimistic educational perspectives for young
  people and high unemployment rate and lack of new
  jobs offer is generating populational migration,
  from mountain areas to low lands
• Poor local development of the infrastructure
  (roads, communications, power and water supply
  systems, water seaweage and waste management
  systems)

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People and landscapes

• New park establishment is offering new
  perspectives for local communities
• Development of tourist programmes aiming local
  traditions and agroturism in the park communities
• Promotion of the park image in order to create a
  tourist destination
• Creation of a new visit infrastructure on the
  park territory, including visitor centres
• Encouraging and support for improvement of the
  infrastructure in order to increase life quality
  in the local communities from the park
• Envolving young people in nature conservation and
  sustainable development projects
• New oportunities for local producers to use park
  identity (logo) in order to certify the origin of
  their products and to increase their profit

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Sustainable development
International fundings to support local
development

• Conservation of Eastern European medicinal plants
• Arnica montana in Romania
• Co-ordinators WWF, University of Agricultural
  Sciences and Veterinary Medicine - Cluj Napoca
  and Garda de sus community
• Financed by Darwin Initiative UK
• Partner Apuseni Nature Park Administration
• Inplementation area Garda commune administrative
  territory in and outside of park area
• Overall objectives
• Training and capacity building
• Development of a local resource Management and
  Trade Association
• Development and construction of Arnica drying
  facilities
• Research and studies

Project area
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Sustainable development

• Project outputs for the first 2 years
• Local asociation for study of Arnica montana
  formed by land owners, colectors, scientists and
  local administration representatives
• Local small processing company formed by
  collectors and landowners
• Medium seize dryer for Arnica montana flowers
• Management plan for habitats of the plant and
  business plan for processing and selling
• Long term supply contract with a West European
  pharmaceuticals company
• Increasing incomes from 50 eurocents/kg to 17
  euros/kg
• Eco-certified product by a Swiss Institute

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Sustainable development

• Results
• Decreasing pressure on Arnica montana population
  in the park
• Increasing incomes for local pupulation for less
  quantity of flowers harvested from nature

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Capacity building and park administration
infrastructure

• PHARE CBC project
• Romanian-Hungarian Corridor for the Biodiversity
  Conservation
• - financed by the EU (75) and co-financed by the
  National Forest Administration (25), total value
  2.600.000 euro
• - objectives
• - protection of the biodiversity
• - development of the ecotourism programmes
• - raising public awareness and ecological
  education programmes.
• - main partner Koros-Maros National Park
  Directorate, Hungary
• - implementation period
• December 2003 November 2006

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Capacity building and park administration
infrastructure

• Main outputs
• -management plan and tourism strategy
• infrastructure 1 administrative centre and 4
  visitor centre 4,8 km of road connexion in upper
  mountain area
• -endowments for office, laboratories, field
  monitoring, mountain rescue, caving transport
  uniforms
• -promotional materials and public awareness
  programmes
• -visitor infrastructure at large scale.

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International cooperation
Hungary - cooperation agreements signed in with 2
parks, Koros-Maros NP and Hortobagy NP Biosphere
Reserve
Italy - cooperation agreements signed with Parco
Regionale Adda Nord as leader for another 4
partner parks from Lombardy Region
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2006 Apuseni Nature Park Administration member
of Europarc Federation
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Thank you!