17
.
.
support, preserve, enjoy Europe’s wilderness!
Photocolumn
www.panparks.org
Three-toedWoodpecker
A rare and precious species in the Carpathian-basin, this photo catches the three-toed woodpecker in its traditional habitat, the coniferous forest, clinging to the trunk in front of its hole. The photo depicts the subtly carved hole entrance characteristic of the species, and the top of the beak of a hungry nestling peepingout of the nesting hole!
Josef Hlasek
Slovensky raj National Park
Combining nature conservation and sustainable tourism in Europe’s protected areas
A promising Italian candidateTourism is nature’s best friend Developing parks and communities
New Certified PAN Park:Retezat National Park
PAN Parks CourierWinter 2004
2 PAN PARKS COURIER WINTER 2004
PAN News
PAN Parks Courier is the voice ofthe PAN (Protected Area Network)Parks Foundation. The Courieraims to inform all interested partiesabout PAN Parks. The project, as a joint initiative of WWF and Molecaten, is financed by WWF Netherlands.
Editorial BoardAndré BrasserEdit BorzaZoltán Kun
Letters to the Editorand Free SubscriptionEdit BorzaPAN Parks Foundation c/o WWFPF 264, 9002 Gyôr, HungaryTel.: +36 1 214 5554Fax: +36 1 212 9353e-mail: [email protected]
Cover PhotoVladivoj VancuraFulufjallet National Park
Design and Lay-outHammer Advertising
Circulation2500 copies are distributedHU ISSN 1586-1058 PAN ParksCourier is printed on recycled paper and is published by PAN Parks Project(9E0163) of WWF
Electronic version of this andprevious issues of the Courier can be downloaded atwww.panparks.org underNewsroom > Courier.
�
PAN ParksCourier
www.vita.it”During the PAN Parks conference
a study on Mediterranean national
parks’ visitor management
practices has been presented.”
Spissky Dennik, Slovakia”Finally, tourists are not
considered as the enemies of
conservationists.”
Hunedoreanul, Romania”Retezat has received European recognition
through being awarded the PAN Parks
certification.”
DalaDemokraten, Sweden”Fulufjället National Park is fully
certified, also its Sustainable
Tourism Development Strategy
and local business partners
have been verified.”
Canon Story, Japan
..
It is an ancient recognition thattales have a power over human livesas it is demonstrated in one of the oldestpieces of world literature, the Talesof 1001 Nights when Scheherezadesaves her life by captivating the interestof the bored Sultan with the expectationof a new tale for every night. Sultans,genies and the magic Arabic worldmight have disappeared but humankindhas preserved its longing for new storiesthat help us dispel boredom, and canbe more effective means of educationthan textbooks.
A well-known tool in communication,national parks have just recentlydiscovered the importance of story-tellingand its usefulness to attract more visitors. The tales a park can tell can, of course vary in Fulufjället, for instance,visitors can see the remembrance trees,which have been carved to commemoratea person or an important event, Retezat is promoted as the “bear country”(see article on page 14) and Central
Balkan is famous for its old monasteries, which have long been the guards of Bulgarian national and cultural identity with a lot of legends attached.
It is getting more and more important to invest in “communicating” nature and increase the quality of tourist experience. André Brasser,Communication Advisor of PAN Parksstudied the practice of American nationalparks that were very successful incombining cultural and historical
aspects with the enjoyment of nature and some of them became nationalsymbols of America (see articleon pages 8-9).
Although European parks have considerable drawbacks in “sellingthemselves” as compared to theirAmerican counterparts, there are alreadymany positive initiatives. Unfortunately,many parks still lack the means and staffto invest in image-making and marketing.To help them, PAN Parks will continue toencourage and promote projects that aimto improve communication and helpto find the tales each park has to tell…
WINTER 2004 PAN PARKS COURIER 3
In This Issue �
Network News12 More satisfied visitors
Tree from the Viking age
13 A promising Italian candidate
Conservation with the public
Feedback14 The wild heart of
the Carpathians
Our Partners15 PAN Parks, Other co-operating
national parks, International business partners
5
6
10
12
14
13
Write to the Editor at:
Tales of nature
Editorial
Edit Borza
What’s New?4 Announcements
Europe’s Wilderness Days
Communicating nature
Network Focus6 What makes Retezat
a PAN Park?
