Matera

Matera (, ; Materano: ) is a city in the region of Basilicata, in Southern Italy.
As the capital of the province of Matera, its original settlement lies in two canyons carved by the Gravina River. This area, the Sassi di Matera, is a complex of cave dwellings carved into the ancient river canyon. Over the course of its history, Matera has been occupied by Greeks, Romans, Longobards, Byzantines, Saracens, Swabians, Angevins, Aragonese, and Bourbons.
By the late 1800s, Matera's cave dwellings became noted for intractable poverty, poor sanitation, meager working conditions, and rampant disease. Evacuated in 1952, the population was relocated to modern housing, and the Sassi (Italian for "stones") lay abandoned until the 1980s. Renewed vision and investment led to the cave dwellings becoming a noted historic tourism destination, with hotels, small museums and restaurants – and a vibrant arts community.
Known as ("the underground city"), the Sassi and the park of the Rupestrian Churches were named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993. In 2019, Matera was declared a European Capital of Culture.
History.
Though scholars continue to debate the date the dwellings were first occupied in Matera, and the continuity of their subsequent occupation, the area of what is now Matera is believed to have been settled since the Palaeolithic (10th millennium BC). This makes it potentially one of the oldest continually inhabited settlements in the world. Alternatively it has been suggested by architectural historian Anne Parmly Toxey that the area has been "occupied continuously for at least three millennia and occupied sporadically for 150–700 millennia prior to this".
The town of Matera was founded by the Roman Lucius Caecilius Metellus in 251 BC who called it Matheola. In AD 664 Matera was conquered by the Lombards and became part of the Duchy of Benevento. Architectural historian Anne Parmly Toxey writes that "The date of Matera's founding is debated; however, the revered work of the city’s early chroniclers provides numerous, generally accepted accounts of Goth, Longobard, Byzantine, and Saracen sieges of the city beginning in the eighth century and accelerating through the ninth century AD." In the 7th and 8th centuries the nearby grottos were colonised by both Benedictine and Basilian monastic institutions. The 9th and 10th centuries were characterised by the struggle between the Byzantines and the German emperors, including Louis II, who partially destroyed the city. After the settlement of the Normans in Apulia, Matera was ruled by William Iron-Arm from 1043.
After a short communal phase and a series of pestilences and earthquakes, the city became an Aragonese possession in the 15th century, and was given in fief to the barons of the Tramontano family. In 1514, however, the population rebelled against the oppression and killed Count Giovanni Carlo Tramontano. In the 17th century Matera was handed over to the Orsini and then became part of the Terra d'Otranto, in Apulia. Later it was capital of the province of Basilicata, a position it retained until 1806, when Joseph Bonaparte assigned it to Potenza.
In 1927 it became capital of the new province of Matera.
Main sights.
The Sassi (ancient town).
Matera has gained international fame for its ancient town, the "Sassi di Matera". The Sassi originated in a prehistoric troglodyte settlement, and these dwellings are thought to be among the first ever human settlements in what is now Italy. The Sassi are habitations dug into the calcareous rock itself, which is characteristic of Basilicata and Apulia. Many of them are really little more than small caverns, and in some parts of the Sassi a street lies on top of another group of dwellings. The ancient town grew up on one slope of the rocky ravine created by a river that is now a small stream, and this ravine is known locally as "la Gravina". In the 1950s, as part of a policy to clear the extreme poverty of the Sassi, the government of Italy used force to relocate most of the population of the Sassi to new public housing in the developing modern city.
Until the late 1980s the Sassi was still considered an area of poverty, since its dwellings were, and in most cases still are, uninhabitable and dangerous. The present local administration, however, has become more tourism-orientated, and it has promoted the regeneration of the Sassi as a picturesque touristic attraction with the aid of the Italian government, UNESCO, and Hollywood. Today there are many thriving businesses, pubs and hotels there, and the city is amongst the fastest growing in southern Italy.
Monasteries and churches.
Matera preserves a large and diverse collection of buildings related to the Christian faith, including a large number of rupestrian churches carved from the calcarenite rock of the region. These churches, which are also found in the neighbouring region of Apulia, were listed in the 1998 World Monuments Watch by the World Monuments Fund.
Matera Cathedral (1268–1270) has been dedicated to Santa Maria della Bruna since 1389. Built in an Apulian Romanesque architectural style, the church has a 52 m tall bell tower, and next to the main gate is a statue of the Maria della Bruna, backed by those of Saints Peter and Paul. The main feature of the façade is the rose window, divided by sixteen small columns. The interior is on the Latin cross plan, with a nave and two aisles. The decoration is mainly from the 18th century Baroque restoration, but recently a Byzantine-style 14th-century fresco portraying the "Last Judgement" has been discovered.
Two other important churches in Matera, both dedicated to the Apostle Peter, are San Pietro Caveoso (in the "Sasso Caveoso") and San Pietro Barisano (in the "Sasso Barisano"). San Pietro Barisano was recently restored in a project by the World Monuments Fund, funded by American Express. The main altar and the interior frescoes were cleaned, and missing pieces of moldings, reliefs, and other adornments were reconstructed from photographic archives or surrounding fragments.
There are many other churches and monasteries dating back throughout the history of the Christian church. Some are simple caves with a single altar and maybe a fresco, often located on the opposite side of the ravine. Some are complex cave networks with large underground chambers, thought to have been used for meditation by the rupestrian and cenobitic monks.
Cisterns and water collection.
Matera was built above a deep ravine called Gravina of Matera that divides the territory into two areas. Matera was built such that it is hidden, but made it difficult to provide a water supply to its inhabitants. Early dwellers invested tremendous energy in building cisterns and systems of water channels.
The largest cistern has been found under Piazza Vittorio Veneto, the Palombaro Lungo which was built in 1832. With its solid pillars carved from the rock and a vault height of more than fifteen metres, it is a veritable water cathedral, which is navigable by boat. Like other cisterns in the town, it collected rainwater that was filtered and flowed in a controlled way to the Sassi.
There were also a large number of little superficial canals that fed pools and hanging gardens. Moreover, many bell-shaped cisterns in dug houses were filled up by seepage. Later, when the population increased, many of these cisterns were turned into houses and other kinds of water-harvesting systems were realised.
Some of these more recent facilities have the shape of houses submerged in the earth.
Natural areas.
The Murgia National Park (Parco della Murgia Materana), a regional park established in 1990, includes the territory of the Gravina di Matera and about 150 rock churches scattered along the slopes of the ravines and the plateau of the Murgia. This area, inhabited since prehistoric times, still preserves stationing dating back to the Paleolithic, such as the Grotta dei pipistrelli (cave of the bats), and to the Neolithic. The symbol of the park is the lesser kestrel.
The San Giuliano Regional Reserve, a protected area established in 2000, includes Lake San Giuliano, an artificial reservoir created by the damming of the Bradano river, and the river sections upstream and downstream of it.
Colle di Timmari, a green lung located about 15 km from the city, dominates the Bradano valley and the San Giuliano lake. It is a pleasant residential area, and on the top of the hill there is the small Sanctuary of San Salvatore, dating back to 1310, and an important archaeological area.
Other sights.
The "Tramontano Castle", begun in the early 16th century by Gian Carlo Tramontano, Count of Matera, is probably the only other structure that is above ground of any great significance outside the sassi. However, the construction remained unfinished after his assassination in the popular riot of 29 December 1514. It has three large towers, while twelve were probably included in the original design. During some restoration work in the main square of the town, workers came across what were believed to be the main footings of another castle tower. However, on further excavation large Roman cisterns were unearthed. Whole house structures were discovered where one can see how the people of that era lived.
The "Palazzo dell'Annunziata" is a historical building on the main square, seat of Provincial Library.
Culture.
On 17 October 2014, Matera was declared European Capital of Culture for 2019, together with Bulgaria's second-largest city, Plovdiv.
Cuisine.
The cuisine of Matera is a typical "cucina povera" (peasant food) from Southern Italy. It features a sort of blend of Basilicata and Apulia's cuisines being in a border area between the two regions. Some specialties are "peperoni cruschi", a sweet and dry pepper variety very popular in Basilicata, and "Pane di Matera", a type of bread recognizable for its intense flavour and conical shape, granted Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status. Matera produces a homonym wine which bear the Denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) designation.
Some dishes from the local cuisine include:
Cinema.
Because of the ancient primeval-looking scenery in and around the Sassi, it has been used by filmmakers as the setting for ancient Jerusalem. The following famous biblical period motion pictures were filmed in Matera:
Other movies filmed in the city include:
Music.
Matera appears in the music videos for the songs "Sun Goes Down" (2014) by Robin Schulz and "Spit Out the Bone" (2016) by Metallica.
Religious traditions.
The Feast of the Madonna della Bruna, held in Matera on 2 July each year, is notable for its religious procession featuring an ornamented chariot which is then pulled apart by spectators. The origins of the festival are not well known, because its story has changed while being handed down from generation to generation. One of these legends says that a woman asked a farmer to go up on his wagon to accompany her to Matera. When she arrived to the periphery of the city, she got off the wagon and asked farmer to take her message to the bishop. In this message she said she was Christ's mother. The bishop, the clergy and the folk rushed to receive the Virgin, but they found a statue. So the statue of Madonna entered in the city on a triumphal wagon. Another legend talks about a destruction of the wagon: Saracens besiege Matera and the citizens, to protect the painting of Madonna, hid it on a little wagon. They then destroyed the wagon to keep the Saracens from taking the painting.
Different hypotheses are attributed to the name of "Madonna della Bruna" : the first says that the noun derives from the Lombard high-medieval term "brùnja" (armor/protection of knights). So the name might mean "Madonna of defense". Another hypothesis is that the name comes from "herbon", a city of Giudea, where the Virgin went to visit her cousin Elisabetta. A third hypothesis says that the name comes from the colour of the Virgin's face. The profane insertions such as the "navalis" wagon and its violent destruction, along with the intimacy and the religious solemnity, suggest this festival shares roots with ancient traditions of other Mediterranean countries. For example, in Greek culture, wedding parties also celebrate with a triumphal wagon ("ships on wheels" richly designed).
The Madonna's sculpture is located in a case in the transept of the cathedral dedicated to her, where there is also a fresco that portrays her. It dates back to the 13th century and it belongs to the Byzantine school.
Transportation.
Matera is the terminal station of the Bari-Matera, a narrow gauge railroad managed by Ferrovie Appulo Lucane. The nearest airport is Bari Airport.
Matera is connected to the A14 Bologna-Taranto motorway through the SS99 national road. It is also served by the SS407, SS665 and SS106 national road.
Bus connection to Italy's main cities is provided by private firms.
Twin towns – sister cities.
Matera is twinned with:


Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park

The Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park is a national park in Tanzania located on the island of Zanzibar. It is the only national park in Zanzibar.
The Zanzibar red colobus, "Procolobus kirkii" (its population count is about 1000) found in the park, a rain forest species (unlike the black-and-white colobus found in other regions of Africa), is also known as Kirk's red colobus, named after Sir John Kirk, the British Resident of Zanzibar who had first brought it to the attention of zoological science. It is now adopted as the flagship species for conservation in Zanzibar, from the mid-1990s. Other species of fauna found in the park are the Sykes monkey, bush babies, more than 50 species of butterfly and 40 species of birds. The nocturnal Zanzibar tree hyrax, which has four ‘toes’ on its front feet and three on its back, is said to be the first hyrax species that has acclimatized to the forest. As part of the tourism circuit, the park attracts 10% of the over 100,000 visitors to Zanzibar every year. Wild life attractions of Zanzibar also include dolphins apart from deep sea fishing for tuna, marlin, and shark.
Another animal in the forests of the Unguja Island unequaled elsewhere is the Zanzibar leopard ("Panthera pardus adersi"). In the local legend, this reportedly extinct species, has been given a mythical status and is called 'Chui' and is part of the superstitious beliefs of the people. People believe that sorcerers keep this animal as their pet and scare people by spinning stories that the animal appears like spirits and disappears into thin air. It was last reported in 1999 and officials, and men working on the “coral rag” lands of the southern and eastern Ungula Island are assertive that the species is not extinct, though it has not been sighted since 2003. The last sighting reported in 2002-2003 was of two leopards. Photographs of live examples of the species are not known to exist, although a stuffed example is a museum display in Zanzibar Museum, and a few skins exist in museums in London and Massachusetts. Trail camera footage from a 2018 American documentary television series does appear to have captured proof of the leopard's existence and will undoubtedly spark renewed interest and further protective enforcements. A smaller leopard with spots, which is a biological product of the larger animal, is seen now in the island.
The sea grass beds of the Chwaka Bay, fringed with mangrove forests, are important breeding grounds for marine organisms, including open sea fish species. The mangroves are also good breeding grounds for birds. An Integrated Conservation and Development (ICD) planning for the area is under consideration. The bay is also proposed to be declared a Ramsar Site and is placed on the Tanzanian Tentative List for World Heritage Sites to recognize its unique natural and cultural assets with due consideration of proposed conservation efforts.
Ecology.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, the park site occupies "the largest remaining stand of near-natural forest on Zanzibar." The forest rests upon a reef limestone marine terrace. Habitats within the park and associated protected lands include a groundwater forest, coastal forest, and grassland, with mangroves and salt marsh at the coast. The vegetation types found within the park once existed throughout Zanzibar.
Endangered animals that reside within the park include:
Important Bird Areas.
The park encompasses two adjoining Important Bird Areas (IBAs) designated by BirdLife International. Jozani Forest supports populations of Fischer's turacos, mangrove kingfishers, brown-headed parrots, black-bellied starlings, east coast akalats, mouse-coloured sunbirds and Zanzibar red bishops. Chiwaka Bay and its surrounds on the east coast, including extensive stands of mangroves along its southern shore, support populations of greater sandplovers, crab plovers and Saunders's terns.
Ecotourism.
CARE International sponsored a development project for the wilderness area and surrounding communities from 1995 until 2003.
A revenue sharing program from park entrance fees has been used to construct schools and health clinics for local villages.


National Estuarine Research Reserve

The National Estuarine Research Reserve System is a network of 29 protected areas established by partnerships between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and coastal states. The reserves represent different biogeographic regions of the United States. The National Estuarine Research Reserve System protects more than 1.3 million acres of coastal and estuarine habitats for long-term research, water-quality monitoring, education, and coastal stewardship.
Background.
For thousands of years, coastal and estuarine environments have provided people with food, safe harbors, transportation access, flood control, and a place to play and relax. The pressures on the nation's coast are enormous and the impacts on economies and ecosystems are becoming increasingly evident. Severe storms, climate change, pollution, habitat alteration and rapid population growth threaten the ecological functions that have supported coastal communities throughout history. Estuaries are the connection between the ocean (or Great Lakes) and the land and humans depend on both for their very existence, so caring for both – and the connection between them – is vital to humans.
The System was established by the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) of 1972 as estuarine sanctuaries and was renamed to estuarine research reserves in the 1988 reauthorization of the CZMA. NOAA provides funding, national guidance and technical assistance. Each reserve is managed on daily basis by a lead state agency or university, with input from local partners.
Reserve staff work with local communities and regional groups to address natural resource management issues, such as non-point source pollution, habitat restoration and invasive species. Through integrated research and education, the reserves help communities develop strategies to deal successfully with these coastal resource issues. Reserves provide adult audiences with training on estuarine issues of concern in their local communities, offer field classes for K-12 students, and provide estuary education to teachers through the Teachers on the Estuary program. Reserves also provide long-term water quality monitoring as well as opportunities for both scientists and graduate students to conduct research in a "living laboratory".
Core Programs.
Research and Monitoring.
The National Estuarine Research Reserves serve as living laboratories to support coastal research and long-term monitoring and to provide facilities for on-site staff, visiting scientists and graduate students. They also serve as reference sites for comparative studies on coastal topics such as ecosystem dynamics, human influences on estuarine systems, habitat conservation and restoration, species management, and social science. Additionally, the reserves serve as sentinel sites to better understand the effects of climate change.
The goals of the Reserve System's research and monitoring program include:
Each reserve works on a variety of research projects, in addition to participating in the System-wide Monitoring Program. The topics of these projects are varied and depend on local needs and issues, as well as issues of national concern. Topics may include issues such as investigating the impacts of non-point source pollution, understanding the role of social science in coastal resource management, and controlling invasive species.
System-Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP).
The System Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP, pronounced “swamp”) was established in 1995 as a means of observing short-term variability and long-term changes in estuarine regions. Each reserve participates in SWMP which provides researchers, resource managers, educators, and other coastal decision makers with standardized, quantitative measures to determine how reserve conditions are changing. By using standard operating procedures for each component across all 29 reserves, SWMP data helps establish the reserves as a system of national reference sites, as well a network of sentinel sites for detecting and understanding the effects of climate change in coastal regions.
SWMP currently has three major components that focus on:
Abiotic parameters include nutrients, temperature, salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen, and in some cases, contaminants. Biological monitoring includes measures of biodiversity, habitat, and population characteristics. Watershed and land use classifications provide information on types of land use by humans and changes in land cover associated with each reserve.
SWMP data for each reserve are managed by the Centralized Data Management Office (CDMO), which is managed through a grant to the University of South Carolina and is housed at the North Inlet-Winyah Bay Reserve in South Carolina. SWMP data can be viewed and downloaded from the CDMO.
NERRS Science Collaborative.
The NERRS Science Collaborative is designed to put Reserve-based science to work for local communities. Administered by the University of Michigan (UM), the program funds research projects that bring scientists, intended users of the science, stakeholders, educators, and trainers together to address problems related to coastal pollution and habitat degradation in the context of climate change. The results of these projects is shared throughout the System. The Collaborative also sponsors a UM-based graduate and professional education program focused on helping individuals develop the skills needed to link science-based information to coastal resource management decisions.
Education.
National Estuarine Research Reserves are federally designated "to enhance public awareness and understanding of estuarine areas, and provide suitable opportunities for public education and interpretation." Each research reserve is an active member of the local and regional education community and a representative of the state and NOAA stewardship community. The reserve system takes a local approach in advancing estuarine education and generating meaningful experiences for all kinds of people interested in learning about, protecting and restoring estuaries.
The Estuary Education Program strives to enhance student, teacher, and public awareness, understanding, and appreciation of estuaries by providing hands-on, investigative field experiences, curriculum and information material, multi-exposure opportunities, teacher training programs, and public outreach events. The Estuary Education Network is working to advance estuary, climate & ocean literacy. Estuaries can be used as a powerful context to support learning about the interconnections and interdependencies between terrestrial and ocean systems, what important services they provide for humans, and how to restore and protect them.
Training.
The National Estuarine Research Reserve System's Coastal Training Program (CTP) was formally initiated in 2001 to provide up-to-date scientific information and skill-building opportunities to the people who are responsible for making decisions affecting coastal lands and waters of the United States. Through this program, National Estuarine Research Reserves can ensure that coastal decision-makers have the knowledge and tools they need to address critical resource management issues of concern to local communities. Coastal Training Programs offered by reserves focus on issues such as stormwater management, community development, restoration science, land use planning and others. Since 2006, these reserve-based programs have delivered more than 400 evaluated training events reaching at least 13,000 decision-makers in the coastal zone.
Stewardship.
A core mission of the Reserves is to protect and conserve the more than 1.3 million acres of coastal and estuarine habitat within reserves and to facilitate improved stewardship of coastal habitats outside reserve boundaries. The Reserve System's stewardship approach uses the best available science to maintain and restore healthy, productive and resilient ecosystems, and disseminates information to regional and national stakeholders. Site-based stewardship strategies assess and respond to threats from coastal development, human use of reserve resources, climate change, and invasive species.
Stewardship Issues Addressed by NERRS.
Invasive species are species not native to an ecosystem, and whose introduction to that ecosystem can harm the environment, public health or welfare. Reserves manage for invasive species through preventing new introductions and through managed removal if appropriate.
Reserves manage and restore habitat to support species of concern by restoring degraded habitat, enhancing habitat connectivity to support multiple life stages of particular species, managing visitor use pressure during critical life stages and restoring species and habitats such as native oysters and sea grass beds where possible. Reserves also work within the watershed to identify, protect, and restore critical habitat for estuarine species such as salmon.
Many reserves manage habitat that require fire to survive. Fire management through prescribed burns is particularly challenging as these areas often are located near development. Many reserves manage these fire dependent habitats and monitor habitat and species recovery.
Development along our nation's estuaries often results in hydrologic restrictions from roads, dykes, and railroads. These restrictions alter habitat, water quality, and species distribution. Many reserves are addressing these impacts by managing or restoring hydrology through the replacement of culverts, management of tide gates, and/or removal of dykes.
Water quality is a fundamental indicator of the impacts from coastal watersheds and the health of estuarine ecosystems. Good water quality affects coastal habitat quality and human communities that rely on estuaries for recreation and livelihoods. Water quality parameters such as clarity, oxygen content, nutrient concentration, temperature, sedimentation, pH, salinity and others all have profound impacts on natural and human communities in coastal ecosystems.
The reserves are addressing water quality through intensive abiotic monitoring of estuarine habitats through the System-Wide Monitoring Program, working with farmers to develop and monitor best management practices from agriculture, monitoring the impacts of canopy cover on salmon habitats, addressing sedimentation impacts into coastal streams by working with adjacent land owners and evaluating land use impacts through tools such as the Non-Point Source Pollution, Erosion and Control (NSPECT ) tool.
Coastal and estuarine habitats include marshes, forested wetlands, oyster reefs, seagrass beds, beaches, tidal streams, and riparian forests. These habitats are vital not only for fish, birds, and other wildlife, but for human communities as well. They help to protect against flooding, improve water quality, provide recreational opportunities, and support commercial fisheries and tourism. Restoring habitats helps ecosystems by removing pollutants and invasive species, re-establishing natural ecosystem processes, and re-introducing native plants and other wildlife.
The Reserves are working with several NOAA programs and a variety of regional partners to improve the science in support of habitat restoration, restore coastal habitats, control invasive species, protect habitat through acquisition, and implement land management practices that balance the needs for conservation and public access.
The Reserve System's Habitat Mapping and Change Plan was developed in 2007 to establish the framework for mapping habitats in reserves for long-term change related to local sea level change and human-caused stress from reserve watersheds.
The habitat mapping and change plan is supported by additional documents including the NERR Land Cover and Habitat Classification System and associated implementation protocols and documentation.
As living laboratories, the reserves are ideal settings to investigate the restoration and protection of estuarine and coastal habitat. Because of their federally protected status, biogeographic diversity, on-site facilities, long-term monitoring programs and data, and professional staff capabilities in science and education, the reserves are excellent platforms for advancing the science of restoration, staging demonstration restoration projects, and monitoring their long-term response. Most reserves have extensive areas of undisturbed habitat. These are useful as long-term scientific reference sites for understanding estuarine ecosystems and comparing them with other more disturbed habitats in similar physical settings.
To date, the majority of the reserves have engaged in restoration science and have planned or conducted small to medium-scale restoration projects (.5 to 250 acres). An inventory of key habitats at the reserves and restoration activities and priorities conducted in 2000 and updated in 2001 is summarized in the NERRS Restoration Science Strategy. Reserves have investigated both engineering and natural approaches to restore areas to approximate natural, unaltered conditions. Several reserves must first address water quality issues and/or restore hydrologic regimes (i.e. sheet flow, tidal exchange, and freshwater drainage) before they can restore terrestrial and aquatic native plant communities and achieve faunal and ecological recovery.


