Description

Tsentralen Balkan - bufer SPA covers almost entirely the buffer zone of "Central Balkan" National Park. Mountainous relief with steep slopes. Four altitude belts are clearly distinguished, and the upper parts are habitats of alpine type. Old beech forests predominate in the forest belt. Dry heaths with predomination of the Siberian juniper (Juniperus sibirica) and mesophyllous meadows are dominant in the highlands zone. Northern slopes are covered with forests and the highest rainfalls in the country are given there (1200-1360 mm). Southern slopes are rocky, very steep, cut through by gorges. Mixed broadleaved forests of Fagus sylvatica L. subsp. moesiaca, Carpinus betulus, Quercus dalechampii, Ostrya carpinifolia, etc., at places mixed with Pinus nigra, cover the low mountain belt. The natural forest of Fagus sylvatica is between 100 and 250 years of age. At places they are mixed with fir Abies alba. The belt of coniferous forests composed mainly of spruce Picea abies and more rarely Macedonian Pine Pinus peuce - a Balkan endemic and Tertiary relict species – comes next. The highest mountain parts are covered by sub-alpine shrub vegetation of Siberian Juniper Juniperus communis nana, whortleberries Vaccinium spp. and alpine meadows.