Tourism Spotlight8 Tourism is nature’s best friend
PAN Stories10 Developing parks
and communities
4 PAN PARKS COURIER WINTER 2004
What’s New?
Our first certified international tourism partner
After passing successful verification, SNP Natuurreizen, a tour provider based in the Netherlands, has become thefirst certified international tourism partner of PAN Parks.The verification process examines the management,marketing, training, and operational practices ofpotential partners against PAN Parks Principle 5. A long time generous supporter of WWF initiatives, SNP conducts outdoor adventure and leisure travel toursto off-beat locations in Europe and select destinationsaround the world. The company offers organised trips totwo Certified PAN Parks: a 10-day nature holiday inOulanka National Park in Finland and an 8-day walkingtour of Fulufjället National Park in Sweden. The tourscombine quality cultural experience with a taste of “real” wilderness. A certified partnership is an opportunity for SNP toexpand operations into other PAN Parks, and to receive a public endorsement of its sustainable tourism policies.For PAN Parks, SNP can continue to promote our partnerareas and provide quality experience to ecologicallyminded people.
For further information: Gert Nieuwboer
Training opportunity for local partners
Trailfinders, a Dutch tourism company specialising inhorse riding holidays and a committed internationalbusiness partner of PAN Parks, offers a trainingopportunity for two local business partners fromBieszczady and Central Balkan National Parks. Thetraining course will focus on how to organise a horsebackriding holiday and provide for leisure and sport activity,which increases the attraction of the park and the area forthe visitors. This is particularly important for the PAN ParksFoundation since we can thereby promote localbusinesses and make use of the existing expertise of the community. The offer further demonstrates howinternational tourism partners can support small localbusinesses in acquiring new skills and increasing theirmarketing value.
For further information:Hans Hoff
Communicating nature
“It is essential for national parks to adopt a more business-
minded approach and to invest in communicating nature
as this also supports realising conservation goals,” stated
Edit Borza in her presentation at the Europe’s Wilderness
Days conference that examined the role of national parks
from a somewhat unusual perspective.
A fake dilemma: communication versus conservation?
While communication is getting more and more important in any other field, for many conservationists, this is the first item they remove from the budget charts or even forget to include. Of course, the argument is that there is no trained staff for communication and after all, parks are mainly responsible for conservation and not forcommunications or marketing. This is, nevertheless, a fake dilemma since communication can help a lot to realise conservation goals, for example involving stakeholders in decision-making, gaining the support of the local community, educating visitors and making people more conscious of the environment and the role of national parks. And more visitors would, of course, mean a higher income, which can be used for the benefit of the park and the local community. This latter aspect is discussed in what follows.
Announcements
Europe’s Wilderness Days 2004
Europe’s Wilderness Days, the annual PAN Parks conference took place in Norcia, Italy between 7-11 October with more than70 participants. Special thanks go to Monti Sibillini National Park, the host of the conference, for the co-organization and the pleasantatmosphere. At the event, Retezat National Park was awarded thePAN Parks certification, and several national parks expressed theircommitment to apply for verification, including Küre MountainsNational Park, Turkey.There were several inspiring presentations by tourism andconservation experts followed by training days for the participants.To give readers a glimpse of the conference the abstracts of thepresentations of Edit Borza on communicating nature and André Brasser on US national parks experience were chosen as they both touch the sensitive issue of how to introduce a somewhat more entrepreneurial spirit to parks.
WINTER 2004 PAN PARKS COURIER 5
�Step-by-step
First of all, the “selling” of a park tovisitors is similar to other businesssituations and, therefore, a morebusiness-minded approach should befollowed. The same elements should beconsidered: the product (nature andservices), the consumers (present andpotential visitors) and the message (what we want them to know/do) should be clearly identified and addressed properly by park managers toenable successful communication.
The first step is to clearly identify thetarget group (visitors/potential visitors) to whom we intend to sell the product(the national park and its servicesincluding trails, huts and guiding). It isimportant to conduct a survey amongvisitors to map characteristics such as age,gender, education, family status, andeconomic situation. It is also importantto track consumer habits and demands,including the length of visit, the aim of stay,desired experiences, and the facilities used.
