The role of the Magura National Park in the Carpathian Mts

Before the foundation of the Magura National Park the Beskid Niski Mts. were not represented by the preservation area of the highest range. There was a gap spreading over the area of 190 km between the National Parks of the Western Carpathians: Pieniny, Gorce, Babia Gora and Tatry, and the Bieszczady National Park in the Eastern Carpathians. The foundation of the MNP helped to fill in this gap. At the same time a missing but essential link in the system of preservation areas of the Polish Carpathians appeared. Within the area of the Park there is a representative fragment of the Beskid Niski Mts. with its plant cover and fauna, which are very well preserved. The MNP is situated in the transitional zone between the Western and Eastern Carpathians, what makes it a crossing of the ecological corridors. The mountain species, from Eastern and Western Carpathians, migrating in the opposite directions along the ridge of the Carpathians meet, in the area of the Park, the lowland species coming into the lowering of the Beskid Niski Mts. This kind of overlapping of different geographic elements of flora and fauna gives the Park’s plant cover and fauna a specific and distinct character.