A mountainous area with temperate rain forest ecosystems, lush steppes, scrub woodlands, high rocky cliffs, hills, undulating terrain and lotic and lentic ecosystems (rivers, springs and marshes). The variety of habitats in the area has led to considerable flora and fauna richness in the park. This beautiful area and its various sceneries is the oldest national park in the country which has been protected since 1956. Today this park faces serious problems and urgent measures to solve them are not adopted, and other similar representative examples are not protected as sort of protective support, it will not keep its values even the mid-term ones.
Hyrcanian Forest
Hyrcanian forest granted the areas with unique richness of biological diversity, its endemic and endangered species, its natural beauty and its masterpieces of nature creative genius in the form of this ancient forest. North of Iran as along band has diverse natural, economic and social conditions. It characterized by various ecological conditions from 550 to 2200mm precipitation, zero to 5671 m elevation and various vegetation landscape from conifers to broadleaved to Mediterranean plants. These conditions caused great diversity in species. It due to its diverse ecological condition is rich in relict species that some of them referred to the Tertiary period. Hyrcanian forest contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation. It also contains superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance. It is outstanding examples in the record of significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms and significant geomorphic or physiographic features. It is also outstanding example representing significant ongoing ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, ecosystems and communities of plants.