Secondly, it is important to think of waysto increase the appeal of the product for
visitors. Amazing scenery, huge waterfallsor breathtaking peaks, of course, render itmuch easier to attract tourists to anational park. In the absence ofspectacular sights, the services a park canoffer (horseback riding, mountain huts,canoeing, dog sledging) and the stories wecan tell of nature become moreimportant. As people usually makedecisions based on their emotions, storiesattached to nature can really work well.In Monti Sibillini, for example, we could
hear stories about how the landscape was formed, the traditional way of life of shepherds, the history of cheese-making. And after all, we should not forget that stories shape the consciousness of people moreeffectively than any postcard. The definition of these elements isessential to get the message through.
PAN Parks support
How can PAN Parks support parksin this activity? PAN Parks can be veryeffective in increasing the visibility ofparks by providing alternative channels of communication, in establishing aresearch network and thus providinguseful studies in ecotourism, insupporting the creation of tourismpackages and offering promotionalchannels such as the website or theCourier. We can offer ideas about how to communicate nature, but, of course, each park should find its own message.
For further information:
Edit Borza
Photo:Edit Borza
Monti Sibillini was co-organiser of Europe’s Wilderness Days
Conference participants at the venue, a previous monastery building
Phot
o:PA
N P
arks
6 PAN PARKS COURIER WINTER 2004
Network Focus
Retezat National Park
What makes Retezata PAN Park?Declared protected in 1935, Retezat has become the first national park inRomania. Despite the difficult historicalperiods and the attempt to exploitnatural resources such as water andforests in an unsustainable manner,
the park expanded to almost 40,000hectares of the Retezat mountain range,which, from the valley bottoms to thepeaks, are as high as 2490 m.
Situated in one of Europe’s mostoutstanding natural regions, theCarpathians, the Romanian park can indeed boast remarkably diverselandscape features. Retezat is a greatPAN Park as it provides an excellentsample of Carpathian high mountainecosystems with deep valleys covered bymixed forests of beech, fir and other treespecies, and over 80 glacial lakesdispersed among high mountain peaks,with numerous endemic and threatenedspecies such as Draba dorneri, brownbears, wolves, and chamois. On the otherhand, the mountain pastures are amongthe few in Europe that are still used byroaming shepherds in almost the samemanner as when humans first startedanimal husbandry in Europe thousandsof years ago, relying just on their heavysheepskin coats, shepherd dogs and deepunderstanding of the mountains.
Retezat is a mountain range as they once werein Europe - with deep virgin forests in itsvalleys, mountain streams flowing fromenchanted lakes, traditional mountain pastureson the mountaintops, with predators such aswolf, bear and lynx competing daily withshepherds, and eagles eyeing the visitor fromhigh altitude. The park offers a true wildernessexperience to visitors.
38 047 ha
The park has more than 80 glacial lakes dispersed among high peaks
Phot
o:A
PNR
WINTER 2004 PAN PARKS COURIER 7
�
The verification team - Juan Herrero (Lead Verifier),
Jernej Stritih (Verifier),Alexander Zinke (Verifier),
Erica Stanciu (local expert) and Vladivoj Vancura (PAN
Parks observer) - visited Retezat National Park between
14-16 September for a field trip to evaluate the area.
In what follows, Jernej Stritih reports on his experience.
For me this was the second visit to Retezat after nineyears and I was impressed with how the national parkteam in these years turned the area from a park underthreat from waste, hydropower development andlogging, into a leading protected area with the support ofRomanian NGOs and donors, such as the World Bank.We all enjoyed the friendly and creative atmosphere thatmade us immediately feel at home in the Retezat as wellas the encounters with wildlife.The team among others visited Lake Bucura, which is thelargest lake in the national park, the limestone ridge,Small Retezat, the strictly protected reserve, Gemenele,that was a no-go area for 70 years and the new visitorcentre in Nuscoara.
The national park was recognised by UNESCO as aBiosphere Reserve in 1979. At the time when Romania ispreparing to be a member state of the European Union,Retezat National Park has not just fulfilled the
responsibility of the country to protect nature ofEuropean importance but it has also provided anopportunity for the development of the surroundingcommunities through sustainable tourism. I believe thatthe certification of Retezat as a PAN Park is an importantstep in this direction.
