Shumen Plateau Nature Park

Shumen Plateau Nature Park
Bulgarian: Природен парк Шуменско плато
Shumen Plateau forest near Shumen
Location	Shumen Heights, Shumen Province, Bulgaria
Nearest city	Shumen
Coordinates	43°15′59″N 26°52′41″E / 43.26639°N 26.87806°E / 43.26639; 26.87806
Area	3,929.9 hectares (9,711 acres)
Established	1980 as national park, and as nature park in 2003

The Shumen Plateau Nature Park (Bulgarian: Природен парк Шуменско плато) is located in the Shumen Plateau of the northern province of Shumen of Bulgaria, the highest plateau of the Danubian Plain. The Park encloses the Bukaka Reserve Forest, which is known for indigenous Fagus sylvatica Fagus sylvatica (common beech) moesiaca (the Balkan beech) forest. This Park was declared a National Park in 1980 and a Nature Park in 2003 to conserve its ecosystems and floral and faunal biodiversity, and to preserve its tableland landscape together with many tourist sites such as the Shumen fortress, the Monument to 1300 Years of Bulgaria, cave monasteries, and surface and underground karst caves. The park has the first thematic educational trail in the Karst Nature Park, constructed as part of a project titled "Natural Park of Shumen Plateau" with funds provided by the EU Cohesion Fund and the Republic of Bulgaria; the trail is integral to the Operational Program "Environment 2007–2013".