Derman-Ostroh National Nature Park (Ukrainian: Дермансько-Острозький національний природний парк) sits in a river valley that separates the southern edge of the Polesian Lowland, and the northern edge of the Podolian Upland in northwestern Ukraine. The terrain is a mixture of pine-oak forest and marshy river lowlands. The park is in the southernmost region of Rivne Raion, Rivne Oblast.[1]
Topography
The park is scattered in 22 sections along the Zbytynka River valley, which runs west-to-east between the Mizotsky Ridge (a part of the Volhynian Upland to the north) and the Kremenets mountains (to the south). The park is only a few kilometers northeast of Kremenets Mountains National Nature Park, and about 5 km west of the town of Ostroh. The valley is only 3–8 km wide, and the immediately surrounding high ground is only a few hundred meters above the valley floor. The valley floor itself is mostly an alluvial patchwork of waterlogged floodplain, first terrace, and sandy dunes.[1]
Individual sectors of the park include:
Bushchansky Reserve, a complex and alder and pine forests, and reed-sedge swamps,
Zbitensky Ornithological Reserve, a protected wetland set aside for breeding birds,
Mizotsky Ridge (Reserve), a geological reserve,
Zbytenka River floodplain (Reserve), a protected botanical reserve, with local cultural importance,
Olhava (Reserve), a mixed forest of conifer and deciduous trees,
The "Budka" Forest, with rare and medicinal plants
"Zinkiv Stone" Monument, a mixed forest on the Kremenets Mountains side, with rock outcroppings,
"Turova's grave" Monument, a section of hornbeam-oak forest, with a 400-year-old chestnut, and a 300-year-old Linden tree.
About 50% of the region is forested, predominantly in pine and oak; there are also patches of beech and spruce. The Bashchansky bog in the park has the vegetation of lowland marsh, and is one of the Easternmost Middle European carbonate marshes.[5]
Public use
A 6.5 km educational ecological trail runs from the town of Busha on the northern ridge, south through the valley and up to a rocky prominence. There is also a 38 km ecotrail that runs along the Zbytinka river, and a 65 km bicycle trail that encircles the park. There are hotels and resorts nearby for overnight stays.[1]