A voice from the field
Retezat National Park undoubtedlyrepresents a unique natural and culturalheritage that provides for anunforgettable visitor experience of “real” wilderness. The hiking trails and tourist facilities fit in this “rough”natural environment enablingventuresome tourists to lose touch withcivilization and engage in the realadventure of spending several days athigh altitude with just the food andequipment they carry in their rucksacks.In Retezat, visitors can find harmonywith nature and explore theunimaginable beauties of the wild in a solitude which is so difficult to find inour overcrowded modern cities.
by Grigore Opritoiu
Chamois is one of the threatened species of the park
The verification team having a break
Photo:Tudor Predescu
Photo:Juan Herrero
8 PAN PARKS COURIER WINTER 2004
Tourism Spotlight
“From the very beginning, tourism has been
nature conservation’s best friend,and can
again help us to reconcile the protection
of nature with today’s reality,”WWF
Netherlands tourism coordinator Andre
Brasser concluded after his trip to the
US National Parks Service in June 2004.
By the end of the 19th century the AmericanRailway Companies managed to overcomedistances which had previously beenbeyond imagination, and effectivelyconnected the Eastern and Western coastswith their rails. The only thing that wasmissing was passengers and a reason forthem to travel. It was this time that thecompanies first discovered the appeal ofnatural beauties such as Grand Canyon for the people and started advertising the idea: “Let’s build lodges out there!”
The campaign made it a lot easier for earlyconservationists to convince the USgovernment to establish Yellowstone as theworld’s first national park in 1872. The Railways proved to be very helpfulto create the myth of the wonders of natureas “must sees.” This led to the creation of more parks in the US, the adoption of the idea in Europe and eventually the spread of protected areas all over the world.From the 1950s onwards, increasingly one single logo has been used to representall parks. This facilitated the creation of The National Parks as one of America’sicons. European visitors today booking a trip to, say Las Vegas, “naturally” include a visit to Grand Canyon whileAmericans are unlikely to find their way toEuropean parks just because the latter
are not seen as the icons of Europe they are looking for.
But not all parks in America are that well-known. “Americans love their parks, all five of them” as a popular saying amongst national parks staff goes. Big Bend National Park in Texas for example attracted 312,000 visitors in 2003. That’s close to nothing comparedto the million-seller Blue Ridge Parkway in the Appalachians (18 million visitors in 2003). Since they belong to the samesystem, however, they can benefit from joint marketing where nearby less popularareas are advertised in the hot spots. The Golden Gate Area (13.8 million visitors in 2003) near San Franciscoprovides one of the best examples of joint marketing: here a group of natural
Tourism is nature’s best friend In American national parks
Phot
o: E
lma
Bras
ser
Bryce Canyon National Park, one of the icons of America
WINTER 2004 PAN PARKS COURIER 9
�
and cultural parks united under the coverof a single brand are successfully marketedin a professional almost Disney-like way.
Win a lot, lose a little
Despite the negative effect of over-visitation, generally speaking, natureprotection has more to win than to lose in its partnership with the tourism sector.Facing decreasing support from the public funds, it is remarkable, though, that many parks are unwilling or reluctantto use their tourist potential to raiseadditional income. Of course, there areconstraints. Many parks are not able to
raise their own funds or even lack the staffto do the applications. To help them, the US government initiated a so-called feedemonstration programme for the NationalParks Service, which enables a selectedgroup of parks to raise their own tourismfees. Out of the collected sum, 80% canstay in the park budget and 20% is paid tothe budget of less well-known parks.The scheme prompted the parks to do abusiness opportunity screening. Theyselected the most promising cases, made abusiness case out of them and marketedthem to the right audience. This resultednot only in better negotiated concessionswith private companies but also in animproved collection of entrance fees andthe introduction of user fees for boats andcars. In the beginning, visitors lamented:“We have already paid our taxes to thegovernment, why should we pay twice tomake use of it!” But after some time thescheme found a general acceptance by thepublic. Not the least because parks took aneffort to communicate to the people onsignboards in visible places where theyspent the money on.
