The Call of Croatia
There is truly something for everyone in the nation of Croatia in southeastern Europe. The Islands
Those who love the ocean and a slow pace will fall in love with Croatia. It boasts over 1,000 islands in the Adriatic Sea along its coast. Though the choices are endless, many desire to visit the island of Pag. It’s famous for its parties but also features a resort and a carnival. A bridge from the European continent makes it very easy to get to. Hvar is also a popular island with its fragrant fields of flowers and good weather. Some hotels offer discounts if it rains and free rooms if it snows!
The parks
Croatia is also home to eight national parks, including the breathtaking Plitvice Lakes. It’s noted for its 16 colorful lakes and a series of waterfalls. Paklenica National Park offers something completely different — a landscape that doubles fort the Old West. Its wild lands are perfect for both mountain hikes and nature walks.
The cities
The natural beauty of Croatia should not keep visitors from its urban centers, though. Dubrovnik has been called “the pearl of the Adriatic” with its Old Town, a World Heritage Site. Its city walls are from another time, yet its cable cars are a modern way to experience the area. The capital, Zagreb, has the most museums per square meter in the world. Visit St. Mark’s Church, the Museum of Arts and Crafts or one of its many cafes.
The festivals
Croatia is also surprisingly well-known for its music festivals. Return to the party island of Pag for Electro Dance Madness. In its second year, the event has attracted thousands onto its dance platform over the sea. Croatia’s biggest open-air festival is Zagreb’s INmusic, which has received top international praise. Tickets are very reasonable, and its Lake Jarun location offers outdoor activities as well.
Midnight parties, urban explorers and nature lovers will all be at home in Croatia.
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In places like California, the Rocky Mountains, and the Southern United States, wildfires are an unavoidable reality.
Wildfires can cause damage to property and human life, but they have many beneficial effects on native vegetation (植被), animals, and ecosystems that have evolved with fires. The forests, including pine barrens, lodgepole pine forests and many more, require fires to reproduce because the trees in the forest are adapted to only produce seeds following a major fire event. Therefore, without them many of these forest types would decline.
A fire renews the watershed (集水区) in ways including, but not limited to, recycling of nutrients, increasing food sources for fish in streams, supplement to streamside vegetation, spread of fire-adapted plants, etc. not to mention renewal of the soil chemistry which is vital to the forest and the watershed. The basis is that of someone who has studied wildfires and streams since the 1988 Yellowstone wildfires. The science backs up how natural wildfires can be favorable through research publication after publication.
It’s like “resetting the clock” on the ecosystem, allowing the forest to function smoothly all over again for another 200 years. By the way, a stand burning fire such as the Yellowstone fires of 1988 also results in the landscape of younger forest mends which act to reduce the spread of future wildfires and can stop a major wildfire in its tracks.
The bottom line is that we may need today’s natural wildfires to prevent more serious catastrophic fire events in the future. That lesson was learned in Yellowstone in 1988 which was a year of disastrous largescale fires after more than 50 years of fire suppression (压制).
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