Protect Biodiversity in Romania

Dear Friends,

We are thrilled to share a very recent article in the New York Times on Foundation Conservation Carpathia: "The Making of a ‘European Yellowstone" by Nicholas J. R. White.  

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/15/travel/romania-national-park.html. 

A major conservation effort is underway in Romania. The goal is a new national park that will rival its American counterparts. It was my first visit to Romania’s Southern Carpathian Mountains in 2018, and I was standing beside a derelict sheepfold high above the Dambovita Valley. To the east, the imposing limestone cliffs of Piatra Craiului, or Kings’ Rock, towered overhead. All around me was a panorama of deep valleys, soaring mountains and the ever-present forest.

Beneath a canopy of old-growth trees, an array of animals — wolves, European brown bears, boar, eagles, lynx — were thriving.

Here among the Fagaras Mountains, the highest reaches of the Southern Carpathians, and tucked away in an unlikely corner of the European Union, an immense conservation project was underway. The ultimate aim: the creation of a “European Yellowstone.”

Accompanying me on my first trip was Mihai Zotta, the technical director of Foundation Conservation Carpathia, or F.C.C. Founded in 2009, F.C.C. is working to protect a vast area of the Carpathian forests — by purchasing property, leasing hunting rights, rewilding the land and halting illegal logging.

Eventually the plan is to return their landholdings to the public in the form of a national park based around the Fagaras Mountains, which, sitting alongside the existing Piatra Craiului National Park, would create a chain of parks and a wide-reaching wildlife reserve.

Before my initial reporting trip, which was funded by The Royal Photographic Society and Photographic Angle Environmental Bursary, I hadn’t entertained the idea of visiting Romania. But as rewilding initiatives began to gain global momentum, Romania stood out to me as a remarkable example.

More here: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/15/travel/romania-national-park.html 

And here is our February 2021 Field Report: https://www.carpathia.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Field-report-February-2021.pdf. 

Thank you so much and reach out if you have questions or want to get involved!! We would love to hear from you! 

Silke Knebel/Support Team @ silke.knebel@fzs.org
Christoph Promberger/Executive Director @ c.promberger@carpathia.org
Barbara Promberger/Executive Director @ b.promberger@carpathia.org