Nature Park "Stara planina" ("Old Mountain")
Stara Planina is a trans-frontier Serbian-Bulgarian mountain - an assemblage of natural values that resulted from the processes of mountain landscape evolution.
Stara Planina was proclaimed Nature Park (1997) as an area extraordinarily valuable from the standpoint of diversity of flora and fauna and their communities, as well as geomorphological, geological, hydrological and hydrogeological characteristics and phenomena, where traditional lifestyle and cultural goods are preserved. The total area of Nature Park "Stara planina" is 142,219.64 ha, regionally it belongs to Eastern Serbia and administratively it stretches on the territories of four municipalities: Zaječar (9,958 ha), Knjaževac (57,968 ha), Pirot (63,194 ha) and Dimitrovgrad (11,099 ha).
The Government of the Republic of Serbia has entrusted SE "Srbijašume" with managing Nature Park "Stara Planina". SE "Srbijašume" carries out activities referring to protection, development and sustainable utilization of the Nature Park "Stara planina" through the Work Unit "Nature Park Stara Planina".
Mountain massif Stara planina includes Zaglavak and Visoka where the rivers Trgoviški Timok, Beli Timok, Visočica and Toplodolska dominate.
The floristic Nature Park "Stara planina" belongs to more abundant regions in Serbia where there are 1,195 taxa of vascular flora, 51 moss species, which makes 34% of the established number when compared with national flora, 24.5% of plant species of the total plant stock of Serbia grow on Stara planina.
Stara planina is a rather important centre of tertiary and endemo-relic plant species which are preserved in ravines, as well as of glacial relics and endemisms found in high parts of the mountain.
Threatened and endangered plant species and/or their habitats, 147 in number, are another specific issue of Stara planina. Forty plant species which are natural rarities on the territory of Serbia and put under protection grow there. Amongst those the following are found: the mountain pine, sticky alder, Balkan pedunculate oak, mountain anemone, pheasant's eye, Kosovian peony, common sundew, Balkan maple, Turk's cap lily, dwarf iris, march orchid etc.
Botanically significant areas on Stara planina are: the highest mountain parts (Orlov kamen, Ravno bučje, Kadibogaz, Prevoj Sveta Nedelja, Midžor, Babin zub, Žarkova čuka, Vražja glava, Kopren, Tri čuke, Arbinje, Draganište, Bratkova strana); mountain parts where specific forest communities are preserved (Golema reka); ravines and canyons (Suvi do, Papratni do, kanjon Timočke reke, Topli do) and hill area (Golina).
The plant cover of Stara planina consists of 52 plant communities whose arrangement depends on ecological impacts interweaving in different habitats. The richness of vegetation is reflected in the primary diversity of communities of forests, shrubs, meadows, pastures and bog plants.
On Stara planina, altitudinal vegetation zones have been selected: oak belt, beech belt, spruce belt, belt of subalpine shrubs of common juniper, blueberry and subalpine spruce and mountain pine belt.
A distinct value of Stara planina are bog-plant communities, developed in the belts of beech and coniferous forests, noted on Jabučko ravnište, Babin zub(Dojkino vrelo) and on Arbinje site.
On Stara planina there are developed relic, polydominant forest communities composed of plant species of endemic and relic character. Reserves are outstandingly valuable sites and until now the following strict nature reserves have been defined: "Draganište" - spruce forest reserve, "Golema reka" - virgin beech forest, "Vražja glava" - an important locality in part of the Stara planina forest complex where it is possible to monitor spontaneous development and succession of plant species, especially of the mountain maple (Acer heldreichii), "Tri čuke" - with the most interesting, rare subalpine community of the mountain pine (Pinetum mugi) on the highest peaks and represents the only preserved habitat of this species, "Smrče" (Arbinje) - the best preserved and most beautiful spruce forests on Stara planina and Serbia in general, with typical bog-plant and sfagnum communities and "Kopren" with a rare habitat of species belonging to carnivorous plant family (Drosera rotundifolia).
On the Stara planina area there are also numerous animal species, contributing to the beauty of nature and indicating an undegraded natural habitat and diversity that ought to be preserved. The fauna consists of: 116 butterfly species (of which 22 are newly determined species, and are glacial relic species); 18 herpetofauna species (including 6 amphibian species and 12 species of reptile class); ichtyofauna represented by 26 species; 203 bird species (which is the biggest diversity of the bird fauna on any of the mountains in Serbia, former Yugoslavia and bigger part of the Balkans).
Stara planina is included in the Important Bird Area (IBA) register and recognized to be internationally important for bird species. It also has a mammal fauna with more than 30 species, including the ground squirrel, snow vole, lynx and bear.
Stara planina is a treasury of sedimentary rocks varied in age, documented by its faunal and floral contents, on the basis of which entire zones are recognized to represent geological heritage. The most significant objects of geo-heritage are: Rsovci-Jelovica stretch of a highly fossiliferous sequence of all Triassic, Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous stages); a section in Jurassic rocks at Rosomača and Baronica Cave near Knjaževac.
The geological structure of Stara planina indicates that, due to the effect of endogenetic and exogenetic powers, various morphological processes have happened, primarily fluvial and karst erosions which have resulted in the formation of diverse topographic features. Outstanding objects of geomorphological heritage are: the Bigar stream valley, locality Babin zub with the largest group of teeth and knobs in coarse-grained quartzose sandstone, tight meanders Temštice in a ravine deep between 160 and 260 metres, with numerous rocks sculptured in red sandstone and Vladikine ploče, the Visočica River ravine, between Rsovac and Pakleštice, and a cave system bearing the same name.
The monumental heritage of Stara planina, as a reflection of spirituality and traces of everyday life, is manifested in the presence of prehistorical, ancient and old Roman remains; late-medieval monastic buildings (with architecture, painting and immediate environment that are unique for the wider region); a multitude of individual sacral objects (built mainly in late 19th and early 20th centuries, on the foundations of pre-existing religious buildings); numerous ethno objects: houses, chaff-barns, granaries, etc. with a characteristic local architectural structure dating from late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Nature Park "Stara planina" is a protected natural value nominated for the "Man and the Biosphere" (UNESCO-MAB) Programme.