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in the west, along the borders of Slovakia with Czech Republic, and Poland
and the Ukraine to Romania in the southeast.
The territory of the High Tatras spans 260 km
2
, although the length
of the main mountain ridge from west to east is only 26.5 km. The stretch
of mountains from the northest to the southest point is appoximately 17
km long. The state border of Slovakia and Poland runs along the main
mountain ridge. There are 25 peaks surpassing 2500 metres above the
sea level, among them the Gerlachovsky peak as the highest point of the
Carpathians with a height of 2655 m above the sea level. Numerous side
mountain ridges spreading out of the main High Tatras ridge are lined
by valleys with mountain streams and lakes formed by the past glacier
activities. The largest and deepest of them is VelkeHincovopleso (53 m
deep, 0,20 km
2
). The High Tatras are the starting place for waters fl owing
to both the Baltic and Black Seas.
Mountain ecosystem of the High Tatras is unique and one can still
fi nd some of the last remnants of virgin mountain forests in Europe. The
mixture of acidic and alkaline rocks, colorful geomorphological formations,
lakes, springs and rivers frame the co-existence of broad scale unique
mountain species, including some which are endemic to the area. The
natural ecosystems in the High Tatras are characterized by the so-called
elevational gradation; the species composition changes with increasing
elevation and the vegetation can be divided in quite distinct vegetation
zones. More than 1,300 recorded plant species makes the High Tatras an
important biodiversity centre all over the world. Their ecosystem includes
the whole range of large European predators such as bear, fox, lynx, marten
wild cat and wolf.
In contrary to the natural structure of forests characterized by a
mosaic of wood-vegetation in different stages of a natural development
cycle, the dominant part of the forests in High Tatras mountains actually
comprises many large tracts of even-aged, spruce-(
Piceaabies
) dominated,
dense forest stands with no structural diversity. These large tracts were
artifi cially planted following recurring natural disasters (windbreak and
windfall followed by bark beetle damage) in the past in the same way that
commercial wood-producing plantations are established (Crofts et al. 2005,
Vyskot et al. 2007).
Social systems of High Tatras
These unique ecosystems of the High Tatras were for more than half of
century institutionally protected as the fi rst European cross-border national
park founded in 1948. The Tatras National Park (Tatransky Narodny Park
—TANAP), called High Tatras National Park as well in the Slovak territory
was joined with the Tatras National Park (Tatranski Park Narodowy) in
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