site.btaNew Protected Area Declared in Kushin, N Bulgaria

The new protected area has been designated in the land-use area of the village of Kushin in the northern Pleven Region, the Environment Ministry said Wednesday. The Arvaliyka protected area was declared by an order of the Minister of Environment and Water Petar Dimitrov on the basis of the Protected Areas Act. The main motive for declaring the protected area is the preservation of a characteristic landscape, which is a combination of pastures, forests and water bodies that represent habitats for protected species of plants and animals, the Ministry said Wednesday.

Any activities that may cause disturbance and destruction of species and damage to the characteristic landscape are prohibited in the Arvaliyka protected area.

The new protected area has been declared on an application by the Bulgarian Society of Phytocenology, WWF-Bulgaria and the Balkans Wildlife Association, Association of Parks in Bulgaria, the Foundation for Environment and Agriculture, Ecocommunity Foundation and Bulgarian Biodiversity Foundation.

In March 2024, an initiative committee submitted an application for granting protected status to Arvaliyka. At a press conference in the BTA national press club in Pleven, the petitioners said that they were prompted to action by an investment plan for the construction of a photovoltaic park on two properties which are public municipal property, in the vicinity of Elena in the village of Kushin.