The purpose of the project is to provide reliable and comparable baseline data on the conservation status of these habitats.

Monitoring was established for eight Natura 2000 target habitat types, encompassing 13 habitat types under the National Habitat Classification: 

Representative sites were selected for each habitat type, and permanent transects were established at these sites for future monitoring cycles. The monitoring methodology was specified in the project terms of reference and is based on the national Terrestrial Flora and Habitat Type Monitoring Programmes (Oikon – Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, 2023) and the Guidelines for Developing Species and Habitat Type Monitoring Programmes (Ministry of Environmental Protection and Green Transition, 2025).

The research results show that the target forest habitats in Plitvice Lakes National Park are generally in a good state of conservation. All transects and habitat types showed a high prevalence of typical species, an absence of invasive and non-native species and, in most cases, favourable indicators of habitat functionality. In all habitat types, the volume of deadwood falls within the range indicating that natural processes are intact and that the biodiversity of these habitat types is being maintained.

The project has established a sound professional and scientific basis for the long-term monitoring of Natura 2000 forest habitats in the Park. The results provide a baseline for future monitoring cycles. They also enable conservation measures to be planned and implemented effectively in order to maintain the favourable conservation status of forest ecosystems and their biodiversity.

Objava Establishing permanent monitoring of Natura 2000 target forest habitats in Plitvice Lakes National Park pojavila se prvi puta na Nacionalni park "Plitvička jezera".

From the peak Oštri Medveđak, one can clearly see the mountain Lička Plješivica, the villages Drežnik Grad and Ličko Petrovo Selo, as well as the valley of the river Una and the area around Bihać in the neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The peak Tupi Medveđak is especially interesting in the spring, before the budding of the trees in the forest, or in the autumn, when the leaves have already fallen, because that is when the visitors can make the most of the impressive panoramic view it offers of the 6 Upper Lakes (Prošćansko, Ciginovac, Okrugljak, Gradinsko and Kozjak).

The lowest peak of Medveđak, Turčić, offers a view of the largest lake in the National Park, Lake Kozjak, and the surroundings of the Veliki Slap waterfall.

An interesting piece of information is that one of the oldest hiking trails in the Park leads to Medveđak. Back in 1894, a trail was built that led to the peak Tupi Medveđak, and in 1900, during the stay of the Austrian princess Blanka, the Treasury of the Royal Forestry built a trail that led from the hotel to the peak Oštri Medveđak, which was named Blanka’s Trail in her honour. (Blanka was a Spanish princess married to Archduke Leopold Salvator, with whom she had 10 children.)More about hiking trails

The common beech trees, which reign over the forests of Plitvice, shade the trail with their crowns, so the climb is pleasant and relatively easy even on the hottest of days. Medveđak was mentioned as early as the Middle Ages as the place that represented the border between the parishes of Gacka and Drežnik. Old records state that these two old Croatian parishes bordered at a place called the Bear’s Foot (“Ad lapidem qui vocatur Pes Ursi”).

From a biogeographic point of view, Medveđak is located in the belt of mountain beech forest (Lamio orvale-Fagetum sylvaticae Ht. 1938), the most widespread of all forest communities in the Plitvice area. Apart from the beech, the maple, the Bosnian maple and the sweet cherry also grow here, and somewhat less often we find the fir, the spruce and the wych elm. The shrub layer is made up of the hazel, the alder buckthorn and the fly honeysuckle.

Keep in mind that when walking along this hiking trail, you are sharing the space with the bear, the largest animal of our forests, after which Medveđak got its name (“bear” = “medvjed” in Croatian), as well as with the roe deer, the fox, the pine marten, the wild boar, the European fat dormouse, and many more representatives of fauna.

Read other interesting stories from the Plitvice Lakes National Park

Objava MEDVEĐAK pojavila se prvi puta na Nacionalni park "Plitvička jezera".