İğneada Floodplain Forests National Park

About

The İğneada Floodplain Forests National Park (İğneada Longoz Ormanları Milli Parkı), established on November 13, 2007, is a national park located within Kırklareli Province in Marmara region at East Thrace, the European part of Turkey. The national park covers an area of 3,155 ha (7, 800 acres) and is located at İğneada town on the Turkish-Bulgarian border at 25 km (16 mi) far from Demirköy District of Kırklareli Province. Streams running down from the Strandzha mountain range towards Black Sea formed alluvium on the shore, where floodplain (longoz) occurred due to seasonal floodings. The protected area is administered by the Directorate-General of Nature Protection and National Parks (Doğa Koruma ve Milli Parklar Genel Müdürlüğü) of the Ministry of Environment and Forest. The national park is a rare ecosystem, which consists of marsh, swamp, lakes and coastal sand dunes. The Strandzha mountain range is situated in the south and west. There are five lakes with aquatic plant. Lake Erikli covering 43 ha (110 acres) is a lagoon, which gets separated from the sea in the summer months as a result of drought. Lake Mert of 266 ha (660 acres) area is formed by Çavuşdere creek at its mouth. Lake Saka is a small lake of 5 ha (12 acres) situated in the south of the national park between the floodplain and the dunes. The two other lakes are Lake Hamam of size

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.