4 hours Ago
The Israel Nature and Parks Authority and the Planning Administration have announced the designation of new nature reserves and national parks in Israel, including HaSharon National Park, Berekhat Ya'ar Nature Preserve, Avtach protected resort, Heart of Ramon Crater Nature Reserve and National Park, and Yam Caesarea National Park, which is Israel's first marine national park. Additionally, it was noted that the declaration of the Heart of Ramon Crater Nature Reserve and National Park marks the final stage in implementing the 1994 government decision to preserve the crater areas as a scenic and geological asset, prohibiting mining and quarrying activities. Yam Caesarea National Park Yam Caesarea National Park is located west of the Caesarea Antiquities National Park, serving as a direct continuation of the ancient and magnificent city of Caesarea.
This marine national park spans approximately 267 acres and hosts a hidden underwater world of archaeological remains and natural treasures. Among these is Caesarea Harbor, inaugurated alongside the city by Herod in 10 BCE. For nearly 600 years, it was the largest and most significant port in the eastern Mediterranean and one of the largest in the ancient world.
The new marine national park is unique because, for the first time in Israel, underwater heritage and natural values are being made accessible to the public. Now that the park has been declared, the authority will work on various ways to make it accessible to the public, whether through diving, swimming, or snorkeling. 5 View gallery Yam Caesarea National Park ( Photo: Nature and Parks Authority ) Ramon Crater Geological Park and Nature Reserve The area declared lies at the heart of Ramon Crater ("Machtesh Ramon")—a globally unique preserved area in terms of scenery, geology, and ecology.
The Ramon Crater Geological Park and Nature Reserve is the final component for the full implementation of government decisions regarding the "Land of Craters," by designating the entire Ramon Crater for preservation and the development of hiking and tourism activities. The area, previously designated for mining, quarrying, and related industries, had been partially excavated and remains the last unprotected and publicly accessible area in the center of Ramon Crater. It is home to several sites of high geological and ecological value.
The new national park covers approximately 1,700 acres, and the reserve covers 1,590 acres. Since Ramon Crater was declared the first International Dark Sky Reserve in the Middle East, it is important and obligatory to maintain the entire area as a single natural, dark unit without massive development that would detract from this unique value. In the area declared as a national park, as part of a long process in collaboration with the local council of Mitzpe Ramon, residents, and tourism, education, and community activities will be upgraded.
Moreover, in the nature reserve defined by the highest ecological and scenic value, the continued functioning and preservation of the ecosystems around Nahal Ramon will be ensured, creating continuity for the adjacent nature reserves. 5 View gallery Ramon Crater Geological Park and Nature Reserve ( Photo: Nature and Parks Authority ) HaSharon National Park HaSharon National Park is a natural landscape unit encompassing the entire Sharon landscape, covering 411 acres. The national park includes preserved beaches, kurkar ridges with characteristic, endemic, and rare plants, stabilized and semi-stabilized sands, seasonal pools, and a unique coastal park forest in Israel, with Tabor oak and carob trees alongside mastic bushes, Spanish broom, and single-seed hawthorns.
It is the largest natural area in the Sharon, representing two of the most diverse, rare, and important habitats under development pressure and threatened with extinction: the sandy habitat and the kurkar habitat. 5 View gallery HaSharon National Park ( Photo: Nature and Parks Authority ) Berekhat Ya'ar Nature Preserve At the heart of the Berekhat Ya'ar Nature Preserve, located near Hadera Forest and covering approximately 60 acres, lies a seasonal pool representing a rich variety of amphibian species, some rare and endangered, such as the common spadefoot toad and the banded newt. The trees around the pool serve as nesting and breeding colonies for herons.
During late spring and summer, various bat species, such as the white-edged bat and the common pipistrelle, hunt for food here, both of which are endangered species. Seasonal pools are disappearing from our landscapes due to development pressures, construction, and drainage changes, along with the disappearance of wildlife and plant species adapted exclusively to living in these pools. At the beginning of the last century, thousands of seasonal pools were counted along Israel's coastal plain, from Nahariya to the Gaza Strip, serving as habitats for unique wildlife and plants.
Today, only dozens of pools and nature reserves remain. Ya'ar Pool is a remnant of Hadera's seasonal pools and is among the largest, most important, and richest of them. 5 View gallery Berekhat Ya'ar Nature Preserve ( Photo: Nature and Parks Authority ) Avtach Protected Resort The reserve is located in the marine area between the cities of Ashdod in the north and Ashkelon in the south, expanding the previously very limited marine reserve by an additional 16,580 acres.
Previously, the reserve extended approximately 328 yards westward to the sea from the shoreline, with a maximum seabed depth of about five meters. Now, the declaration has expanded the area to about seven kilometers from the shoreline, with a maximum seabed depth of approximately 127 feet. The reserve's area features three preservation characteristics: the sandy seabed habitat; a rocky habitat rich in diverse marine life—one of the few rocky areas in the region; and the presence of rare and key species in the water body, such as the common dolphin.
The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel stated that "this is a very joyful declaration, resulting from a long planning process that the Society for the Protection of Nature worked to advance. The Avtach protected resort will protect a sandy seabed area, which currently is not represented at all in Israel's marine reserves, and will protect the soft seabed habitat and the community of marine life inhabiting it, from bottom fish to clams, polychaete worms, and sea urchins. "Yam Caesarea National Park will for the first time protect a cultural asset of international importance—the ancient Herodian port, which was the foundation for establishing and flourishing the ancient city of Caesarea.
The remains of the ancient port, a natural reef, and a shoreline composed of sand and erosion tables create a wide variety of habitats where many plant and animal species find refuge. 5 View gallery Avtach Protected Resort ( Photo: Barak Hadrian ) "Divers at the site enjoy spectacular views at shallow depths, up to 10 yards at most. In recent years, countries around the world, including Israel, have adopted an ambitious goal that raised the target for protecting marine areas from 10% to 30%.
However, currently, only 6% of Israel's sovereign waters and 2% of its economic waters are declared marine nature reserves." Get the Ynetnews app on your smartphone: Google Play : https://bit.ly/4eJ37pE | Apple App Store : https://bit.
ly/3ZL7iNv The Director General of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, Raya Shurky, stated that "marine nature reserves are the most effective and proven tool for protecting marine nature from local impacts. Israel is a signatory to international conventions for the protection of biodiversity and the sea, which set quantitative and qualitative targets for establishing protected areas. "Currently, only 5.
7% of Israel's marine areas are recognized as being protected. We at the Authority are working vigorously to protect our unique marine nature and hope this is the first of many steps to declare marine areas as protected. Thanks to the Planning Administration, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, and the Ministry of the Interior for advancing the declarations.
" >.
