Russia creates a new national park on borders of Norway and Finland

Russia is creating a new national park near the place where Russian, Finnish and Norwegian territory meets.

The new Karablekk park will combine tourist activities with environmental monitoring and educational activities, regional authorities in Murmansk say.

“The appearance on the map of this new protected territory is a great event in our follow-up of the Year of Ecology,” says Murmansk Governor Marina Kovtun.

The new national park covers a 8,300-hectare (about 20,500-acre) area located in Pechenga, the municipality located along the border to the neighboring Norway and Finland.

Parts of the area are situated less than 1 kilometer from the border with Norway. A few kilometers south is the border with Finland.

Karablekk is located side-by-side with the Pasvik Nature Reserve (Zapovednik).

“Modern-day protected area should not be limited to only nature protection, but also develop as attraction centers and give new development impulses to the municipalities,” says Murmansk Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Elvira Makarova.

“Therefore, it is our task to make the protected lands comfortable for people […]” she adds, a press release reads.

According to regional authorities, all legislative preparations needed for the park establishment have been conducted.

In the center of the new park is the 386-meter-high (1,266-foot-high) mountain of Karablekk.

The area has rare plants and lichen, as well as a unique mammals and birds, the decree on the park establishment reads.