Vanoise National Park

Last updated
Vanoise National Park
Parc national de la Vanoise
Grande Casse (3855m).JPG
Grande Casse (3855 m), highest summit of Vanoise
France relief location map.jpg
Red pog.svg
Savoie department location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location Savoie, France
Nearest city Modane
Bourg-Saint-Maurice
Coordinates 45°20′N6°50′E / 45.333°N 6.833°E / 45.333; 6.833 Coordinates: 45°20′N6°50′E / 45.333°N 6.833°E / 45.333; 6.833
Area534 km2 (206 sq mi)
Established6 July 1963
Governing bodyParcs nationaux de France

Vanoise National Park (French : Parc national de la Vanoise) is a French national park between the Tarentaise and Maurienne valleys in the French Alps, containing the Vanoise massif. It was created in 1963 as the first national park in France.

Contents

The Vanoise National Park is in the département of Savoie. Small villages like Champagny-le-Haut, Termignon, La Chiserette, Bramans, Sollières-Sardières, Friburge, Pralognan-la-Vanoise and Séez, lie near the park. The park is bordered by several large French ski resorts (Les Trois Vallées, Tignes, Val-d'Isère, Les Arcs, La Plagne).

On the Italian side of the border, the park is continued by the Gran Paradiso National Park. Together, these two parks cover over 1250 km2, making the area the largest alpine national park.

Wildlife

The park is well known for its population of Alpine ibex (Capra ibex), bouquetin in French, which is its emblem. The alpine chamois, like the ibex, spend most of the year above the tree line. They descend the snow line in early spring and late fall to enjoy the grass uncovered by the ice and snow. Alpine marmot, wolf, Eurasian lynx, mountain hare, Eurasian badger, ermine and weasel are the other mammals commonly present in Vanoise.

There are more than 100 bird species in the protected area. Birds of prey include bearded vulture, golden eagle and Eurasian eagle-owl. Other birds found in the park are black woodpeckers, rock ptarmigans, Alpine accentors, nutcrackers, choughs and black grouses. The wallcreeper is found on steep cliffs especially for nesting.

See also


Related Research Articles

Gran Paradiso Mountain in the Graian Alps in Italy

The Gran Paradiso or Grand Paradis is a mountain in the Graian Alps in Italy, located between the Aosta Valley and Piedmont regions.

La Plagne Ski resort in Savoie, France

La Plagne is a French ski area in the alpine valley of the Tarentaise (Savoie). Since 2003, La Plagne and the neighbouring resort of Les Arcs form Paradiski's ski area. It is currently owned by Compagnie des Alpes.

Alpine ibex Species of mammal

The Alpine ibex, also known as the steinbock, bouquetin, or simply ibex, is a species of wild goat that lives in the mountains of the European Alps. It is a sexually dimorphic species: males are larger and carry longer, curved horns than females. Its coat colour is typically brownish grey. Alpine ibex tend to live in steep, rough terrain near the snow line. They are also social, although adult males and females segregate for most of the year, coming together only to mate. Four distinct groups exist; adult male groups, female-offspring groups, groups of young individuals, and mixed-sex groups.

French Alps Portion of the Alps mountain range within France

The French Alps are the portions of the Alps mountain range that stand within France, located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions. While some of the ranges of the French Alps are entirely in France, others, such as the Mont Blanc massif, are shared with Switzerland and Italy.

Retezat Mountains

The Retezat Mountains are one of the highest massifs in Romania, being part of the Southern Carpathians. The highest peak is Peleaga, at an altitude of 2,509 metres (8,232 ft). Other important peaks are Păpușa and Retezat Peak. The name means "cut off" in Romanian.

Hemis National Park National Park in Ladakh, India

Hemis National Park is a high altitude national park in Ladakh, India. Globally famous for its snow leopards, it is believed to have the highest density of them in any protected area in the world. It is the only national park in India that is north of the Himalayas, the largest notified protected area in India and is the second largest contiguous protected area, after the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve and surrounding protected areas. The park is home to a number of species of endangered mammals, including the snow leopard. Hemis National Park is India's protected area inside the Palearctic realm, outside the Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary northeast of Hemis, and the proposed Tso Lhamo Cold Desert Conservation Area in North Sikkim.

