The Minister of Environment and Water Julian Popov issued an order for declaring the Protected Area “Deposit of Rhodope Mullein - village of Drangovo”. The new protected area is located in the land of the village of Drangovo, Kirkovo municipality, Kardzhali region and has a total area of 80 818 hectares.

The protected area “Deposit of Rhodope Mullein - village of Drangovo” was declared on proposal by the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research at the Bulgarian Academy of Science for the conservation of the plant species Rhodope Mullein (Verbascum spathulisepalum).

The Rhodope Mullein is one of the rarest plant species in the Bulgarian flora, included in Annex 3 of the Biodiversity Act and in the Red Book of the Republic of Bulgaria within the category “Endangered”. The species is a Balkan endemic, as well as a local endemic of the Eastern Rhodopes, with a limited distribution in Bulgaria and Greece.

Within the boundaries of the protected area, activities that may lead to the destruction of specimens of the Rhodope Mullein and its habitat are prohibited, such as: change of land use and permanent land use; construction except for the maintenance, repair and reconstruction of existing infrastructure; introduction of non-native species; prospecting, exploration, and extraction of underground resources.

The promulgation of the оrder in the State Gazette is forthcoming. The protected area will be entered in the State Register of Protected Areas.

The designation of the Protected Area “Rhodope Mullein Deposit - village of Drangovo” will contribute to the protection of other plant species of conservation importance, including the Bulgarian endemics Rhodope Aethionema rhodopaeum, Silene fetlerii, and Thymus jalasianus, as well as the Balkan endemic Saponaria stranjensis, whose protection is directly related to the protection of their relict habitat.