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Postcard from Papuk
Goran Pavic is one of the Rangers from Eastern Europe who is being partly sponsored by CMA to attend the 5th. World Ranger Congress in Stirling in June 2006. Goran is from Croatia and he has written the following profile of himself and of his Park especially for RANGER magazine.The Papuk Nature Park is protected area because of its natural and cultural-historical features
Introduction
My name is Goran Pavic. I was born in 1971 in the small town of Požega
situated in the vicinity of the Papuk Nature Park. In 1997 I obtained the degree
of B. Sc. Eng. in geology from the University of Zagreb. I was employed in the
Park shortly after it obtained its status as the Nature Park, that is, at the
beginning of 2000. I work as a ranger with four other colleagues. Ranger tasks
are very responsible and important for the Park – including protection
and supervision of the Park area, reception of the public, education. Rangers
make sure that visitors respect the rules which are aimed at protecting the
animals and the natural environment. Personally I am involved to a great extent
in working with children of school age who visit the Park as part of organized
educational tours or as part of preparations or implementation of various workshops.
As a geologist I also participate in research programmes related to the geology
of Papuk. I am also a big fan of mountain biking. I have proposed several cycling
trails in the Nature Park and once a year I actively participate in the organisation
of cycling marathon “MTB Marathon Papuk”.
Papuk Nature Park
The Papuk Nature Park is one of the “youngest”
nature parks in Croatia and it received this status of protected area because
of its natural and cultural-historical features on 23 April 1999. With its area
of 33,600 ha it represents the third largest nature park in Croatia. Mountain
Papuk with its highest peak of 953m is a part of the Slavonian Mountain Range
located centrally in the Panonian, that is, lowland area of Slavonia in the
eastern part of Croatia.
There are three areas within the Park with the higher level of protection:
Forests dominate the panorama of Papuk Nature Park covering 95.4% of the Park area. The indigenous plants in the Nature Park are represented by beech that is the dominating plant (65%), then sessile oak (22%), fir (6%) while other plants account for 7%. High-altitude vegetation zoning starts with sessile oak and hornbeam forest, mountain fir forests are situated somewhat higher, followed by the beech and fir zones as well as sycamore, maple and common ash at the highest peaks. Pubescent oak is situated on the south slopes, while black alder forest is situated next to mountain springs.
The floral composition of the Papuk Nature Park is rich and diversified, which is a consequence of relief contrasts, great diversity of geological composition and variety of pedological and climatic influence. Some of the protected flora which can be found here are leopard's bane, rose daphne, martagon lily, English holly, L. – English yew, pyramidal orchid, greater butterfly-orchid and butcher's broom.
Bears; bats and weasels
The area of the Papuk Nature Park, with its geo-morphological,
climatic and vegetation features offers excellent natural habitat for numerous
animal species. Almost all representatives of Central European fauna live here.
More than 200 years ago, according to the records of the natural scientist Taube,
bears, wolves and lynx were living at Papuk and have subsequently disappeared.
The thick forests of Papuk proved to be an ideal habitat and shelter for numerous
mammals: European red deer; western roe deer; wild boar; red fox; European pine
marten; least weasel; European otter and many others. Populations of bats (Chiroptera)
are especially important, because in the Uviraljka gorge, out of eleven identified
types of wintering bats, there are six types that are included on the IUCN list
of endangered species. In the water biotope, the species of importance are brown
trout and noble crayfish as well as reptiles and amphibian animals. There are
75 types of birds identified at Papuk and only five of them do not belong to
protected species.
There are significant remains of cultural heritage in the area of the Papuk Nature Park connected to two historical periods, the pre-historic period and the Middle Ages. In the vicinity of the village of Kaptol there is a valuable archaeological find of the Hallstatt culture of the Early Iron Age period, dating back to the 8th to 3rd Century BC. There are remains of eight mediaeval towns in the area of the Papuk Nature Park. The most beautiful and the most preserved one is Ružica, a town in the vicinity of the village of Orahovica.
One of important features of Papuk is the exceptional geological diversity which is rarely to be found in the whole of Croatia. Papuk is made of rocks that have been formed 350 million years ago. Besides geo-chronological, here we can also find lithological diversity represented by numerous varieties of rocks formed through magmatic, sediment and metamorphic geological processes. This is the reason why in near future the intention of the Papuk Nature Park is to become a part of the network of Geoparks under the auspices of UNESCO.
Conclusion
Finally, the Papuk Nature Park offers great diversity and
a variety of possibilities for recreation and is a perfect place for an active
vacation. This primarily refers to hiking, i.e. walks in the country that are
attractive in all seasons. For those looking for adventure several mountain
bike trails have been constructed, as well as rock climbing and a paragliding
runway. During the summer many tourists visit the Velika Spa situated in the
central part of the Park.
Goran Pavic
Ranger: Papuk Nature Park, Croatia