Uholka-Shyrokyi Luh primeval beech forest, Primeval beech forest in Zakarpattia Oblast, Ukraine

Uholka-Shyrokyi Luh is a primeval beech forest in Zakarpattia Oblast that spreads across limestone terrain with varying elevations. Underground, the bedrock contains numerous caves and karst features carved by water over thousands of years.

Parts of the forest were protected as early as 1920. In 1992 Uholka-Shyrokyi Luh was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site; the listing was extended in 2007 and 2011 to include other primeval and old-growth beech forests across Europe. A Swiss-Ukrainian project installed a 10 ha research plot in Mala Uholka in 2001, and a full inventory followed in 2010.

The Mala Uholka trail leads to Druzhba, the longest karst cave in the Ukrainian Carpathians, and to Karstovyi Mist, a limestone arch. The Velyka Uholka trail reaches Molochnyi Kamin, a karst cave where Paleolithic bear hunters lived.

The forest is crossed by two main walking trails that lead through different parts of the woodland. Visitors should expect uneven terrain and damp conditions, particularly around the cave areas.

The 2010 inventory measured 6,779 trees on 314 plots and found the thickest trunk was not a beech but a wych elm (Ulmus glabra) with a diameter of 150 cm; the largest beech reached 140 cm. Deadwood amounted to 163 m3 per hectare.