The spirit of enterprise - learning a new role
The scheme has forced parks to take a more entrepreneurial look at nature
conservation. In advanced cases such as theLas Vegas area, a separate organizationlinked to the area - The Outside Las VegasFoundation - took control of fundraisingand proved to be very successful inmobilizing public and political support for national parks. The National ParksFoundation has a similar approach for the National Parks Service in general. In the end, like it or not, without supportno park can operate let alone survive in our commercialised world. And support isdifficult to get for areas that many outsidersconsider being mere obstacles to the freeuse of space and resources. Here, just like in the very early days, tourism can beinstrumental again. To make use of it, it is, nevertheless, essential for the parkmanagers and park staff to revisit pastbiases and adopt a more entrepreneurialperspective on tourism and conservation.Maybe we can learn from the example ofthe American Railroad Companies, whichby the way, have never counted eitheramong the friends of ecologists…
For further information visit
www.seeamerica.org
www.outsidelasvegas.org
www.nationalparks.org
www.nps.org
or contact André Brasser
1. Entrance fees2. User fees3. Concessions4. Voluntary donations programme5. Associated foundations6. Merchandising7. Corporate partnership programme8. Joint marketing programmes with
other parks
8 ways US parks earnmoney from tourism
Bryce Canyon lodge: one of the first lodges built in national parks in the 19th century
Feedback to generate support in Grand Canyon:this is how we spent your money
Phot
o: E
lma
Bras
ser
Phot
o: E
lma
Bras
ser
10 PAN PARKS COURIER WINTER 2004
PAN Stories
Developing parks and communities:Winners of the PAN Parks Small Grants Fund
Community-building in Rila
The inspiring project of Rila National Parkcombines the promotionof sustainable tourismwith community-building - an aspectwhich is particularlyimportant in an areawhich suffers from high unemployment,
migration and the depopulation of villages. The project goal is to build local capacity for ecotourismdevelopment in the municipality of Razlog and create amodel for multiplication in other areas around the nationalpark. The proposed activities include an analysis of existingecotourism practices and experience around the three
Bulgarian national parks, the preparation and running oftraining courses for people from the Razlog area and theproduction of a Practical Guidebook and Methodology for Community Based Ecotourism Development. The expected benefits are threefold: the project opens upnew job opportunities for local people, the municipalitygains new income and economic alternatives, and thescheme can help build support for the national park in local communities around the territory without harmingconservation. The shared gains of the project also make it a lot easier to communicate the benefit of sustainabletourism to local people.
For further information:
Lachezar Ivanov
Phot
o:R
NP
Visitor management plan in Slovensky raj
The park administration in Slovensky raj has longdemonstrated a commitmentto our principles and has made great effort to qualify for PAN Parks membership. An important step in thepreparation is the project that
won the support of the PAN Parks Small Grants Fund. The project goal is to incorporate the Visitors ManagementPlan into the amended Management Plan for Slovensky rajNational Park (2006 - 2016), which would give theadministration tools for the effective management of thepark and sustainable tourism development in the region.The Visitor Management Plan is expected to help the parkadministration to overcome one of the most important
obstacles to PAN Parks verification: to create a zoningsystem with at least 10,000 ha of a non-fragmented, strictlyprotected core area. The communication of PAN Parkscertification goals can raise a substantial public support and can be effectively used in the negotiation withauthorities and local stakeholders. Project activities includethe preparation of communication information materialsand the mobilization of PR support for the ManagementPlan of the park and the Visitors´ Management Plan.The real “test” is, of course, the PAN Parks verification for which the park is committed to apply no later than the summer of 2006.
For further information:
Dusan Bevilaqua
Phot
o:Pé
ter J
ansz
ky
Thanks to the generous grant from the Dutch DOEN Foundation,
this year four parks received support from the PAN Parks
Small Grants Fund for projects aimed at improving the condition
of the park and the local community. In what follows,our readers
can get acquainted with the four projects supported in Bieszczady,
Fulufjället,Rila and Slovensky raj National Parks.
WINTER 2004 PAN PARKS COURIER 11
��
The Hutsul horse reintroduction, originally aimed only atthreatened species conservation, soon turned out to have a big potential for local tourist services development inBieszczady. In 1997 the park won the countrywide contestfor implementation of a pilot project for horseback tourismdevelopment in Poland under the Phare-Tourin Program.Today, the network of horseback trails covers a total of 142 km enabling several days of long expeditions. Since horseback tourism is getting more and more popularamong Polish and foreign visitors, it has become animportant issue to maintain existing marked routes in a proper condition. This is a task, however, that manymunicipalities cannot afford. The goal of the project is to improve horseback visitor experience and guaranteeappropriate conservation surroundings of the existingmarked routes in the Bieszczady PAN Parks region. Within the framework of the project the park intends toimprove conditions on the most marked horse trails sectionsin the national park and its surroundings, repaint existingmarks, equip the Breeding Farm of Hutsul horses in
Wolosate withnew saddles andpublish a three-language (Polish-English-German)brochure entitledMountain
horseback
tourism in the
High Bieszczady
Mountains.
