Rāzna National Park

Rāzna National Park lies in the Latgale region of eastern Latvia and was established on 1 January 2007 in the Latgale Highlands to safeguard Lake Rāzna and its surrounding landscape. Covering 596 square kilometers, it is the youngest and second largest of the four national parks of Latvia, spanning parts of the Rezekne, Ludza and Kraslava municipalities, and has a resident population of roughly 5,000 people, most living on privately owned land within its boundaries. Its topography reflects a glacial origin, with rolling hills, moraine ridges and more than twenty lakes. Lake Rāzna itself is the second largest lake in Latvia by surface area and the largest by volume, feeding the headwaters of the Rezekne river. The park is divided into four management zones: a core nature reserve, a national park zone permitting low intensity forestry and farming, a landscape protection zone preserving traditional land use, and a minimal regulation zone allowing natural evolution of human influenced areas.