Prospects for the expansion of the Carpathian national nature park in the context of the basin concept
Authors: Tymchuk Vitaly , Chernega Petro 
Published: February 2022

Optimization of the network of territories of the nature reserve fund is currently an important condition for Ukraine’s fulfillment of its international obligations on environmental protection. The increase in the area of protected areas can be done by adding new areas with high environmental value to existing NPF facilities. An important place is occupied by the first national nature park - Carpathian, which quite fully represents the biological and landscape diversity of the Eastern Carpathians. The Carpathian National Nature Park was established in 1980 on 50,321.5 hectares of land. The first project to create the Park covered the entire basin of the upper Prut River, but during the Soviet period, the authorities preferred forestries that were actively exploiting the forest.
Currently, the lower parts of the mountain slopes in the Prut basin are protected as part of the nature reserve, and the upper parts of the slopes are still being felled by Delyatyn and Vorokhta forestries. This division of the territory leads to a number of environmental problems: deciduous forests are cut down, wood is skidded along the riverbeds, and natural biodiversity is reduced.
Taking into account the importance of the basin approach to the functioning of the Carpathian National Nature Park, we consider it expedient to expand the territory of the Park at the expense of the lands of Vorokhta and Delyatyn State Forestry - with an area of 25,301 hectares (48.9% of the park area). The territory planned for joining the Carpathian NNP is located within the upper and middle parts of the slopes of the Upper Prut Valley. Absolute heights range from 900 m to 1585.9 m (Mount Kostrytsia). The project area is characterized by a variety of geological structure (siltstones, argillites, sandstones, flysch, sandy limestones, limestones, marls, clays), complex landforms (peneplenized surfaces, nival and relic glacial landforms, steep, gravitational slopes of different gravitational slopes biocoenotic cover, represented by deciduous, mixed and coniferous forests. The area proposed for expansion is located in a mountainous area, which determines the hydrological regime of the river, the structure of river valleys and the specifics of other hydrological characteristics. The largest water arteries of Delyatyn and Vorokhta state forestries were studied in this territory: Prutets Chemyhivsky, Prutets Yablunetsky, Pigi, Kamyanka, Boyarsky, Zhonka, part of the basin of which is currently the territory of the Carpathian NNP, but mainly the upper tributary areas are located on the territory of state forestries.
As a result of field research and additional survey of already selected nature reserves within the Delyatyn and Vorokhta state forestries, we were able to identify ecologically / biologically valuable areas that could serve as protected nuclei in the newly annexed to the Carpathian NNP.
In general, a number of valuable natural objects important for the preservation of the Ukrainian Carpathians were identified on the project territory (Ozernyanske, Kremintsivske, Polyanytske, Mykulychynske, Dorivske, Polyanytske forestry): 8 natural settlements (habitats) from Annex I of the Bern Convention, 7 natural settlements (habitats) from the Annex to the Habitats Directive, 5 groups of syntaxons, which include 10 rare associations included in the Green Book of Ukraine, 24 species of plants from the Red Book of Ukraine (2009), 11 regionally rare plant species of Ivano-Frankivsk region, 31 species of vertebrates , listed in the Red Book of Ukraine, 1203.7 hectares of plantations with characteristic features of virgin and ancient forests, 37 objects of the nature reserve fund, of which 7 belong to the national.
Currently, the modeling of the basin structure of the landscape using GIS technologies, which includes: a) construction in ArcGIS digital terrain model (DEM) based on digitized topographic maps; b) determination with the help of ArcHydro runoff directions, allocation of boundaries of micro-catchments and basins of Prut tributaries; c) determination of watercourses and assignment of order to the links of the erosion grid according to the scheme of V. Filosofov - A. Straller.
In our opinion, the introduction of a basin-landscape approach to the territorial planning of the Carpathian NNP will create a real mechanism for sustainable development of natural and anthropogenic systems. The use of this mechanism will make it possible to eliminate many contradictions that arise in both the environmental and socio-economic spheres of the Yaremche region.