This is expected to facilitate communication with targetgroups of visitors as potential horseback tourist productcustomers. The planned outputs include improved markingon 83 km of horse trails, the brochure and an experiencefor horse-riders, which is worth repeating.
For further information:
Grzegorz Sitko
Nagypartos, a touristcentre in Duna-DrávaNational Park, is being discovered by a growing number of visitors, which, while indicating anincreased interest in thenatural rarities of theregion, has causedproblems from a natureconservation perspective.
The demonstration site of Nagypartos is too small for thetourists, who because of this disturb not only the restingand fishing areas of the local population but also thenearby strictly protected area of Kölked thereby posing a threat to natural wilderness. The aim of the project is to develop a nature trail on the bank of the Danube, which will have the benefit of concentrating tourism and disburdening the sensitive and protected areas that
can be visited only with permission. To improve visitorexperience, the project also involves the development of facilities at the demonstration site such as fireplaces,wooden tables and seats, dustbins, toilets and roadmaintenance. As a result of the project, tourists will visit the nature trail instead of the Kölked pasture, which will reducehuman disturbance and support the preservation of thehigh biodiversity of the site. The development of thedemonstration site will help to inform people of theimportance of conservation and the nature-friendly use of land. The quality visitor experience the park has tooffer can be more effective in the development of theecological consciousness of the visitors (many of whomare school children) than any other environmentaleducation methods.
For further information:
Laurice Ereifej
Educational trail in Duna-Dráva
Promoting horseback tourism in Bieszczady
Phot
o:PA
N P
arks
Photo:Vladivoj Vancura
12 PAN PARKS COURIER WINTER 2004
Network News
In October Fulufjället National Park organised its annual Science Seminar, which was attended by about 60 interested people including locals,students and scientists. Started in 2002 as anattempt to facilitate research in the Fulufjället area and create a forum for experts and localpeople interested in the park and its history, theseminar established a tradition, and the peoplewho came to the event obviously shared the feeling
of being members of a greatercommunity. This sense ofcoming together provided for a very positive atmosphere andfriendly environment wherepeople came not just to shareideas but also to meet otherecologically- and communally-minded people. Two geologists, Claes Mellqvistand Gunnel Ransed, spoke oftheir ongoing work on the
geological tourist map for Fulufjället NationalPark, which, when accomplished, will be asubstantial contribution to park information. The biologist Jenny Sander presented aninteresting lecture on the history of forest fires in Fulufjället, which brought many elderly localpeople into a vivid discussion. From her studies she was quite surprised to learn how old someof her samplings were. The oldest piece datedfrom the Viking age, the inner year ring from AD 970, the tree died in 1252 and thus has beenstanding - and lying dead on the ground for over700 years. After the lectures, visitors couldparticipate in excursions related to the seminartopics and observe in the field traces from the forest fires and the geological characteristics of the park.
For further information:
Evelina Selander
Northern Region Tree from the Viking Age
Fulufjället
National
Park
Eastern Region More satisfied visitors
Central Balkan
National
Park
There is an increasing number of tourists visitingthe Central Balkan region in Bulgaria and thenational park has become the major focus ofinterest - these are the first results of a surveyconducted on the order of the Directorate of theCentral Balkan National Park about publicopinion of the park in the neighbouring area andthe visitors’ needs and experience. The finalresults of the socio-economic survey will beintegrated in the new four-year Strategic Plan
of the Directorate as well as inthe planning and developmentprocess of sustainable tourismin the park and the region.The visitor survey found thatthe most common type ofvisitors were families (56.3 %)whose main goal wasrecreation. The most commonreasons to choose the regionas destination were naturequalities and acceptable pricesbut visitors also mentioned
solitude, sport opportunities and the culturalsights they wanted to visit. The majority (over 60%) stayed for 3 days. It is worth noting that 90% declared willingness for future visits in the region.The assessment of the conditions of the park also gave interesting results. The mostappreciated aspects of the visit were thelandscape, the solitude and the experience of wilderness. The unique natural featuresreceived the maximum score from therespondents. It is important to note that incomparison to 1998, visitors expressed a higherdegree of satisfaction with cleanliness,accommodation and food services. The fact that facilities still received considerable criticism(25%), nevertheless, suggests that the parkneeds to continue their efforts to make the park a real tourist paradise.
