Poloniny National Park

Poloniny National Park is the easternmost national park in Slovakia. It was established in 1997 by separating the north-eastern part of the original area of ​​Chránená krajinná oblasť Východné Karpaty (the equivalent of the Polish landscape park). The park covers an area of ​​29,805 ha, and its protection zone is 10,973 ha.

The most valuable parts are protected within small protected areas, where the highest level of protection applies - the fourth and fifth level. It is 7 national nature reserves (Stužica, Havešová, Jarabá skala, Rožok, Pľaša, Stinská, Pod Rusským), 14 nature reserves (Bahno, Borsučiny, Borsukov vrch, Bzaná, Gazdoráň, Grúnik, Hlboké, Ruské, Stinská Slatina, Stru, Šípková, Udava, Uličská Ostrá i Veľký Bukovec) and 1 natural monument (Ulička).

About 90% of the Park's area is covered by forests, a large part of which are the best-preserved complexes in Europe, the so-called primeval forest. Non-forest communities are represented by unique alpine meadows, called poloniny and located above the upper forest border. They cover an area of ​​105 ha and most of them are semi-natural. The fact that it’s the only area in Slovakia with species of plants and animals typical for the Eastern Carpathian Mountains makes it so unique. That is why the name "poloniny" gave the name to the national park. Poloniny National Park is one of the most important areas in Central Europe, home to large forest mammals, including wild bison.  A valuable asset of this area is also well preserved cultural and historical heritage in form of original wooden temples, war and Jewish cemeteries.

Poloniny National Park is part of the tripartite International Biosphere Reserve "Eastern Carpathians". Since 1998 has the prestigious European Diploma for Protected Areas. It is also part of the european network of protected areas Natura 2000. In 2007, large complexes of well-preserved beech forests were inscripted on the UNESCO World Natural Heritage List under the name "Virgin and primeval beech forests of the Carpathians and other regions of Europe”.