Khibiny National Park
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| Khibiny National Park | |
|---|---|
| (Russian: Хибины) | |
 Khibiny National Park | |
  Location of Park | |
| Location | Murmansk Oblast |
| Nearest city | Kandalaksha |
| Coordinates | 67°43′N 33°28′E / 67.717°N 33.467°E |
| Area | 84,804 hectares (209,555 acres; 848 km2; 327 sq mi) |
| Established | 8 February 2018 (established) April 2019 (Merged into Lapland State Biosphere Reserve)[1] |
| Governing body | FGBU "Khibiny " |
Khibiny National Park (Russian: Национальный парк «Хибины») protects a mountainous region of taiga and tundra on the Khibiny Mountains and Lovozero Massif of the western Kola Peninsula in northwestern Russia.[2] The mountains contain commercially important minerals, and the park's borders reflect the need to balance three uses - protection of the unique natural environment, recreation (hiking in the summer, skiing in the winter), and industrial mining. The park was officially created in 2018,[3] and is located in the districts of Kirovsk and Olenegorsk in Murmansk Oblast. [4] [5]
Surrounded by low plains, the varied terrain of the mountains supports high biodiversity. The mountain range itself is a circle about 40 km across, with Lake Imandra on the western border, and Lake Umbozero on the eastern. The park has two sections - a west sector and an east sector of approximately equal size and a central valley corridor not in the protected zone.[6] Across Lake Imandra to the west is the Lapland Biosphere Reserve. Elevations in the park range from 130 to 1,196 meters.[4]
Ecoregion and climate
The park is at the northern edge of the Scandinavian and Russian taiga ecoregion, only a few kilometers south of the official transition to the Kola Peninsula tundra ecoregion.[7]
The climate of the ecoregion is Subarctic climate, without dry season (Köppen climate classification Subarctic climate (Dfc)). This climate is characterized by mild summers (only 1-3 months above 10 °C (50.0 °F)) and cold, snowy winters (coldest month below −3 °C (26.6 °F)).[8][9]
| Kandalaksha, Russia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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