For further information:
Diana Terzieva
Phot
o:C
BN
PPh
oto:
Lisa
Obe
rg
WINTER 2004 PAN PARKS COURIER 13
The Majella Mountain - which Pliny the Elder called the Mountains’ Father - is a high, huge and wild massive in the heart of the Apennine Mountains. The national park is geographically formed by four big parts: the properly called Majella, Mount Morrone, Mount Porrara and the Pizzi Mountains. Majella is uniquethanks to its position in the Mediterranean area, its asperity, wideness and magnificence - it can boast more than 60 peaks, 30 of which are over 2000 metres. Located in a network of protected areas, the park has extensive core area and a remarkably diverse flora and fauna. The 74,095 hectares of the park territory is home to 1,800 plant species and a high number of rare and endemic animal species including an almost complete collection of native carnivores (bear, wolf, wild cat, marten) but also Apennine chamois, otter, Apennine salamander. As the pre-verification
assessment reveals, the park has a strong potential to become a PAN Park. It is a very professionally managed park, with clear strategic goals, zonation,rules for visitors and a full competency of the park administration to implement main park goals. The partnership withlocal stakeholders is an important part of the management policy, and in the surrounding villages tourists can find many local products branded with the park logo. Park managers should, nevertheless, think about how to create the buffer zone and form the Majella PAN ParksGroup. With the enthusiasm andcommitment we experienced in the park these do not seem to be hugeobstacles to a successful verification.
For further information:
Vlado Vancura
On 19 November 2004, a windstorm swept across northern Slovakia causing serious damage, the most severe of which was to TatraNational Park. An estimated 12-14,000 ha of forest - between 1.5 and 3 million cubic meters of timber - were destroyed. Tatra National Park has recently started discussions with PAN Parks about verification, and is preparing to sign a letter of intent.Calling the event an “ecological disaster,”Slovakian authorities have committed to a quick response. Most of the damage occured to the national park at the edge of the old core zone, populated mainly by spruce planted early in the 20th century. A recently proposed new core zone of oldergrowth, species-diverse trees fortunately suffered relatively little damage. Slovakian NGO officials are cautioninggovernment and industry to approach renewalplanning carefully, and Tatra’s park
administrators are concerned that the damagefrom the storm will not be treated as that of a natural process. From a conservationperspective, it is important for everyone involved to ensure that the human response to the storm does not cause more damage than the wind itself.The storm has not affected Tatra’s interest in moving towards PAN Parks verification. The director stated that “the windstorm canpostpone the final decision when we will be ready for PAN Parks verification butwe definitely need an independentverification to assess effectiveness of ourmanagement. Support of the PAN Parksand WWF will be very crucial in thisvery hectic time.”
For further information:
Juraj Svajda
Eastern Region
Majella
National
Park
A promising Italian candidate
Tatra swept by powerful windstorm
Photo:Vladivoj Vancura
Southern Region
Tatra
National
Park
Photo:TNP
14 PAN PARKS COURIER WINTER 2004
Travellers’ Stories
Retezat
National
Park
Covering an area larger than the Alps,
the Carpathians is the last remaining stronghold
in Europe for rare animals and also vital as a
bridge between the northern European forest
and those to the south and west.Eva Vancurova
visited the wild heart of this beautiful
region and a new member of the PAN Parks
network - Retezat National Park.
I was always lured by Retezat. The stories I haveheard from my more courageous friends arousemy curiosity, and this summer together with myfriend we undertook a more than 900 km longjourney to the heart of South Carpathians -Retezat National Park.
From the small hill above Hateg we could catch the first sight of Retezat. The sight wasindeed marvellous: more than 2,500 m high peaks soaring above Hateg plain and endlessmountain ridges fading into the distant horizon.
The bumpy roadsled us to Riu MareValley and finally, in the pitch dark we parked nearby the small MotelDumravica.Wilderness tookhold of us: we hadlost mobile signaland for the next fivedays we could find only 3 “secret”spots where wecould call ourfamilies and friends.
