Morvan Regional Natural Park, Regional natural park in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France.
Morvan Regional Natural Park is a protected area in Burgundy, covering granite hills, river valleys and mixed woodlands of oak, beech and conifers. Open pastures and hedgerows break up the forest cover, and several lakes dot the landscape across the park.
The territory now covered by the park was home to Bibracte, a major Gallic settlement on Mount Beuvray that was abandoned more than 2000 years ago. In later centuries the area was shaped by timber trade and the creation of several artificial lakes during the 1800s, which remain part of the landscape today.
The name Morvan comes from a Gallic phrase meaning black mountain, referring to the forests covering the rounded hilltops. In the villages scattered across the park, stacked logs near old sheds still hint at the timber working traditions that shaped daily life here for generations.
The park is reached by several main roads passing through nearby towns, and a network of walking tracks leads through the woodlands and along the lake shores. Spring and early autumn are generally good times to visit, when hiking and swimming are comfortable without the heat of midsummer.
Three Natura 2000 sites within the park protect habitats for otters and several bat species that would otherwise be hard to find in this part of France. These protected zones cover river banks, forest clearings and hollow old trees where these animals shelter and breed.
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