Following the drying of Lake Hula, the Hula Reserve was established in 1964 and became the first declared nature reserve in Israel. It is a major stopover for birds migrating between Africa, Europe and Asia. In 1963 the Israeli parliament approved the "National parks and nature reserves act", and as a result, two authorities were established: the National Parks Authority and the Nature Reserves Authority. In 1998 the two authorities were merged into one body - Israel Nature and Parks Authority.