The first proposal for conservation dates from the year 1908, and was realised in 1924. Under this act, however, all objectives of a true national park were not attained and for this reason over the next two decades, new proposals for the extension and rearrangement of the protection were put forward. Finally, in 1981, a rearrangement was achieved and the park was given a new concept and enlarged to 838 square kilometres the area which it continues to cover to this day.
Some rivers have sections which have cut deep gorges with sheer rock faces.
Such gorges or ravines can be found in the Soca river basin, in the Trenta valley, along the Koritnica near Kluze and at the confluence of the Soca and the Zadlascica rivers. On the Radovna river there is the well known Vintgar ravine near Bled as well as the Mostnica ravine in the Bohinj area. Limestones predominate in the Park - as elsewhere in the Julian Alps, these rocks are, for the most part, sediments from the Triassic period some 200 million years ago. In some places the limestons were deposited in thick layers, as can be seen in the rocks of Triglav North Face and the massive rock out of which Kanjavec and Travnik were sculpted. At other places, however, the sedimentations are not in layers but unstratified.