Piatra Craiului National Park
Piatra Craiului National Park is a protected area of national interest in Romania corresponding to IUCN category II, located on the territories of Argeș and Brașov counties. Located on the Piatra Craiului Massif, it is largely karstic.
Location
The natural area extends in the north-eastern extremity of Argeș county and in the southern part of Brasov county, near the national road DN73A connecting Predeal town to Șercaia.The National Park is located in the Piatra Craiului Massif, a mountainous group belonging to the north-western part of the Southern Carpathian chain and covering a total area of 14,773 ha.
History
The natural area of Piatra Craiului Massif was established on 28 March 1938 by a decision of the Council of Ministers, published in the Journal of the Council of Ministers No. 645 of 1938, and in the course of time the protected area increased its area in several stages, and in 1990 the area was declared a national park and reconfirmed by Law No. 5 of 6 March 2000.In 2003, Government Decision No. 230 of 4 March 2003 re-established the boundaries and area of the national park.
Description
Piatra Craiului National Park is an area with steep peaks of metamorphic rock, limestone cliffs of Jurassic age, grottoes, alpine hollows, gorges, caves, marshland, watercourses and karst areas resulting from erosion and dissolution of rocks; mountain meadows, meadows, pastures, and wooded areas.The national park overlaps the site of Community importance - Piatra Craiului and includes the nature reserves: Cheile Zărneștilor, Peștera Liliecilor, Peștera Dâmbovicioara, Avenul din Grind, Zona kartica Dâmbovicioara - Brusturet, Peștera Dobreștilor, Peștera nr. 15, Stanciului Cave and Uluce Cave.
Biodiversity
Habitats
The natural area has several types of habitats, Dacian beech forests, relict Pinus sylvestris forests on limestone substrate, Luzulo-Fagetum beech forests, Middle-European beech forests of Cephalanthero-Fagion, Picea abies acidophilous forests in the mountain region, Salix sub-arctic scrub, rocky slopes with chasmophytic vegetation on siliceous rocks, herbaceous vegetation on the banks of mountain streams, woody vegetation with Myricaria germanica along mountain streams, and limestone and limestone shale grottoes from the mountain to the alpine floor, which support a diverse range of flora and fauna specific to Pietra Craiului.Flora
The flora of the national park is made up of plant species distributed in a tiered manner, in accordance with the geological structure, soil and climate characteristics, geomorphological structure or altitude.Trees and shrubs
Coniferous species: spruce, pines, fir, larch, silver fir, and yew.Deciduous species with stands of: oaks,, beech, hornbeam, mountain ash, lime, ash, wild chestnut, elm, maple, sycamore, birch, trembling aspen, mountain maple, black maple, white willow, and goat willow.
Piatra Craiului National Park is a protected area of national interest corresponding to IUCN category II, located on the territories of Argeș and Brașov counties.
The natural area extends in the north-eastern extremity of Argeș county and in the southern part of Brasov county, near the national road DN73A connecting Predeal town to Șercaia.
The National Park is located in the Piatra Craiului Massif, a mountainous group belonging to the north-western part of the Southern Carpathian chain and covering a total area of 14,773 ha.