“Enchanted Land” in Irshava district (PHOTO-REPORT)

Not long ago, I made another forest press tour to Irshava district organized by the Transcarpathian Regional Forestry and Hunting Range Administration. One of the points of visit was the National Nature Park "Enchanted Land".

From Uzhgorod, we drove through Irshava to the neighboring village of Ilnytsia, which once was famous for coal mines.   We are going to the administration building of the National Natural Park "Enchanted Land", which is located on Partyzanska street. From there, together with the leading engineer of the park Yevhen Hiha, we are going to the village of Osiy, or, more precisely, to the Kamyanka tract, in the woods. We park behind a wooden bridge, where there is a map with the territory of the park, which has been operating since 2009.

The territory of 6101 hectares borders on seven settlements of Irshava and Svalyava districts. "The most interesting natural site in the park is the geological reserve "Enchanted valley". It is a 20 to 100 m high rock massif of volcanic origin on an area of ​​150 hectares. The other one is "Black Bog" on an area of ​​15 hectares. It is unique because it is located at an altitude of 650 m above sea level, and its depth is 7 m. This is the largest and highest sphagnum bog of the Ukrainian Carpathians", – Yevhen Hiha says. – Unique species of plants, in particular, different kinds of orchids, grow here. There are beech virgin forests in the park, which last year were icluded to the UNESCO World Heritage Site. These are small groups of an old beech forest. Mapping is still ongoing."

An interesting fact. "In Soviet times, extensive melioration of sphagnum swamps was conducted in order to obtain peat for fertilizing agricultural lands. The "Black Bog" was drained too. In 2014, we had a joint project with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Its purpose was renaturalization, to restore the natural state of the marsh. We got permission. During the research, we saw dams, and at first we did not understand what it was. Then it turned out the beavers had settled here. In fact, the animals made 60% of the work for us. We wanted to raise the water level and make artificial dams, – he continues. – Now the beavers have moved up the river Irshavka, because there is not enough food in the marsh. We found four "houses", and one family consists of 8 beavers. That is, there are about 30 beavers on the territory of the park". He also mentioned Professor Vasyl Komendar, who was one of the first to describe the vegetation in the marsh, and initiated the creation of the park. In total, there are 165 species of plants and 58 species of animals in the park, of which 29 species of plants and 38 species of animals are listed in the Red Book of Ukraine.

The park is also actively implementing various projects. For example, last year, they completed the Ukrainian-Slovak project funded by Norway "Forests for the people, forests without barriers". "We focused on environmental education, working with children, – he says. – Therefore, for the allocated money we bought models of animals, other devices. Currently, the project of preserving Carpathian virgin forests, which also includes Uzhok and Synevyr national parks, is being implemented.

We came to the ski lift, which is now shut down, and in winter people ski there only when there is snow. The tourist camp of People’s Artist Ivan Popovich stands out – violin clef on the gate, on the house. Song festivals are held there.

Our two-hour trip ended with a meeting with other park workers – Marina Matiko, Vasyl Kebelesh, Mykhailo Matiko and Mykhailo Andrishko, who cooked some bograch and baked potatoes on the river shore. The water was very cold, but very clean…