Local Cross-Sectoral Operational Plan - Rila-Verila-Kraishte Pilot Area (Bulgaria)

The pilot area in Bulgaria is located in the deep Dupnitsa Valley drained by the Struma River and tributaries and flanked by the mountains Rila, Verila and some other ranges to the southwest of the capital city of Sofia. A 16-kilometer stretch of Section 1 of the Struma Motorway, with 15 facilities for wildlife (3 of them large – overpass, viaduct and underpass), runs across it. Their effectiveness and sufficiency as mitigation measures, individually and as an integrated system for limiting the fragmentation effect, can be addressed by the project and suggested improvements.
The area is important as a pilot area because it is highly fragmented, located on the route of important ecological corridors – three of the main ecological corridors in Bulgaria, and at the same time on some local migratory routes in the mountain area.