Mont Blanc massif Mountain range in the Alps

The Mont Blanc massif is a mountain range in the Alps, located mostly in France and Italy, but also straddling Switzerland at its northeastern end. It contains eleven major independent summits, each over 4,000 metres (13,123 ft) in height. It is named after Mont Blanc, the highest point in western Europe and the European Union. Because of its considerable overall altitude, a large proportion of the massif is covered by glaciers, which include the Mer de Glace and the Miage Glacier – the longest glaciers in France and Italy, respectively.

Deosai National Park National park in Pakistan

Deosai National Park is a high-altitude alpine plain (plateau) and National Park located in between Skardu, Astore and Kharmang district in Gilgit Baltistan. Most of the area falls in Skardu District.

Gran Paradiso National Park Italian national park

Gran Paradiso National Park, is an Italian national park in the Graian Alps, between the Aosta Valley and Piedmont regions. The park is named after Gran Paradiso mountain, which is located in the park; it is contiguous with the French Vanoise National Park. The land the park encompasses was initially protected in order to protect the Alpine ibex from poachers, as it was a personal hunting ground for King Victor Emmanuel II, but now also protects other species.

Maurienne Former Savoy province

Maurienne is one of the provinces of Savoy, corresponding to the arrondissement of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne in France. It is also the original name of the capital of the province, now Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne.

Wildlife of Ladakh

The flora and fauna of Ladakh was first studied by Ferdinand Stoliczka, an Austrian Czech palaeontologist, who carried out a massive expedition in the region in the 1870s. The fauna of Ladakh have much in common with that of Central Asia generally, and especially those of the Tibetan Plateau. An exception to this are the birds, many of which migrate from the warmer parts of India to spend the summer in Ladakh. For such an arid area, Ladakh has a great diversity of birds — a total of 318 species have been recorded. Many of these birds reside or breed at high-altitude wetlands such as Tso Moriri.

Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval Commune in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France

Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval is a municipality in the Haute-Savoie department within the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in southeastern France. It is located at the end of the Giffre Valley.

Wildlife of Pakistan

The wildlife of Pakistan comprises a diverse flora and fauna in a wide range of habitats from sea level to high elevation areas in the mountains, including 177 mammal and 660 bird species. This diverse composition of the country's fauna is associated with its location in the transitional zone between two major zoogeographical regions, the Palearctic, and the Oriental.

Fauna of Pakistan Overview of fauna in Pakistan

Pakistan's native fauna reflect its varied climatic zones.

Northwestern Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows Ecoregion in the Northwestern Himalayas

The Northwestern Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows is a montane grasslands and shrublands ecoregion of the elevations of the northwestern Himalaya of China, India, and Pakistan.

Aiguille de la Vanoise

The Aiguille de la Vanoise is a mountain of Savoie, France. It lies in the Vanoise massif mountain range in the commune of Pralognan-la-Vanoise. It has an altitude of 2796 metres above sea level and is known for its great North Face which is 300 to 400m high.

Broghil Valley is a valley and national park located in the upper northern reaches of the Chitral District, Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, close to the Afghan-Pakistan border.

Zorkul Nature Reserve

Zorkul Nature Reserve is a 1610 km2 nature reserve in south-eastern Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province in eastern Tajikistan, adjoining the border with Afghanistan’s Wakhan District. The area was made a zakaznik in 1972 for the conservation of bar-headed geese and upgraded to a full nature reserve in 2000. It has also been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA).

Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park

The Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park is a national park in the province of Belluno, Veneto, in the northern Italy.

Alps conifer and mixed forests Ecoregion in Central Europe

The Alps conifer and mixed forests is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion in central Europe. It extends along the Alps mountains through portions of France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria, and Slovenia. The ecoregion extends from the lower slopes of the Alps to its peaks, which include Mont Blanc, at 4,809 m (15,778 ft) the highest peak in the Alps.