PROTECTED NATURAL HERITAGE OF THE COUNTY OF PRIMORJE-GORSKI KOTAR PROTECTED NATURAL HERITAGE OF THE COUNTY OF PRIMORJE-GORSKI KOTAR Publisher The County of Primorje-Gorski kotar On behalf of the publisher President of the County, Zlatko Komadina, Dipl. Ing. Executive publisher Glosa d.o.o., Rijeka On behalf of the executive publisher Ksenija Čulina Editor Prof. Dr. Sc. Mladen Črnjar, Head of the County Institute for Sustainable Development and Spatial Planning Executive editor Marko Randić Editorial department Prof. Dr. Sc. Mladen Črnjar, Mr. Sc. Koraljka Vahtar-Jurković, Neven Ivanić, Marko Randić Texts and captions written by Marko Randić Translation Adverbum d.o.o., Opatija Photographs Marko Randić, Želimir Gržančić (pages 28, 30, 48, 49, 52, 54, 55, 62, 66, 77, 78, 82, 88a, 94, 107, 108, 110 and 144), Mr. Sc. Ivanka Jelenić (page 96), Tješimir Marić (page 129) Graphic design Jasminka Maržić-Kazazi Print Grafički zavod Hrvatske, Zagreb PROTECTED NATURAL HERITAGE OF THE COUNTY OF PRIMORJE-GORSKI KOTAR 2006 PROTECTED NATURAL HERITAGE OF THE COUNTY OF PRIMORJE-GORSKI KOTAR Cover photograph Risnjak National Park - sub-alpine grasslands on Mount Snježnik and globe flower in bloom (Trollius europaeus). CIP - Katalogizacija u publikaciji SVEUČILIŠNA KNJIŽNICA RIJEKA UDK 502.7(497.5-35 Rijeka)(036) PROTECTED natural heritage of the county of Primorje-Gorski kotar / <texts and captions written by Marko Randić ; photographs Marko Randić ... et al.>. - Rijeka : Primorsko-goranska županija, 2006. Prijevod djela : Zaštićena prirodna baština Primorsko-goranske županije. ISBN 953-7221-16-4 I. Prirodna baština -- Primorsko-goranska županija -- Vodič II. Primorsko- goranska županija -- Prirodna baština – Vodič 110707055 FOREWORD The County of Primorje-Gorski kotar is abundant in valuable nature areas with preserved unspoiled landscape and beauties of nature. The Tommasini (Učka) bellflower and Degenia Ve- lebitica endemic plants, griffon vulture, bear, wolf and lynx are just a few of the botanical and faunistic particularities that in- habit this area where the Mediterranean, continental Europe (the Pannonian plain) and the Dinarides come together. In are- as where the human hand has left its traces, the landscape was not destroyed but rather transformed over centuries into marvellous rural areas more or less suitable for the dwelling of people, domestic animals and cultivated plants. Some pearls are to be found in the immediate vicinity of human settle- ments, or even at the very centre of some towns (like the town parks in Opatija). Over the years, this extraordinary natural heritage has been systematically evaluated, so that today we have about thirty valuable nature areas or individual natural phenomena that are protected by law. Even greater is the number of areas that should be protected according to the land use plan of the county and of individual towns and municipalities: over 120. The total area intended for protection comprises about 18% of the county, which nearly corresponds to the standard of the Natura 2000 network, which at the moment covers 17% of EU territory. The County of Primorje-Gorski kotar makes every effort to pub- lish books, publications, articles and other educational materi- als about its natural heritage. Some already published editions include “How to Protect Nature in the County of Primorje-Gor- ski kotar – A Guide through the Regulations and Species”, “Risnjak National Park – 50 Years” and “Natural Heritage of the County of Primorje-Gorski kotar”. These publications have been very well received by readers, and the book “Natural Heri- tage of the County of Primorje-Gorski kotar” has run to a sec- ond edition and has also been published on the Internet. The result of this is an ever-increasing number of readers becoming familiar with the valuable natural heritage of the county. But describing the natural heritage is not just important for spread- ing the word about the natural beauty of the county; it should also act to stimulate visitors to come and experience direct contact with the county’s wonderful nature for themselves. Things that we know and love we preserve more easily and more conscientiously. This book serves as an invitation to all 5 PROTECTED NATURAL HERITAGE OF THE COUNTY OF PRIMORJE-GORSKI KOTAR interested people to come to know and explore the natural heri- tage of the County of Primorje-Gorski kotar. However, responsi- bility for taking care of and preserving this county’s valuable areas of nature does not rest exclusively with its inhabitants: visitors too should also play an active role. For that very rea- son, this book has been published in Croatian, English, and German. Zlatko Komadina, Dipl. Ing. President of the County of Primorje-Gorski kotar 6 The quick pace of modern life, driven by