Next morning theweather was sunny,warm but with aclear feeling of thecoming autumn.Our destination was the hot spot of this newlyappearing hikingdestination in the
South Carpathians - Lake Bucura, the largest lake in Retezat. A surprisingly good gravel road led us up to the Lapusnicul Mare Valley. The view from the valley fascinated us: on theright side the steep limestone ridges of the Small Retezat and on the left the huge slopecovered with the wild, evergreen forests. After another hour of walking, we reached thetree line: slim spruce is dominant here but we also passed many huge cembra pines - the queen of these mountains - and dwarf pinesgrowing above the tree line. Another two hours of easy hiking and we could see Lake Bucura lying at our feet in its awesomebeauty - huge, dark colored and nobody around! Tired as we were, we decided to hike up to the highest point - Vilfur Peleaga (2,508 m). The view was breathtaking: sharppeaks and emerald-like lakes in every valleyaround us. On the way down a group of 8 chamois passed the tourist trail just 150 metre aside. But the great adventure was still to come. We were driving back to the motel in the dark when we were suddenly confronted with the intensive gaze of two curious, green-sparkling eyes.Intermission. It took us some minutes to realise that we had bumped into a brown bear.Blinded by the car-lights, he was staring at us for a while but then apparently recovered and escaped from the road. We could not believe our eyes. We read in the brochurethat we were supposed to be in “bear country”but can we really be so lucky? A careful trackingwith flash light revealed nice footprints inthe mud with a diameter of 13 cm accompaniedby several smaller ones. It was a mother bear with at least 1-2 cubs.
In the following days we accomplished a 2-dayhike to Small Retezat and Masiv Godeanu and we explored the northern part of the park. We fell so much in love with the place that we decided to return in the spring. There are so many more things we want to see there!
by Eva Vancurova
Eastern Region The wild heart of the Carpathians
Phot
o: F
lorin
a Cr
isan
Marvellous sights await you in Retezat
�PAN Parks People
Zoltán KunExecutive DirectorPAN Parks Foundation c/o WWF,PF 264, 9002 Gyôr, HungaryTel: +36 96 433 925 Fax: +36 96 519 786Mobile: +36 30 916 7795e-mail: [email protected]
Vladivoj VancuraConservation ManagerPAN Parks Foundation c/o WWF,PF 264, 9002 Gyôr, HungaryTel: +421 44 522 3436 Fax: +421 44 522 1214Mobile: +421 907 816 067e-mail: [email protected]
Edit BorzaCommunications ManagerPAN Parks Foundation c/o WWF,PF 264, 9002 Gyôr, HungaryTel: +36 1 214 5554 Fax: +36 1 212 9353e-mail: [email protected]
Sue ClarkMarketing Manager Molecaten, Molecaten 1, 8051PN Hattem, the NetherlandsTel: +31 73 611 1024 Fax: +31 73 611 1025e-mail: [email protected]
Mylene van der DonkMarketing AssistantMolecaten, Molecaten 1,8051 PN Hattem, the NetherlandsTel: +31 76 513 9073 Mobile: +31 6 4188 6633e-mail: [email protected]
WINTER 2004 PAN PARKS COURIER 15
�PAN Parks Foundation
Name of area: Fulufjället National ParkCountry: Sweden
Area (ha): 38 483Number of visitors per year: 40 000
www.dalarna.se/fulufjallet
Name of area: Retezat National ParkCountry: Romania
Area (ha): 38 047Number of visitors per year: 8 000
Our Partners
Name of area: Oulanka National ParkCountry: Finland
Area (ha): 27 500Number of visitors per year: 150 000
www.metsa.fi/natural/nationalparks/oulanka
Other co-operating national parksThese areas are working for PAN Parks verification. In brackets are the expecteddates of verification.
International business partners
PAN Parks Accommodation BV, Fulufjällsbyn, Sweden - Gerben Weening,[email protected], www.panparksaccommodation.comSNP Natuurreizen, the Netherlands - Gert Nieuwboer, [email protected], www.snp.nlTrailfinders, the Netherlands - Hans Hoff, [email protected], www.trailfinders.nl James van Leuven, the Netherlands - [email protected], www.jamesvanleuven.nl
PAN Parks
Abruzzo National Park, Italy (2007)Rila National Park, Bulgaria (2005) Slovensky raj National Park, Slovakia (2006)Triglav National Park , Slovenia (2005)
Name of area: Central Balkan National ParkCountry: Bulgaria
Area (ha): 71 669Number of visitors per year: 25 000
www.centralbalkannationalpark.org
Name of area: Bieszczady National ParkCountry: Poland
Area (ha): 29 200Number of visitors per year: 250 000
www.mos.gov.pl/kzpn/ind_gb.htm
Fulufjället National Park
Oulanka National Park
Bieszczady National Park
Retezat National Park
Central Balkan National Park