North Absaroka Wilderness

The North Absaroka Wilderness is located in Shoshone National Forest in the U.S. state of Wyoming. It lies adjacent to the eastern border of Yellowstone National Park.
U.S. Wilderness Areas do not allow motorized or mechanized vehicles, including bicycles. Although camping and fishing are allowed with proper permit, no roads or buildings are constructed and there is also no logging or mining, in compliance with the 1964 Wilderness Act. Wilderness areas within National Forests and Bureau of Land Management areas also allow hunting in season.


Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments

Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments is the name used by UNESCO when it collectively designated the historic core of the Russian city of St. Petersburg, as well as buildings and ensembles located in the immediate vicinity as a World Heritage Site in 1991.
The site was recognised for its architectural heritage, fusing Baroque, Neoclassical, and traditional Russian-Byzantine influences.
Sites.
The site contains 126 locations including the following objects,


Lake Snagov

Snagov (Romanian: "Lacul Snagov") is a lake in Snagov commune, about 25–30 km north of Bucharest, Romania. It has a surface of only 5.75 km², but due to its elongated shape it stretches for about 12 km, northeast to southwest.
Lake Snagov as well as the nearby Snagov forest is a protected natural area.
Snagov monastery is situated on an islet near the lake's northeastern end, just across Snagov Stadium.
An isolated island monastery in the middle of Lake Snagov houses the Vlad the Impaler's purported final resting place.


Ta Phraya National Park

Ta Phraya National Park (, , ) is a protected area at the eastern end of the Sankamphaeng Range in the area where these mountains meet the Dangrek Range, near the Thai-Cambodian border. It is largely in Ta Phraya District, Sa Kaeo Province, district after which it is named, although the park also includes sectors of Ban Kruat, Non Din Daeng, and Lahan Sai Districts of Buriram Province. The park is east of Pang Sida National Park. It was established in 1996.
Elevations range between 206–579 m. The highest mountain is Khao Pran Nut (ยอดเขาพรานนุช). There are also some ancient Khmer temple ruins in the park area such as Prasat Khao Lon.
Between the 1970s and the 1990s there were refugee camps for Cambodians in this part of the border zone.
Climate.
The weather usually influenced by southwestern monsoon and northeastern monsoon. In the southwestern monsoon from May to October, there are high humidity winds blowing from the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand causing rain, about 1,000–1,400 mm per year. The weather consists of three seasons: summer from February to April; rain from May to October; winter from November to January. Average temperature is 39.8° Celsius and the lowest temperature is 14.3° Celsius.
Flora and fauna.
The forested areas of the park include mixed deciduous forest, dry evergreen forest, and deciduous dipterocarp forest.
The fauna of the park includes the Sambar deer, mouse deer, common muntjac, Asian black bear, sun bear, serow, langur, gibbon, palm civet, fishing cat, banteng, gaur and the Siamese hare, as well as the azure-winged magpie, the scarlet minivet, and the long-tailed minivet.
Ta Phraya is also home to the endangered Siamese Rosewood, a tree species that is being extracted illegally for sale in especially the Chinese furniture market. Armed poachers are coming across the border from Cambodia, and rangers are since 2015 trained in military style counter-poaching measures


South Yorkshire Forest

The South Yorkshire Forest was a partnership initiative of the twelve Community Forests in England, started in 1991. The programme aimed to create attractive landscapes in the South Yorkshire area through improvement and regeneration of woodlands, wetlands, farmland, meadows, industrial sites and residential areas. Member organisations of the South Yorkshire Forest Partnership included the Forestry Commission, Natural England and the four local authorities of South Yorkshire: Sheffield City Council, Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council, Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council and Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council.
Between 2005 and 2015, the South Yorkshire Forest Partnership (SYFP) led a series of large and high profile projects with the support of the European Union, investing £millions to improve South Yorkshire's environmental quality with local communities. SYFP was responsible for managing initiatives with partners in over 50 cities and regions, spanning North West Europe and the North Sea Region. These projects included:
It also hosted three major international conferences in Sheffield:
South Yorkshire Forest Partnership was closed in 2016. From its inception to its closure, SYFP planted over 1 million trees, and invested over £32 million in South Yorkshire.


Thuli Parks and Wildlife Land

Thuli Parks and Wildlife Land is a protected area in south-western Zimbabwe. It comprises four areas within the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Estate and covers the entire west bank of the Shashe River within the Thuli Circle.
The protected area comprises the Thuli Safari Area, plus three small botanical reserves:
The four reserves are administered as a single unit, from the National Parks and Wildlife authority office on the east bank of the Shashe River - just outside the protected area and immediately south of the village of Tuli.
History of the Park.
Thuli (Tuli) Safari Area was proclaimed in 1975. Prior to that date (from 1958), it was a controlled hunting area.
In terms of a memorandum signed on 22 June 2006, Thuli Parks and Wildlife Land forms the core of the conservation area that Zimbabwe shall contribute to the Limpopo-Shashe Transfrontier Conservation Area.
Features.
Flora and fauna.
Most of the Thuli area is scrubland, with "Mopane" and combretum bush. The Shashe valley, the park's eastern border, supports riverine vegetation such as "Ficus" and "Faidherbia".
Animal life includes African bush elephants, south-western black rhinoceros, lion, Cape wild dog, Namibian cheetah and African leopard, many of which move freely between the protected area and neighbouring Botswana and South Africa.
Geography and geology.
The protected area comprises a flat landscape, giving way to rugged hilly terrain near the Shashe River. The underlying bedrock is Jurassic basalt, dated at 186.3 ± 1.2 Ma. The basalts fill a NNE-trending trough with inwardly-dipping lava flows, and a well-preserved volcanic caldera.
Archaeological, historical and cultural sites.
A large Fort (Fort Tuli) existed in the center of the protected area, where in the 1890s oxen and horses were rested prior to crossing the Shashe River. The fort was established by the Pioneer Column in 1890, and maintained as a supply base. In the 1970s this building was re-located to the current site, Tuli.
Accommodation and camping.
Camping sites exist at the head office and within the safari area. There are no hotels or self-catering accommodation.
Shashe Wilderness Camp, operated by the Wildlife and Environment Zimbabwe (formerly Zimbabwe Wildlife Society), is located just north of the park headquarters.
Access.
Road access is via the village of Tuli, which can be reached from Beitbridge via Nottingham Estate, or from Gwanda via Guyu and Hwali. On each access route, much of the distance is over poor roads, and four wheel drive may be required. Four wheel drive is essentially for crossing the Shashe River to access the park. There is an earth airstrip at Tuli.
Thuli Safari Area is currently operated through hunting concessions.


