The Minister of Environment and Water Rositsa Karamfilova issued an order to declare the protected area “Alpine Newt habitats in Ruy Planina” in the lands of the villages of Rani lug and Nasalevtsi, municipality of Trun, district of Pernik, with a total area of nearly 50 decares.

The protected area was declared on the basis of the Protected Areas Act with the aim to protect the species Alpine newt (Triturus alpestris) and its habitat, as well as protecting the breeding habitats of other species of amphibians of conservation importance, such as: Salamandra salamandra, Common newt (Triturus vulgaris), Southern crested newt (Triturus karelinii), Yellow-bellied tree frog (Bombina variegata), Brown toad (Bufo bufo) and Wood frog (Rana dalmatina).

Within the protected area, activities are prohibited related to changing the purpose and the way of permanent use of the land, as well as drying up the water bodies, which are the subject of protection in the protected area and disrupting their water regime.

It is not allowed to build or place barriers that hinder the migration of amphibians, as well as any construction, with the exception of activities related to the maintenance, repair, and reconstruction of existing hydrotechnical and other facilities. It is prohibited to probe for and extract underground resources and inert materials, to import plant and animal species uncharacteristic for the area, etc.

The proposal to declare the protected area was made by the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research and the National Museum of Natural History at the Bulgarian Academy of Science.