Veľká Fatra – the ninth national park

On the 1 April 2002, Veľká Fatra was designated the National Park (NP). It has the area of 40,371 ha and the altitude up to 1,592 m. Recreation and economic activities are concentrated in the protective zone of NP and the national park itself consists mainly of forest lands including virgin forest stand and, to a smaller degree, of grasslands. Broken and diversified terrain provides manifold habitats for various types of biotopes, some of which are of European importance. Sheer cliffs and canyons with typical ledges, caves, springs, brooks or dry slopes with thermophilic communities on limestone are also characteristic for NP. The most valuable localities in the National Park are protected as nature reserves (14), natural monuments (3) and protected areas (1).