Jasen Forest Reserve

The Jasen Forest Reserve was founded by the government of the Republic of Macedonia in 1958 and its territory enlarged in 1960. The Reserve lies about 30 km to the south-west of the capitol, Skopje, and covers the western part of Jacupica Massif, embracing the mountain of Karadzhitsa, Suva Planina and Suva Gora. The distance between its highest and lowest altitudes is 2154 meters. The Reserve is habitat to 66 game species, which is 50 % of the total number (127) of game species in the Republic of Macedonia. Out of this number, 22 species are fir-species and 44 are feather-species, 26 species in the reserve are protected by Law, which is 46 % of total number of protected animals in the Republic. The Reserve covers an area of 24,000 hectares. 20,000 ha of the total surface or 83% are game sanctuary sheltering deer , fallow-deer, roe-deer , chamois, wild boar, bear and some others.