Churches of Peace

The Churches of Peace (, ) in Jawor (German: "Jauer") and Świdnica (German: "Schweidnitz") in Silesia were named after the Peace of Westphalia of 1648.
It permitted the Lutherans of Silesia to build three churches from wood, loam and straw outside the city walls, without steeples and church bells. The construction time was limited to one year. The third Peace church, erected in Głogów (then German "Glogau"), burned down in 1758.
Since 2001, the two remaining churches are listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
History.
Despite the physical and political constraints, three of the churches became the biggest timber-framed religious buildings in Europe due to pioneering constructional and architectural solutions.
The church in Jawor, dedicated to the Holy Ghost is long, wide and high and has capacity of 5,500. It was constructed by architect Albrecht von Saebisch (1610–1688) from Wroclaw (then German "Breslau") and was finished a year later in 1655. The 200 paintings inside by were done by Georg Flegel in 1671–1681. The altar, by Martin Schneider, dates to 1672, the original organ of J. Hoferichter from Legnica (then German "Liegnitz") of 1664 was replaced in 1855–1856 by Adolf Alexander Lummert.
By that time, the town had been part of the majority Protestant Kingdom of Prussia for about a century. Another 100 years later, in 1945, the town became part of Poland, as a result of the Potsdam Agreement. Although most of the Protestant churches in the German provinces taken over by Poland in 1945 became Catholic, the two Peace Churches still serve their Lutheran parishes.
The similar church, erected in Głogów (then German "Glogau") burned down in 1758, but the one in Świdnica, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, survived like the one in Jawor. Both were restored by a Polish–German cooperation, and recognized by UNESCO in 2001.


Mupa National Park

Mupa National Park is a national park in Angola's Cunene province and covers an area of 6600 square kilometers. It was proclaimed a national park on 26 December 1964 while Angola was a Portuguese territory.
It is significant for its expected wide (though generally unstudied) variety of avifauna. Many Angolans reside within the park, which, along with nomadic pastoralists and mineral prospecting threatens to destroy the park's birdlife. According to one article, "Even though the park was initially proclaimed to protect the giraffe sub-species, "Giraffa camelopardalis angolensis", by 1974 none were left. Other mammals which occur, include lion, leopard, wild dog and spotted hyena".
About 18,000 people live in the park, who are mainly engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding.


List of national parks of Seychelles

There are two terrestrial national parks and six marine national parks in the Seychelles. The parks are administered by Seychelles National Environment Commission (SNEC), which falls under the Department of the Environment.


Gerard Wallis de Vries

Gerard Christiaan Wallis de Vries (24 October 1936 – 8 February 2018) was a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and corporate director.
External links.


Golden Mountains of Altai

Golden Mountains of Altai is the name of an UNESCO World Heritage Site consisting of the Altai and Katun Natural Reserves, Lake Teletskoye, Belukha Mountain, and the Ukok Plateau. As stated in the UNESCO description of the site, "the region represents the most complete sequence of altitudinal vegetation zones in central Siberia, from steppe, forest-steppe, mixed forest, subalpine vegetation to alpine vegetation". While making its decision, UNESCO also cited Russian Altai's importance for preservation of the globally endangered mammals, such as snow leopard and the Altai argali. The site covers a vast area of 16,175 km².
Altai region, sites, and landscape.
The Altai region is made up of four primary sites and landscapes: Mount Belukha, the Ukok Plateau, the Katun River, and the Karakol Valley. Mount Beluka is regarded as a sacred site to Buddhists and the Burkhanist. Their myths surrounding this portion of the mountain range lent credence to their claim that it was the location of Shangri-la (Shambala). This location, having first been climbed in the early 1900s, now hosts a myriad of climbers each year. The Ukok Plateau is an ancient burial site of the early Siberian people. Moreover, a number of myths are connected to this portion of the Golden Mountains. For example, the plateau was thought to have been the Elysian fields. The Katun River is an important religious location to the Altaians where they (during celebrations) utilize ancient ecological knowledge to restore and maintain the river. The Karakol Valley is home of three indigenous villages where tourism is greatly managed.
Cultural value.
While the Golden Mountains of Altai are listed on the World Heritage List under natural criteria, it holds information about the nomadic Scythian culture. The permafrost in these mountains has preserved Scythian burial mounds. These frozen tombs, or kurgans, hold metal objects, pieces of gold, mummified bodies, tattooed bodies, sacrificed horses, wood/leather objects, clothes, textiles, etc. However, the Ukok Plateau (in the Altai Mountains) is a sacred site to the Altai people, so archeologists and scholars who are looking to excavate the site for human remains raise controversy.
British Museum exhibit.
The British Museum in London exhibited "Scythian Warriors of Ancient Siberia" from September 2017 to January 2018. The exhibition was sponsored by British Petroleum (BP).
Climate Threats.
Climate change has caused the melting of the permafrost endangering the preservation of these tombs. Over the past 100 years there has been a 1°C increase in temperature across Asia and a 2°C increase in temperature in the footsteps of the Altai, with the increase more pronounced in the winter and spring.
Glacial outburst floods have become a problem in this area. In particular, the Sofiyskiy Glacier in the region has been retreating at a rate of 18 meters per year.
A rise in temperature also poses a threat to the various endangered species that are housed in the mountain region. These species include the snow leopard, the argali mountain sheep, the steppe eagle, and the Black Stork.
Preservation Efforts.
In 2005, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre launched the Preservation of the Frozen Tombs of the Altai Mountains Project with financial support from the UNESCO/Flemish Funds-in-Trust. However, as of May 14, 2008 this project has been brought to an end.


Erwin Sumser

Erwin Sumser (8 October 1891 – 22 January 1961) was a German physician. He was born and grew up in Merzhausen where he came to know the Schönberg and to appreciate the multitude of orchids growing there. In 1931 he purchased several floristically valuable lots of land in the Jennetal which are called Sumser's Garden (). Later he bought also comparable lots of land on the Baar. In 1960 he sold all his private nature reserves to the federal state of Baden-Württemberg.
Bibliography.
Kuhn, Benno, "Weshalb das Naturschutzgebiet Jennetal auch Sumsergarten genannt wird" ("why the nature reserve Jennetal is also called Sumser's garden"), in: Ebringer Dorfgeschichten, volume 1, pp. 1-8, Ebringen 2008


United Kingdom Biodiversity Action Plan

The United Kingdom Biodiversity Action Plan or (UK BAP) was the UK government's response to the Convention on Biological Diversity, opened for signature at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. The UK was the first country to produce a national Biodiversity Action Plan. It was published in 1994 and created action plans for priority species and habitats in the UK that were most under threat so as to support their recovery.
Purpose.
The UK Biodiversity Action Plan summarised the most threatened or rapidly declining biological resources of the United Kingdom, and gave detailed plans for their conservation. Individual 'Action Plans' were provided for these habitats and species, and a reporting mechanism was established to demonstrate how the UK BAP was contributing to the United Kingdom's commitment to help reduce or halt the significant losses in global biodiversity, highlighted by the international Convention on Biological Diversity. The original publication included action plans for 45 habitats and 391 species, each identified either as being globally threatened, or where evidence showed there had been a particularly rapid decline of those resources within the UK. Although mainly focused on England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the UK Crown dependencies, the UK Biodiversity Action Plan also addressed issues of declining species and habitats overseas in the UK Dependant Territories and British-held territories in Antarctica; areas together containing over 700 endemic species.
History.
At the launch of Biodiversity: The UK Action Plan in January 1994, the UK Prime Minister announced the formation of a 'Biodiversity Steering Group', drawing on experts from key conservation organisations and government agencies. It was tasked with identifying and preparing costed action plans for priority species and habitats by 1995, and with developing methodologies for monitoring progress and improving public awareness and access to biodiversity information.
In 1995 the Biodiversity Steering Group published a two-volume report, the second part of which contained three important lists of species:
The criteria for selection as a Biodiversity Action Plan species on the 'long list' were:
After devolution in 1998, England, Wales and Scotland had all developed their own individual biodiversity strategies by 2002, with Northern Ireland following shortly afterwards, whilst still also collaborating.
By 2007 the criteria used to select priority habitats and priority species had been reviewed and the lists updated to propose that 40 UK BAP habitats and 1,149 species were included in the UK priority lists, and a further 123 species were proposed for removal.
As of 2009 1,150 species and 65 habitats were identified as needing conservation and greater protection and were covered by UK BAPs. The updated list included the hedgehog, house sparrow, grass snake and the garden tiger moth, while otters, bottlenose dolphins and red squirrels remained in need of habitat protection.
In 2012 the UK Biodiversity Action Plan was succeeded by the 'UK Post-2010 Biodiversity Framework'. This was produced on behalf of the Four Countries' Biodiversity Group (4CBG) by Defra and the JNCC. But the work identifying priority species and priority habitats remains relevant, and was then enshrined in appendices to the NERC Act (2006).
Priority species and priority habitats.
As the UK BAP developed, the most important species and habitats that it identified for action were referred to as 'priority species' and 'priority habitats' ( also: 'UK BAP species' and UK BAP habitats').
Regional response.
The regional response to guidelines published in 1995 led to 162 Local Biodiversity Action Plans (LBAPs) being produced for England, Wales and Scotland, with further action plans later produced for Northern Ireland. These were usually formulated by a broad partnership of conservation organisations working on county and similar-sized areas of Britain. LBAPs play an important role in translating national and sub-national strategies, priorities and targets into direct local action on the ground, and in identifying which UK priority species and habitats are found in that local area.
External links.
The UK BAP website (http://www.ukbap.org.uk/) was in operation between 2001 and 2011, when it was closed as part of a government review of websites. The core content was migrated into the JNCC website.
The National Archives preserves snapshops of UK "BAP" webpages predating publication of the UK Biodiversity Framework, for example copies from 2011 and 2012 .


Kabwoya Wildlife Reserve

The Kabwoya Wildlife Reserve is a reserve in Uganda. It was established in 1980, and covers 87.00 km².


