Nature conservation volunteering in the "Pivnichne Podilia": what attractions are in the national park

On July 14, the ForestCom team made a volunteer trip to the Northern Podillia National Nature Park near the village of Pidigirtsi, Zolochiv District. It is located at the bottom of the ancient Sarmatian Sea. It is here that the streams that fill the Western Bug and Styr rivers, as well as the main European watershed, originate.

The territory of the park needs constant care: updating route markings, strengthening dangerous paths and cleaning debris from fallen trees. This is what we did during the trip along the "Trynig" excursion route under the guidance of the head of the recreation department Mykhailo Shyshka.

There are numerous incredible historical places. Here are the excavations under the rear positions of the Wehrmacht, which show the logistics strategy, and the rocks that remained from the carbonate sandstones from the bottom of the Sarmatian Sea.

During the times of Austria-Hungary, there was a stone quarry here, and in 1923, a young Polish stonemason tried to extract stones from the rock and died, crushed by a large stone. Here, a memorial plaque was erected to him, on which it is written in Polish that the young man was 20 years old. According to legend, they could not take his body from under the stone.A little further on, there is another burial - pagan. In 2016, the remains of bodies dating back to the 10th century were found here. They were in a cave overgrown with moss. Up to 6 people can easily fit here.In total, the territory of the park occupies about 15.5 hectares. The highest mountains in the region of the park are Vapnyarka (460.8 m) and Vysoky Kamin (440.4 m). The flora of the park includes almost 1,660 species.