# All the virgin forest Romania has catalogued is smaller than Bucharest

Romania's national catalogue of virgin and quasi-virgin forests lists 72,279 hectares, split across 448 separately named forests. Of those, only 8,580 hectares are virgin forest in the strict legal sense — a little over a third of Bucharest's own surface. The combined area of the eight Romanian components on the UNESCO World Heritage list weighs in at roughly a third of everything catalogued.

Marius Comper · 13 September 2026

## The count
- total catalogued hectares: 72,279.4
- virgin forest hectares (category 1.5j): 8,579.8
- quasi-virgin forest hectares (category 1.5o): 63,699.6
- separately named forests: 448
- forestry parcels in the catalogue: 4,690
- catalogue edition: 12 mai 2023 (ediția a 14-a)
- area of the Romanian UNESCO components: 23,982.7 ha, 33.2% of the catalogue
- growth 2016-2023: 5.5-fold
- top county, Caraș-Severin: 18,288.0 ha, 25.3% of the catalogue

## The eight UNESCO components
- Domogled – Valea Cernei National Park (Mehedinți / Caraș-Severin): 9,732.3 ha
- Semenic – Cheile Carașului National Park (Caraș-Severin): 4,677.2 ha
- Cheile Nerei – Beușnița National Park (Caraș-Severin): 4,292.3 ha
- Cozia National Park (Vâlcea): 3,389.2 ha
- Slătioara old-growth forest (Suceava): 609.1 ha
- Groșii Țibleșului (Maramureș): 346.3 ha
- Strâmbu-Băiuț old-growth forest (Maramureș): 598.1 ha
- Șinca old-growth forest (Brașov): 338.2 ha

Source: National catalogue of virgin and quasi-virgin forests in Romania, Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests, 14th edition, 12 May 2023.