Ponta dos Rosais

Ponta dos Rosais ("Rosais Point", or literally, "Point of the Rosaries") is a promontory located along the northwestern coast of the parish of Rosais, municipality of Velas, on the island of São Jorge in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores.
Geography.
Ponta dos Rosais is situated above sea level on the extreme northwestern tip of the island of São Jorge. The waters around Ponta dos Rosais consist of an oceanic plateau known as Baixa da Ponta dos Rosais: this plateau extends out north-northwest from the promontory. The islands of Faial, Pico, and Graciosa are often visible from Ponta dos Rosais. Faial and Pico are located approximately from Ponta dos Rosais.
On the promontory stands the isolated, mid-century Nationalist lighthouse complex of Ponta dos Rosais.
Ponta dos Rosais and the surrounding area are within a locally protected area of the Azores known as the "Monumento Natural da Ponta dos Rosais" (Ponta dos Rosais Natural Monument), a nature reserve which is part of the larger Nature Park of São Jorge conservation zone. Since June 1995 the Ponta dos Rosais area has also been protected through the European Environment Agency's Natura 2000 initiative under the Habitats Directive.
This natural monument stretches from the coastal cliffs of Pico dos Cutelos along the southern coast to the northern cliffs and pasturelands of Chã do Areeiro. The reserve also includes the waters surrounding the point, the Rosais Islets, Ponta da Ilha, and Torrão da Açucar, as well as the Fajã Mata Sete, a volcanic debris field (fajã) of mixed basalt rocks, stacks, pyroclastic flows, and eroded debris. Sometimes treacherous trails—most skirting the coast—link together these various zones of the Ponta dos Rosais reserve.
Biome.
The uplands are primarily pasture and other rural agricultural areas. Tourists visiting the area are attracted by the diversity of migratory and maritime bird species nesting in the cliffs of Ponta dos Rosais, including Cory's shearwater, little shearwater, common tern, and roseate tern.
Introduced predator species around Ponta dos Rosais include feral cats and dogs, mustelids, and rodents, though the lattermost are kept in check by kite predation.
Endemic flowering coastal plants present in the area include Azorean forget-me-not ("Myosotis azorica") and Azorean heather ("Erica azorica"). The invasive cane grass "Arundo donax" threatens the continued presence and health of these endemic plants.


Tokaj wine region

Tokaj wine region ( ) or Tokaj-Hegyalja wine region (short "Tokaj-Hegyalja" or "Hegyalja") is a historical wine region located in northeastern Hungary and southeastern Slovakia. It is also one of the seven larger wine regions of Hungary (). "Hegyalja" means "foothills" in Hungarian, and this was the original name of the region.
The region consists of 28 named villages and 11,149 hectares of classified vineyards, of which an estimated 5,500 are currently planted. Tokaj has been declared a World Heritage Site in 2002 under the name Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landscape. However, its fame long predated this distinction because it is the origin of Tokaji aszú wine, the world's oldest botrytized wine.
Due to the Treaty of Trianon, a smaller part of the historical wine region now belongs to Slovakia.
Characteristics.
Some of the characteristics which make the Tokaj wine region unique are:
History.
Historical records show that vineyards had been established in Tokaj as early as the 12th century, but there is evidence for the earlier introduction of wine production to the region.
A number of experts claim that viticulture could have started in the Tokaj region as early as in the Celtic times, that is BC. A petrified grape leaf found in Erdőbénye and dating from the late 3rd century AD, points to the existence of viticulture in Roman times. Slavs arrived in the region in the late 5th/early 6th century. One possible origin for the name "Tokaj" is that it is derived from the Slavic word "Stokaj", meaning approximately confluence (i.e. confluence of the rivers Bodrog and Tisza). The Slovaks claim that Slavs continued previous viticulture in the region. Magyar settlers arrived in Tokaj from the end of the 9th Century and there is an alternative theory that viticulture was introduced to the region from the east, possibly by the Kabar tribe. The Magyars themselves seem to have had an ancient tradition of wine-making (see: Origins of Hungarian wine-making). Another possible origin for the name "Tokaj" is that it comes from an Armenian word meaning "grape".
"Latin" people were first invited to settle in Tokaj by Hungarian King Béla III (1172-1196) and then by Béla IV (1235-1270). These immigrants were probably Walloons from northern France, although some researchers claim that they were Italians. Slavic peoples (Slovaks and Rusyns) are also documented as being involved in Tokaj viticulture by the 12th century. However, the rise of Tokaj as a major wine region can be dated to the early 16th Century.
Around 1620 the Emperor imported a Walloon-French wine-farmer Duvont, who later invented what would be known as the "king of wines"-method in the Tokaji-district.
In honour of Mr. Duvont's exceptional skills, the Emperor ennobled this farmer, and gave him one of his many villages (Kiralyfalva), now Königsdorf in Austria. The emperor then named the family Királyfalvy.
Tokaji wine became an increasingly important commodity for the region from the 17th century, its export being a major source of income for the ruling princes of Transylvania to which the Tokaj region belonged at the time. Indeed, revenues from the increasingly renowned Tokaji Aszú wine helped to pay for the wars of independence fought against Austrian Habsburg rule. The repute of Tokaji wine was enhanced when in 1703, Francis II Rákóczi, prince of Transylvania, gave King Louis XIV of France a gift of numerous bottles of wine from his Tokaj estate. Tokaji wine was then served at the Versailles Court, where it became known under the name of Tokay. Delighted with the precious beverage, Louis XIV declared it "Vinum Regum, Rex Vinorum" ("Wine of Kings, King of Wines").
In the 18th Century, Tokaj reached the height of its prosperity. Both Poland and Russia had become major export markets for its wine. Such was the importance of Tokaji in Russia, that the Russian emperors maintained a de facto colony in Tokaj in order to guarantee the supply of wine to the Imperial Court.
The partition of Poland in 1795 and subsequent imposition of customs duties dealt a severe blow to the exports of Tokaji wine and precipitated the economic decline of the region. However, this was only the first of three major crises for Tokaj. The second occurred when the phylloxera epidemic reached Tokaj in 1885 and destroyed the vast majority of the vineyards in a matter of years. The third shock was when Hungary lost two-thirds of its territory under the peace Treaty of Trianon signed in June 1920, and thus Tokaj wine lost access to the majority of its domestic market. The region was also divided between Hungary and the newly created Czechoslovakia, which gained an area of 120 hectares (with the exception of 1938-1944, when Hungary took control over the territory). The latter now forms part of an adjoining wine region in Slovakia with approximately 908 hectares of classified Tokaj vineyards.
The era of communist rule in Hungary saw a deterioration in the quality and reputation of Tokaji wines. However, since 1990 a considerable amount of investment has gone into the Tokaj region, creating what has been dubbed as the "Tokaj Renaissance". There are now almost 600 wineries in the region, of which about 50 produce the full range of wines.
The "Designation of origin" dispute.
Tokaj wine is, by its unique character, a luxurious commodity with a strong appeal to the international market.
The dispute started in 1964 when, for the first time, the then Czechoslovakia exported its excessive production of Tokaj wine to Austria, the market that used to be solely supplied with this commodity by Hungary. The conflict of interests was settled in a bilateral agreement according to which Slovakia - at the expense of the Czech beer-related concession on Hungarian part - was only allowed to export its overproduction of Tokaj wine to Hungary (which consequently re-labeled and re-exported it). This agreement expired in 1990 after which date the dispute arose again.
An agreement was reached in June 2004 between the Hungarian and Slovak governments concerning the use of the Tokaj name in Slovakia. Under this agreement, wine produced on 5.65 km² of land in Slovakia is able to use the "Tokaj" name. However, the Slovak part did not observe their legally binding undertaking, which was to introduce the same standards enshrined in Hungarian wine laws since 1990. It has not yet been decided who will monitor or enforce those laws. The disputes led Slovakia into an international lawsuit between Hungary and five other countries (Italy, France, Australia, Serbia and Slovenia), for the brand name "Tokaji". (see details: Tokaji)
In November 2012, the European Court ruled against Hungary's request to erase the Slovak entry “Vinohradnícka oblasť Tokaj” from “E-Bacchus”, an electronic database containing a register of designations of origin and geographical indications protected in the EU. Hungary lodged an appeal against the judgement of the General Court. In February 2013, the EU Court of Justice has turned down the Hungarian appeal against an earlier ruling concerning Slovakia's registration of “Vinohradnícka oblasť Tokaj” (Tokaj Wine Region), which contains the name of Hungary's Tokaj region. In its ruling, the court said that Slovakia's registering its “Vinohradnícka oblasť Tokaj” in the European database E-Bacchus did not constitute an actionable measure. As a result, under the current EU legislation the wine-growing region of Tokaj is located in both Hungary and Slovakia. Therefore, wine producers from both the Hungarian Tokaj region and the Slovak Tokaj region may use the Tokaj brand name.


Restoring Healthy Forests for Healthy Communities Act

The Restoring Healthy Forests for Healthy Communities Act () is a bill that was introduced in the United States House of Representatives during the 113th United States Congress. The Restoring Healthy Forests for Healthy Communities Act would direct the United States Department of Agriculture to establish at least one Forest Reserve Revenue Area within each unit of the National Forest System designated for sustainable forest management for the production of national forest materials (the sale of trees, portions of trees, or forest products from System lands) and forest reserve revenues (to be derived from the sale of such materials in such an Area). The bill then states that the purpose of an Area is to provide a dependable source of 25% payments and economic activity for each beneficiary county containing System land that was eligible to receive payments through its state under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000.
Provisions of the bill.
"This summary is based largely on the summary provided by the Congressional Research Service, a public domain source."
The Restoring Healthy Forests for Healthy Communities Act would direct the Secretary of Agriculture (USDA) to establish at least one Forest Reserve Revenue Area within each unit of the National Forest System designated for sustainable forest management for the production of national forest materials (the sale of trees, portions of trees, or forest products from System lands) and forest reserve revenues (to be derived from the sale of such materials in such an Area). The bill then states that the purpose of an Area is to provide a dependable source of 25% payments and economic activity for each beneficiary county containing System land that was eligible to receive payments through its state under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000.
The bill would instruct the Secretary of Agriculture to: (1) manage Areas in the manner necessary to achieve their annual volume requirement, and (2) conduct covered forest reserve projects within those Areas in accordance with this Act. It also would define "annual volume requirement" and "covered forest reserve project."
The Restoring Healthy Forests for Healthy Communities Act would require a covered project to be implemented consistent with the land and resource management plan for the System unit in which the project will be carried out. Finally, the bill would require forest reserve revenues to be used to make: (1) deposits into the Knutson-Vandenburg Fund and the salvage sale fund in contributions equal to the monies collected under such Acts for projects conducted on System land, and (2) 25% payments to states for the benefit of public schools and public roads of beneficiary counties.
Procedural history.
House.
The Restoring Healthy Forests for Healthy Communities Act was introduced into the House on April 12, 2013 by Rep. Doc Hastings (R, WA-4). It was referred to the United States House Committee on Agriculture, the United States House Committee on Natural Resources, the United States House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Energy, and Forestry, and the United States House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation. The House Majority Leader Eric Cantor placed the bill on the House Schedule on September 13, 2013 for consideration under a suspension of the rules on September 17.
Debate and discussion.
Supporters of the bill argued that the "failure to harvest enough timber is leaving fuel in forests that is leading to larger wildfires."