cars, PCs and other “technical wonders” has estranged a great many people from the natural world. But deep inside each one of us there is still a deep, inextinguishable yearning for the timeless beauty of nature, no matter how suppressed it might be. The aim of this book is to show all nature lovers, and those who have yet to become such, the value of the protected areas of nature in the County of Primorje-Gorski kotar. This book describes all the protected areas in the county, while some of the protected species and geological phenomena are only briefly mentioned. In the County of Primorje-Gorski kotar there are 31 protected areas, which include all categories of protection except regional parks. Some of the areas remain absolutely undisturbed, like the strict rocky reserve of Bijele stijene and Samarske stijene; in some of them one can notice the human influence, and some were made completely artificially, like the town parks – monu- ments of park architecture. We are confident that every visitor shall be able to find some- thing nice and interesting here to suit his or her own particular taste. This book’s philosophy is to first provide some basic informa- tion about each protected area, its category of protection and its natural features. After that comes a description of the natu- ral points of interest, and at the end it offers brief instructions about how to reach each of the individual areas and how to move around them. We wish the reader many pleasant moments in these protec- ted areas and many enjoyable new experiences in contact with some of the most stunning areas of nature that the County of Primorje-Gorski kotar has to offer. Prof. Dr. Sc. Mladen Črnjar Head of the County Institute for Sustainable Development and Spatial Planning 7 PROTECTED NATURAL HERITAGE OF THE COUNTY OF PRIMORJE-GORSKI KOTAR Expression of thanks That this book could have been published in this size and in this form, we are thankful to numerous institutions and indi- viduals that have provided us with indispensable help. In par- ticular, our gratitude goes to the employees of the “Hrvatske šume” Croatian Forest Management Company, Forest Adminis- trations Delnice, Senj and Buzet, as well as to individual for- estry offices, tourism offices, local authorities and others that cannot be mentioned here by name. We would, however, like to express our special gratitude to Mr. Miljenko Gašparac who has patiently read through the texts about Risnjak National Park and some other protected areas in Gorski kotar and provided us with several useful comments, pieces of data and hints with which the original text was im- proved. Furthermore, we would like to thank Dr. Sc. Goran Sušić for his ornithological data and literature, Mr. Rudolf Ko- madina for his information about caves in the Lokve region, and Mr. Stanislav Horaček for his stimulating explanations about the natural phenomenon of the Bijele stijene and Samar- ske stijene rocks. 8 TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword .......................................................................... 5 Basic features of the County of Primorje-Gorski kotar ........... 11 Protection of Nature ........................................................ 21 Protected natural heritage of the County of Primorje-Gorski kotar ....................................................... 25 Bijele stijene and Samarske stijene – strict reserve ............................................................. 28 Risnjak – national park .............................................. 34 Vražji prolaz – Zeleni vir – special reserve (geomorphological) .................................................... 47 Glavine – Mala luka (Kuntrep) – special reserve (ornithological) .......................................................... 52 Island of Prvić – special reserve (ornithological) ............ 57 Ornithological reserves on the island of Cres ................. 61 Fojiška – Pod Predošćica – special reserve (ornithological) .................................................... 61 Mali bok – Koromačna – special reserve (ornithological) .................................................... 61 Dundo forest – special reserve (forest vegetation) .......... 65 Debela Lipa – Velika Rebar – special reserve (forest vegetation) ...................................................... 69 The Glavotok holm oak forest – special reserve (forest vegetation) ...................................................... 73 Učka – nature park .................................................... 76 Lokvarka cave – nature monument (geomorphological) .... 84 Gotovž ponor near Klana – nature monument (geomorphological) .................................................... 87 Zametska cave – nature monument (geomorphological) ... 89 Source of the River