Alaniya National Park

Alaniya National Park
IUCN category II (national park)
Alaniya National Park
Location	North Ossetia-Alania
Nearest city	Vladikavkaz
Coordinates	42°54′N 43°44′E / 42.900°N 43.733°E / 42.900; 43.733Coordinates: 42°54′N 43°44′E / 42.900°N 43.733°E / 42.900; 43.733
Area	54,926 hectares (135,725 acres; 549 km2; 212 sq mi)
Established	June 2, 1998 (1998-18-02)
Governing body	FGBU "Alania"
Website	http://npalania.ru/

Alaniya National Park (Russian: Национальный парк «Ала́ния»), is a heavily glaciated, mountainous section of the northern slope of the Central Caucasus Mountains. It covers the southern third of the Irafsky District of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania. The park was created to have a dual purpose of serving as an ecological refuge - it has very high levels of biodiversity and vulnerable species, such as the near-endangered West Caucasian Tur – and also an area of high cultural heritage and potential for recreational tourism. The park contains widespread archaeological ruins from several notable past civilizations, including the Bronze Age Koban people (1200–300 BCE), and the Alans people (100 BCE – 1234 AD). It is from the Alans that the name "Alaniya", and indirectly the term "Aryan", is ultimately derived. Because altitudes in the park can span almost 4,000 meters vertical in very short distances, the slopes and valleys display strong 'altitude zoning'. These climatic zones range from alpine glaciers and peaks in the high, southern sections, to steppe grasslands in the northern reaches.

The park sits at a central point of the Caucusus, which are themselves the continental divide between Asia and Europe. Alaniya NP is approximately two-thirds of the distance between the Black Sea to the west and the Caspian Sea to the east. The southern border of the park, at the top of the mountain ridge, runs along the border with the Republic of Georgia. To the west is the Kabardino-Balkaria Reserve (another mountain-peak protected area), and to the east is the North Ossetian Reserve.

Altitudes range from a high at Mount Uilpata of 4,646 metres (15,243 ft), to 800 meters in the Urukh River valley below. Most of the ground cover is glacier, rock and scree at the higher altitudes. Modern glaciation is approximately 80 square kilometres (8,000 ha; 19,768 acres; 31 sq mi). At mid-level altitudes, approximately 20% of the park is forested. At the lowest levels, and in the valleys to the north, are grasslands and scattered forest.