Balnaguard Glen

Balnaguard Glen is a Scottish Wildlife Trust reserve near the village of Balnaguard, Perthshire. It is notable for its juniper woodland, which is amongst the largest in Perthshire.
Description.
The reserve covers an area of 55 hectares, through which the Balnagurad Burn runs. The gully is steep-sided, and once hosted a footpath, though landslips have made the old route dangerous and impassable. There are several waterfalls. To the east of the gully lies a birch wood, and to the west are numerous areas of juniper woodland.
Flora.
The glen was formerly more extensively wooded, and there have been recent tree plantings adjoining the birch wood in order to diversify the variety of plant and animal life. The juniper woodland, which lies primarily in the west of the reserve, needs to be maintained by the frequent removal of fast-growing bracken, which would otherwise swamp the slow-growing juniper. Further west, beyond the juniper, is an area of grassland.
Fauna.
There are numerous species which may be observed in the reserve, namely red deer, mountain hare, kestrels and pine martens.
Accessibility.
There is a small car park at the foot of the reserve, just outside the village. There is a way marked trail, but it is steep and rough, and can be difficult to pass in wet weather. It is dangerous to try to access the gully, as the land there is unstable and very prone to landslides.


Moremi Game Reserve

Moremi Game Reserve is a protected area in Botswana. It lies on the eastern side of the Okavango Delta and was named after Chief Moremi of the BaTawana tribe. Moremi was designated as a game reserve, rather than a national park, when it was created. This designation meant that the BaSarwa or Bushmen that lived there were allowed to stay in the reserve.
Location and setting.
Moremi Game Reserve is just under in extent, covering much of the eastern side of the Okavango Delta and combining permanent water with drier areas, which create some startling and unexpected contrasts. Some prominent geographical features of the Reserve are Chiefs Island and the Moremi Tongue. In the Moremi Reserve one can experience excellent views of savannah game as well as bird-watching on the lagoons. There are also thickly wooded areas, which are home to the Cape wild dog ("Lycaon pictus pictus") and leopard. To the northeast lies the Chobe National Park which borders the Moremi Game Reserve. Only about 30% of the reserve is mainland, with the bulk being within the Okavango Delta itself.
Fauna and flora.
Moremi Game Reserve, although not one of the largest parks, presents insights and views even for the most experienced of travelers. Its habitats are surprisingly diverse, combining mopane woodland and acacia forests, floodplains and lagoons. It is home to nearly 500 species of bird (from water birds to forest dwellers), and a vast array of other species of wildlife including lion, leopard, African bush elephant, African buffalo, black rhinoceros, hippopotamus, giraffe, plains zebra, blue wildebeest, cheetah, spotted hyena, black-backed jackal, common warthog, impala, and lechwe. The Moremi area is considered a significant habitat for African wild dog and the population there have been the subject of a project run in the area since 1989; thus this species is often seen wearing collars emplaced by researchers.
History.
Proclaimed a reserve in 1963, it was named after Chief Moremi III of the local Batawana tribe from Ngamiland. Chief Moremi's widow, Elizabeth Pulane Moremi, - who was ruling the area at the time, took steps to conserve the wildlife due to her concern about the toll hunting was taking on the animal population. In the 1970s Chief Moremi's Royal Hunting Grounds were included into the Reserve to further expand it.
Logistics.
The Reserve offers the opportunity to explore not only in 4x4's but on foot and by mokoro - a dug-out canoe, hewn from either ebony or sausage-tree, and poled by your personal guide. Although, today most of the mekoro (plural of mokoro), are made from fibreglass, thus helping to preserve the magnificent, and old, trees of the area.
Game viewing is at its peak from July to October, when seasonal pans dry up and the wildlife concentrates on the permanent water. From October until the start of the rains in late November or early December, the weather can be extremely hot.
Malarial mosquitoes are prevalent throughout the Reserve and it is strongly recommended that visitors should take precautions before, during and after a visit.
Botswana has been able to develop its tourism without the urgent need for revenues that face many other African countries. An eco-tourism policy of high yield, but low impact, has resulted in visitors being able to experience an Africa in its most natural, unspoilt and impressive condition. Thus the Reserve itself has very few lodges, and only four areas set-aside for camping (at South Gate, Third Bridge, Xakanaxa, and Khwai). There are a number of lodges on the outskirts of the Reserve, whose guests visit on daily game drives.
Travel between lodges is accomplished by light aircraft and helicopter transfers, as most lodges have their own airstrips. Therefore, you can easily combine a number of lodges in a variety of areas. Helicopter game viewing flights are available from most lodges.
Roads.
Roads in Moremi Game Reserve change dramatically depending upon the season and the water level of the Delta. When the flood waters are high some of the roads are waterlogged while sandy areas which are much harder to navigate during the hot summer months. Moremi Game Reserve is a low impact park, which means that there are few vehicles and people around. This is great for game viewing as you are often alone at a sighting, but it also means that help isn't readily available away from the main roads. Ensure you have a sufficient recovery kit and know how to use it, and you'll need a snorkel on your vehicle for water crossings. If you are driving a rental vehicle, double check the rental company's rules and regulation regarding driving through water.
Poaching.
Starting April 2019, poaching has risen at an alarming rate in the reserve. Organised poaching rings slaughtered 46 rhinos in 10 months, representing almost 10% of Botswana's 500 rhinos. Officials feared a wipeout of both rhino species, as most of Botswana's rhinos roam the grassy plains of the northern Okavango Delta, where Moremi Game Reserve is situated. The poaching is driven by the insatiable demand for rhino horn, which fetches up to $60,000 / kg.
Notes.
This park is considered for inclusion in the 5 Nation Kavango–Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area.


Tioman Island

Tioman Island () is a mukim and an island in Rompin District, Pahang, Malaysia. It is located off the east coast of the state, and is some long and wide. It has seven villages, the largest and most populous being Kampung Tekek on the central western coast. The densely forested island is sparsely inhabited, and is surrounded by numerous coral reefs, making it a popular scuba diving, snorkelling, and surfing spot. There are many resorts and chalets for tourists around the island, which has duty-free status.
In the 1970s, "TIME Magazine" selected Tioman as one of the world's most beautiful islands.
The island is part of Pahang territory, although it is geographically closer to mainland Johor than to mainland Pahang, and is accessed via ferry service from the Johorean coastal town of Mersing. Within Tioman Island there are four kampungs: Salang, Tekek, Juara and Air Batang. The telephone numbers in Tioman start with 09-413, 09-419, 09-582, 09-583 and 09-584.
History.
Tioman has been used for thousands of years by fishermen as an important navigation point and a source of fresh water and wood. During the past thousand years, it has played host to Chinese, Arab, and European trading ships, and often Chinese porcelain shards can be found on beaches around the island.
In more recent history, Tioman played host to both the British and the Japanese navies during the Second World War, and the waters around the island are littered with war remains (including HMS "Repulse" and HMS "Prince of Wales").
Tioman island does not allow buildings to have more than 3 stories.
Tioman Island Municipal Council(Majlis Perbandaran Pulau Tioman) To Be Granted Soon.
Nature.
The marine area around Tioman Island and eight other nearby islands have been declared as marine parks and marine reserves.
Apart from its diverse marine life, the inland rainforest area was protected in 1972 as the Pulau Tioman Wildlife Reserve. However, a large part of the original reserve was sacrificed for agricultural and touristic development in 1984; the remaining area is approximately . There are several protected species of mammals on the island, including the binturong, long-tailed macaque, slow loris, black giant squirrel, red giant flying squirrel, mouse deer, brush-tailed porcupine, and common palm civet, from a total of 45 species of mammals and 138 species of birds, including the majestic frigatebird. Moreover, Tioman has species that are endemic to its shores. The Tioman walking catfish "Clarias batu" can be seen on rainforest walks. Kajang slender litter frog is only known from Mount Kajang.
Tioman's corals have been affected by a mass bleaching event in 2010 whereby the island lost a significant portion of its live coral cover. That resulted in a lot of the corals turning a dull white colour and some even fragmenting into pieces of dead coral skeleton. The 2016 bleaching event only just touched on Tioman's Coral Reefs, and as such, the coral has remained in good and healthy condition.
Politics.
Tioman Island lends its name to the state constituency of Tioman, comprising the island and part of the Rompin District including the town of Kuala Rompin. Its representative to the State Legislative Assembly is Mohd. Johari Hussain from UMNO-Barisan Nasional. Its representative to the Malaysian Parliament is Hasan Ariffin, also from UMNO-Barisan Nasional.
Transportation.
Air.
The island houses the Tioman Airport with flights from Subang.
Water.
The island is served by ferries from Mersing, Johor and Tanjung Gemok, Pahang. Both are located in Malaysia. Currently there are two ferry companies operating in both jetties. You can purchase the ticket at the counter book directly from their respective website to secure your seats in advance.
1. Bluewater Ferry - bluewater.my
2. Cata Ferry - cataferry.com
Legend.
According to legend, Tioman Island is the resting place of a beautiful dragon princess. Whilst flying to visit her prince in Singapore, this beautiful maiden stopped to seek solace in the crystal-clear waters of the South China Sea. Enraptured by the charms of the place, she decided to discontinue her journey. By taking the form of an island, she pledged to offer shelter and comfort to passing travelers.
Local mythology claims that the island is the embodiment of the mighty dragon Sri Gumom. The dragon was on his way to visit his sister Gunung Linga (Lingin Peak) but the great Sri Rama forbade the meeting and Sri Gumom was turned into a stone and fell into the deep sea where he now remains, frozen in eternity as this beautiful island with its distinctive topography.
Radio and television.
Radio.
Community radio within Tioman:
From Malaysian mainland:
Television.
Local:


List of protected areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Total size of protected area of Bosnia and Herzegovina amounts of , which is 1,13% of its entire territory. This is a list of areas protected by corresponding levels of the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina, namely at the entity's levels, and with various categorizations.
National parks.
National parks of Bosnia and Herzegovina listed as follows:
Nature parks.
Nature parks of Bosnia and Herzegovina listed as follows:
Areas proposed for protection.
Following are areas proposed for protection or in procedure of being established as a protection zones of appropriate categorization:


Volcanoes of Kamchatka

The volcanoes of Kamchatka are a large group of volcanoes situated on the Kamchatka Peninsula, in eastern Russia. The Kamchatka River and the surrounding central side valley are flanked by large volcanic belts containing around 160 volcanoes, 29 of them still active. The peninsula has a high density of volcanoes and associated volcanic phenomena, with 29 active volcanoes being included in the six UNESCO World Heritage List sites in the Volcanoes of Kamchatka group, most of them on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
Geography.
The highest volcano is Klyuchevskaya Sopka (4,750 m or 15,584 ft), the largest active volcano in the Northern Hemisphere, while the most striking is Kronotsky, whose perfect cone was said by celebrated volcanologists Robert and Barbara Decker to be a prime candidate for the world's most beautiful volcano. Somewhat more accessible are the three volcanoes visible from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky: Koryaksky, Avachinsky, and Kozelsky. In the center of Kamchatka is Eurasia's world-famous Geyser Valley which was partly destroyed by a massive mudslide in June 2007.
Owing to the Kuril–Kamchatka Trench, deep-focus seismic events and tsunamis are fairly common. A pair of megathrust earthquakes occurred off the coast on October 16, 1737, and on November 4, 1952, in the magnitude of ~9.3 and 8.2 respectively. A chain of more shallow earthquakes were recorded as recently as April 2006.
List of volcanoes from north to south.
Out of sequence:


Shetland Islands/Foula


Paparoa National Park

Paparoa National Park is on the west coast of the South Island of New Zealand.
The park was established in 1987 and encompasses 430 km2 (166 sq mi). The park ranges from on or near the coastline to the peak of the Paparoa Ranges. A separate section of the park lies to the north and is centered at Ananui Creek. The park protects a limestone karst area. The park contains several caves, of which Metro Cave / Te Ananui Cave is a commercial tourist attraction. The majority of the park is forested with a wide variety of vegetation. The park was the site of the 1995 Cave Creek disaster where fourteen people died as a result of the collapse of a scenic viewing platform.
The Paparoa Track, one of New Zealand's Great Walks, runs through the park.
The small settlement of Punakaiki, adjacent to the Pancake Rocks tourist attraction, lies on the edge of the park. The park is also located near the towns of Westport, Greymouth, and Barrytown.
History of establishment.
In 1976, the Federated Mountain Clubs had identified the northern part of the Paparoa Ranges as a potential wilderness area. In 1979, the Native Forest Action Council proposed a 130,000 hectare national park, including the northern Paparoa Ranges and land to the north and east. This eventually led to the National Parks and Reserves Authority identifying the western Paparoa Range as a prospective national park. Meanwhile, a joint proposal by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and the National Museum succeeded in having a core area of great ecological significance - the forests of the lowland karst syncline - gazetted as the Pororari Ecological Area in 1979.
The initial proposal for a large park incorporating the wilderness area was rejected, but after seven rounds of submissions, and help from other environment groups including the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society, an area of 30,327 hectares was gazetted as Paparoa National Park on 23 November 1987.
Landforms.
The park has diverse geology and a variety of landforms including mountain, lowlands and coastal terrain.
Mountains.
More than half the park is best described as mountainous, from the eastern edge of the
syncline to the crest of the main range. On their eastern side, an assortment of hanging
valleys, truncated spurs, towering bluffs and cirques overlook deep glaciated valleys running
north and south.
The predominant ancient granite and gneiss rocks of the Paparoa mountains bear a closer
geological resemblance to those in distant Fiordland than to the main range of the Southern Alps.
This is because the Alpine Fault has separated them from their original neighbours over the
last 10 million years.
Karst.
Rivers flowing from the Paparoa Ranges pass through the limestone syncline, creating subterranean waterways and extensive cave systems that are one of the features of the park. The main rivers are the Fox, Pororari and Punakaiki. Another of the rivers is Cave Creek, site of the 1995 Cave Creek disaster.
The river gorges, confined by high, forest-crowned limestone cliffs, provide a means of access to
the park's karst interior. However, in many of the tributaries the gorges are narrow, steep and include
waterfalls. Dry, mossy streambeds, karren, sinkholes (or dolines), blind valleys and
basins where water emerges from caves or vanishes into sinks are all indicators of
the complex subterranean system beneath.
Intricate systems of shafts, passages and caverns have been slowly formed by the continual
effects of water through the soluble limestone. The forest ensures that this process continues
by supplying decaying vegetation to add to the acidity in the flowing water.
The largest single feature in the karst region is the Barrytown Syncline. Limestone is exposed
on both flanks of the syncline with more recent gravels and mudstones occupying the low-lying
area in between. These more easily erodible rocks overlie interstratal karst.
The majority of known cave systems are in the western side of the limestone syncline where
underground drainage patterns are concentrated mainly along horizontal lines of weakness in
the bedding planes.
Coastal region.
The Paparoa coastline is characterised by high cliffs cut away by waves from the Tasman Sea, with indented coves and sandy beaches. There are small islands off shore and rock pillars. These terraces were once islands, which became part of the mainland when New Zealand was uplifted quite recently in its geological history. The most well known feature of the coastal region is the "pancake rocks" at Dolomite Point, near Punakaiki, where evenly layered stacks of platey limestone have been eroded in places to form surge pools and blowholes.
Wildlife.
Bird habitats within the park range from on or near the coastline to the peak of the Paparoa Ranges. Several species such as tui, bellbird, kaka, New Zealand pigeon and parakeets migrate from winter habitat in the lower forests to summer habitat in the upland forests.
A significant feature of the coast is the colony of the rare seabird, the Westland petrel or tāiko, that is located on densely forested terraces just south of Punakaiki river. The Westland petrel breeding site at Punakaiki has been identified as an Important Bird Area, by BirdLife International.
Large colonies of New Zealand fur seals have been established adjacent areas around Westport such as at Cape Foulwind. Rare southern elephant seals and leopard seals also visit. Hector's dolphins (some of the highest population densities in the nation) and some other dolphins including killer whales can be observed close to shores as well. For whales, their number is still very small, but various species have been observed.
Protection from mining.
Although Paparoa National Park is protected from mining by Schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act, there have been proposals to allow some mining within the park's borders. On 22 March 2010, the Energy and Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee and Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson released a discussion paper including a proposal to remove 7,058 hectares of land from Schedule Four of the Crown Minerals Act 1991, including the Inangahua sector of Paparoa National Park. The area of the Inangahua sector included in this proposal was 3,315 hectares, or 8 per cent of the park. The proposed change would remove the prohibition on mining for the area concerned.
On 26 March 2010, a spokesman for Energy and Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee said that opencast mining in Paparoa National Park could not be ruled out.
On 20 July 2010, in a joint statement by Energy and Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee and Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson, the Government announced that it had received 37,552 submissions on its discussion paper, and that it had decided not to remove any land from Schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act for the purposes of further mineral exploration or extraction. Ms Wilkinson said the government had agreed to continue with its proposal to add 14 areas with a total of 12,400 hectares of land to Schedule 4, including 240 hectares of Paparoa National Park (the northwest addition).
Addition to Park, Paparoa Track and Pike29 Memorial Track.
Following the liquidation of Pike River Coal, Solid Energy purchased the assets of the company
The government then purchased the 3580 ha of land around the Pike River Mine. The environment minister, Nick Smith, announced on 15 November 2015 that the 3,580 ha of land was to be added to the Park.
A 55 km walkway, the Paparoa Track from Blackball to Punakaikai and the "Pike29 Memorial Track" were constructed through the park as a memorial to the 29 miners lost in the 2010 Pike River Mine disaster.
Most of the families of the victims approved,
but there has been some criticism because Solid Energy decided in 2014 that it was too risky to re-enter the mine to recover any remains from the mine.
The formation of the Paparoa Track has been a catalyst for the emerging adventure sports community on the West Coast with events such as The Paparoa which features trail running and mountain biking over the track. The event is based around the regions mining history and also celebrates the number of exceptional female adventure athletes the region has produced such as Casey Brown, Ruth Croft and Emily Miazga.


