Rodna

Rodna Mountains National Park was declared in 1990 in northern Romania, across the counties of Maramureș, Bistrița-Năsăud and Suceava, and protects some 470 km². It is the largest massif in the eastern Romanian Carpathians and culminates in the Pietrosul Rodnei peak, above 2,300 metres.

Unlike most of the eastern Carpathians, of gentler forms, Rodna preserves a well-developed glacial relief, with cirques, U-shaped valleys, moraines and high-altitude lakes such as Lala and Iezer, evidence of the Quaternary glaciations. Above the tree line extend alpine meadows and dwarf pine scrub, and below them, extensive beech and fir woods.

The alpine flora is rich and has Carpathian endemics, and the wildlife includes Carpathian chamois, brown bear, wolf, lynx and alpine marmot, the last reintroduced in the twentieth century after its local disappearance. The massif has a long tradition of protection: the Pietrosul Mare scientific reserve, at its heart, is one of the oldest protected areas in Romania, predating the declaration of the national park by several decades.