Aukštaitija National Park

Aukštaitija National Park was established to preserve and restore the natural and cultural heritage of Aukštaitija ethnical region, as well as to make sustainable use of it's resources, to spread environmental ideas and raise eco-awareness.  Aukštaitija National Park covers 4 050 heactares of a hilly wooded area in East Lithuania, 100 kilometres North of Vilnius and 170 kilometres North-East of Kaunas. Three administrative districts meet here as 50 per cent of the park area belong to Ignalina District and 25 per cent to Utena and Švenčionys respectively. National Park Headquarters are in Palūšė, Ignalina district.

History
Ignalina Landscape Reserve and Ažvinčiai Wood Botanical-Zoological Reserve were established in 1960. Later they became the core of the national park. By the initiative of Prof. Č. Kudaba the first planning scheme of Lithuanian National Park was drawn and approved by the Lithuanian Council of Ministers on March 29, 1974. This day is the official birthday of the park.

The name of Aukštaitija National Park has been much debated. Initially, there were plans to establish other national parks and name them according to their regions. But in order to underline its importance as the first park, Aukštaitija National Park was first named the National Park of Lithuanian SSR. It was only after Lithuania regained its independence and additional national parks hade been created, that the park was renamed Aukštaitija National Park .

Topography
The average altitude in the park is 150 metres above sea level, and the highest point is more than 200 metres high. Through time, glaciers have covered Lithuania on several occasions. The ice shaped the surface of the area during the last Ice Age which ended 14 thousand years ago. Due to this, the topography of the park is rather embossed and diverse. The moving ice gouged lake hollows and pushed up the moraine elevation. The Šiliniškės Ridge is nothing but an end moraine marking the edge of the glacier where it stopped for the last time. The ridge has become the park's signum and main attraction for tourists. It stretches from South-East to North-West and constitutes the spine of the park. A thick forest cover makes it look like the back of a sleeping dragon.

Waters
Water floods 15% of the park's area. There are 126 lakes from 0,5 to more than 800 hectares in size. The largest Lake Kretuonas has a surface of 829 ha. Lake Dringis is smaller in size (725 ha), but there are numerous islands, capes and lagoons. It's shoreline is 31,5 km long. Lake Tauragnas is the deepest lake, not only in the park, but in entire Lithuania. The deepest spot is 60,5 metres deep. Lake Žeimenis is the longest in the park: 10 km long and only few hundred metres wide it resebles a river. Rivers and channels connect lakes and make it easy to travel by boat from lake to lake. The River Žeimena connects all the waters and it is possible to travel all the way to the Baltic Sea.

Nature
Due to its geomorphology, the Aukštaitija National Park has a distinguished diversity of natural conditions. Here you can find almost all kinds of natural habitats and soil types which have been described in Lithuania. The vegetation varies from steppe to tundra species, and many rare bird and animal species find sanctuary here. For an example, 59% of all Lithuania's native plant species were found in the park, although it covers less than 1% of the country's area. Representatives of almost all Lithuania's vertebrate species  constantly reside in this area and there are beetle species that have not been found in any other place in Lithuania.

Culture
Solitary findings indicate, that in the territory currently encopassed by the Aukštaitija National Park, people lived already in 9-8 century B.C. More than ten thousand years of human activities have left many traces. Thus, the cultural heritage of many generations is one of the most valuable attractions in the park today. Here, one can learn about the lives of ancestors starting from the Stone Age, about their fights with crusaders from Livonia Order during medieval ages and about customs of Aukštaitija ethnic region in 18th -20th centuries. Many historical, archaeological and architecture monuments remind the visitor about ancient times and the great past of humankind in this region.