Futarasan jinja

 is a Shinto shrine in the city of Nikkō, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. It is also known as Nikkō Futarasan Shrine, to distinguish it from the shrine in nearby Utsunomiya. Futarasan enshrines three deities: Ōkuninushi, Tagorihime, and Ajisukitakahikone. It is located between Nikkō Tōshō-gū and the Taiyū-in Mausoleum. Many visitors go to all three, as well as to Rinnō-ji.
Together with Nikkō Tōshō-gū and Rinnō-ji, it forms the Shrines and Temples of Nikkō UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The shrine possesses two swords that are National treasures of Japan. Additionally, dozens of buildings and cultural artifacts are listed as Important Cultural Assets.
The crossing the Daiya River belongs to the Futarasan Shrine. This beautiful vermilion lacquered structure is known as one of the three most beautiful bridges in Japan and is a perfect gateway for Nikko. The bridge was registered as a World Heritage in December 1999. Shinkyo measures 28 meters long, 7.4 meters wide, and stands 10.6 meters above the Daiya River.
According to legend, a priest named Shōdō and his followers climbed Mt. Nantai in the year 766 to pray for national prosperity. However, they could not cross the fast flowing Daiya River. Shōdō prayed and a 10 foot tall god named Jinja-Daiou appeared with two snakes twisted around his right arm. Jinja-Daiou released the blue and red snakes and they transformed themselves into a rainbow-like bridge covered with sedge, which Shōdō and his followers could use to cross the river. That is why this bridge is sometimes called Yamasugeno-jabashi, which means the "Snake Bridge of Sedge".
The Shinkyo has been rebuilt many times but has followed the same design pattern since 1636, when it could be used only by messengers of the Imperial court. It has been opened to the general public since 1973.
History.
The shrine was founded in 767 by Shōdō "shōnin" (勝道上人). The shrine takes its name from Mount Nantai, which is also called .
Yayoi period.
Archeologists affirm that during the Yayoi period the most common (a "yorishiro" housing the enshrined "kami") in the earliest Shinto shrines was a nearby mountain peak supplying with its streams water, and therefore life, to the plains below, where people lived.
Mount Nantai constitutes Futarasan Shrine's "go-shintai", and the shrine is an important example of this ancient type of mountain cult. Significantly, the name itself means "man's body". The mountain not only provides water to the rice paddies below, but has the shape of the phallic stone rods found in pre-agricultural Jōmon sites.
Heian period.
Futarasan was designated as the chief Shinto shrine ("ichinomiya") for the former Shimotsuke province.
Meiji-Showa periods.
From 1871 through 1946, Futarasan was officially designated one of the , meaning that it stood in the mid-range of ranked, nationally significant shrines.


Zakynthos Marine Park

The National Marine Park of Zakynthos () founded in 1999, is a national park located in Laganas bay, in Zakynthos island, Greece. The park, part of the Natura 2000 ecological network, covers an area of and
is the habitat of the loggerhead sea turtle ("Caretta caretta"). It is the first national park established for the protection of sea turtles in the Mediterranean.
Geography.
Zakynthos Marine Park encompasses the marine area of the Bay of Laganas, on the southern shores of the island of Zakynthos, and hosts one of the most important sea turtle nesting beaches in the Mediterranean. The nesting habitat in the bay comprises six discrete beaches: Gerakas, Daphni, Sekania, Kalamaki, E. Laganas and Marathonissi islet, totalling about in length, of which Sekania is rated amongst the world's highest loggerhead nesting concentrations. Apart from the nesting areas the park encompasses the wetland of Keri Lake and the two small islands of Strofadia, which are located south from the island of Zakynthos.
The marine park is composed of three marine zones (A, B, C) in the Bay of Laganas, in addition to the strictly protected nesting areas, as well as the terrestrial and peripheral zone. For the protection of the ecosystem, fishing activities are strictly prohibited inside each of the marine zones.
Biology.
The area is home to the endangered loggerhead sea turtle ("Caretta caretta"), which is considered one of the oldest forms of life on planet. The marine park hosts annually 900 to 2,000 nests, which represents an average of eighty percent of the nest total of Mediterranean loggerhead population. The loggerhead spends most of its life at sea, but females lay their eggs on Laganas bay at night from May to August.
Furthermore, the area is characterised by a variety of habitats of interest including sand dunes, "Posidonia oceanica" beds, the critically endangered sea daffodil ("Pancratium maritimum"), submerged reefs, as well as hundreds of species of flora and fauna, some of which are of great importance. A resident population of the critically endangered species of monk seal, "Monachus monachus" is present at the west coast of Zakynthos.
Park management.
The recent rapid development of the local tourism industry is seen as a potential threat for the protected area's existence. Moreover, the annual migration of the loggerhead sea turtle to their nesting grounds has become increasingly risky due to the obstacles encountered on beaches. In addition speedboats, in violation of the boating ban off nesting beaches are another factor that endangered the turtles' lives. For this reason the National Marine Park of Zakynthos was established, in December 1999, aiming at the protection and the preservation of "Caretta caretta" and other species such as the Mediterranean monk seal "Monachus monachus", as well as several other important species of animals, birds, amphibians and flora found in this area.
Furthermore, in order to achieve the objective of active public participation, a bottom-up approach was adopted for the implementation of actions dealing with monitoring and surveillance, accreditation, certification and collaboration with local stakeholders. This approach contributed to the formulation of a common vision for the long term management of the natural as well as economic parameters. Moreover, the elaboration of a code of conduct for ecotourism activities aims to harmonize tourism strategy with sustaining the biodiversity and the cultural authenticity of area. Beyond the general principles, specific codes of conduct were elaborated which concern sightseeing, general awareness activities, rambling activities and marine excursions.


Michigan Nature Association

The Michigan Nature Association is a nonprofit conservation organization established in 1952. It currently has 176 nature sanctuaries in 58 counties throughout Michigan under its jurisdiction
History.
In 1951, a bird study group in Macomb County was formed to protect wildlife, hoping to keep Michigan in a natural state. Their first project was protesting the destruction of a tern colony at Metropolitan Beach. Calling themselves the St. Clair Metropolitan Beach Sanctuary Association, they started weekend nature exhibits, guided tours, and published a study course. In 1955, the Junior Nature Patrol (JNP) was formed. With this growth, the group began looking to expand and do further conservation work.
The first purchase of a sanctuary was made in 1960 and named Red Wing Acres. Further properties were obtained through persuasion with landholders, and by 1965, the group renamed itself to the Eastern Michigan Nature Association. Expansion into Northern Michigan led to the current name change of Michigan Nature Association (known as MNA) in 1970. That same year MNA helped write and campaign for the Natural Beauty Roads Act in Michigan, now known as Michigan's Natural Beauty Roads Act of 1970.
In 1974, founder Bertha Daubendiek was awarded Outstanding Michigan Volunteer of the Year by Governor Milliken for her work with MNA, and in 1979, the same year the MNA had secured its 50th sanctuary, Daubendiek was honored as Michiganian of the Year by the Detroit News.
Twin Waterfalls Nature Sanctuary, acquired in parts throughout 1986 and 1987, became the Association's 100th property.
Daubendiek was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 1994 for her work.
MNA relocated its office in 2002 to the small town of Williamston, just outside the Lansing area, and moved even closer in 2014, to Okemos. 2014 was also the year MNA received national accreditation by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission.
Sanctuaries.
Below are a few of MNA's sanctuaries listed by county:


Taeanhaean National Park

Taean Seaside National Park () in Taean County was designated as the 13th National Park in South Korea in 1978. The total area is about with being marine area.
It contains various coastal ecosystems and variety of coastal landmarks such as 26 beaches, sand dunes, rocky formations, and 72 islands along the 230 km coastline.
Regarding the natural resources, 1,195 animal species, 774 plant species, and 671 marine species including minke whales and finless porpoises are distributed within this national park. Endangered species include Eurasian otter, Chinese egret, Eremias argus, Seoul frog, Ranunculus kazusensis, and so on.


Hilary Franz

Hilary S. Franz (born July 3, 1970) is an American politician and conservation attorney from Washington state who serves as the State Commissioner of Public Lands. She is a Democrat who was previously a member of the Bainbridge Island city council and was elected as commissioner in 2016.
Early life and education.
Franz was born in the Pacific Northwest and raised in the area, graduating from St. Mary's Academy in Portland, Oregon, in 1988. She was a competitive ice skater for twelve years as a child and teenager, frequenting the same ice rinks as future Olympian Tonya Harding. Franz graduated from Smith College with a bachelor's degree in English language and government in 1992 and the Northeastern University School of Law with a juris doctor. She practiced as an attorney in the Seattle area from 1997 to 2011, specializing in environmental law and conservation.
Political career.
Franz was elected to the Bainbridge Island city council in 2008 and served one term, during which she lobbied the state government for the establishment of the area's first open water marina at Eagle Harbor. After briefly considering a run for the Washington State House of Representatives, Franz joined Seattle-based conservation organization Futurewise as its director. She served on several regional conservation and land management boards, including committees of the Puget Sound Regional Council.
Franz announced her intention to run for State Commissioner of Public Lands in April 2016, looking to fill the seat of retiring commissioner Peter J. Goldmark. She received the early endorsement of Goldmark, as well as former King County Executive Ron Sims and the Bullitt Center. Franz finished second overall during the primary election, advancing to the general election alongside Republican candidate Steve McLaughlin and ahead of seven other Democrats. With the further endorsements of two former governors, U.S. Senator Patty Murray, and a coalition of environmental groups and unions, Franz won 53 percent of the vote in the general election but failed to win any counties in Eastern Washington.
Franz was sworn in as Commissioner of Public Lands on January 11, 2017. During the first year of her term, the Department of Natural Resources faced a minor wildfire season caused by prolonged heat similar to those of previous years. The state government prepared a new forest management plan to reduce the effectiveness of future wildfires by introducing new restoration measures and prescribed burns in Eastern Washington to thin out overgrown forests.
On August 19, 2017, a fish farm near Cypress Island in Skagit County accidentally released hundreds of thousands of Atlantic salmon. Franz ordered an investigation into the farm and announced that the farm would be removed for various violations of its state license and lease agreement. Franz was also part of the state government's effort to halt federal plans for offshore drilling in the Pacific Ocean near the Olympic Peninsula.
The 2018 wildfire season was more severe than the previous year and prompted the state government to declare a state of emergency after the Department of Natural Resources had been overwhelmed in its response to 891 fires by late July. The season had 1,850 recorded fires, setting a new state record, and Franz issued a request to the state legislature for a $55 million budget to expand the department's fire-fighting resources. Franz proposed the hiring of 30 full-time wildland firefighters, the purchase of two helicopters, and the creation of a fire-training academy specifically for wildfires.
Personal life.
Franz has three sons and lived on a farm in Bainbridge Island prior to being elected as commissioner. Her family owns a plot of forestland in Pierce County, Washington, which includes a habitat of Ponderosa pine that is uncommon west of the Cascade Range.