Derman–Ostroh National Nature Park
The Derman–Ostroh National Nature Park sits in a river valley that separates the southern edge of the Polesian Lowland, and the northern edge of the Podolian Upland in northwestern Ukraine. The terrain is a mixture of pine–oak forest and marshy river lowlands. The park is in the southernmost region of Rivne Raion, Rivne Oblast.
Topography
The park is scattered in 22 sections along the Zbytynka River valley, which runs west-to-east between the Mizotsky Ridge and the Kremenets mountains. The park is only a few kilometers northeast of Kremenets Mountains National Nature Park, and about 5 km west of the town of Ostroh. The valley is only 3–8 km wide, and the immediately surrounding high ground is only a few hundred meters above the valley floor. The valley floor itself is mostly an alluvial patchwork of waterlogged floodplain, first terrace, and sandy dunes.Individual sectors of the park include:
- Bushchansky Reserve, a complex and alder and pine forests, and reed-sedge swamps,
- Zbitensky Ornithological Reserve, a protected wetland set aside for breeding birds,
- Mizotsky Ridge, a geological reserve,
- Zbytenka River floodplain, a protected botanical reserve, with local cultural importance,
- Olhava, a mixed forest of conifer and deciduous trees,
- The "Budka" Forest, with rare and medicinal plants
- "Zinkiv Stone" Monument, a mixed forest on the Kremenets Mountains side, with rock outcroppings,
- "Turova's grave" Monument, a section of hornbeam-oak forest, with a 400-year-old chestnut, and a 300-year-old Linden tree.
Climate and ecoregion
The climate of Derman-Ostroh is Humid continental climate, warm summer. This climate is characterized by large swings in temperature, both diurnally and seasonally, with mild summers and cold, snowy winters.All areas of the park are in the deciduous forest band of the Central European mixed forests ecoregion.