Mount Olympus Biosphere Reserve

UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, inscribed 1981, in Greece. This biosphere reserve is situated on the eastern part of mainland Greece and covers the eastern limestone foothills and the summit of Mount Olympus, rising to 2,914 metres above sea level. The landscape comprises maquis and Mediterranean sclerophyll shrublands, beech and oak woodlands, pine (Pinus nigra) forests, montane grasslands and alpine areas. The biosphere reserve is managed as a national park, and there are no settlements within the area. As in much of the Mediterranean, it was formerly subject to heavy grazing and timber extraction. Today, local communities use the buffer zone for grazing, hunting, gathering herbs and wood extraction. Tourism is the main economic activity. Many visitors, both national and foreign, come to this centre of Greek mythology, where Homer wrote of the twelve Greek gods and their palaces on Mount Olympus.