Current view: Text account
Site description (2000 baseline):
Site location and context
The gorge of the Eastern Gumista river and densely-wooded slopes of the Bzyb range, beyond which to the north lies Pskhu (site 002), between the Black Sea and the Great Caucasus. The principal tree species are
Fagus,
Castanea,
Carpinus,
Quercus,
Abies, and
Rhododendron.
These records are for the whole Pskhu-Gumista Nature Reserve; see the site-account for Pskhu (site 002), which describes the avifauna of both sites (002 and 003).
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
The main threat comes from the use for grazing of the unprotected flower-rich alpine and subalpine meadows lying between the Pskhu and Gumista Reserves: the grazing animals have to be driven through the protected forest areas to reach the meadows; there is pressure from grazing on the forest edge; poaching is a problem in an area above the tree-line which is the habitat of such rare species as
Tetrao mlokosiewiczi. This IBA, together with Pskhu (site 002), lies within the Pskhu-Gumista Nature Reserve, which falls within the proposed Abkhazeti Protected Area, part of the Georgian protected-area system whose establishment is now under way.
National High
International None13,400 ha of IBA covered by Nature Reserve (Zapovednik) (Pskhu-Gumista, 40,818 ha).
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Gumista (Georgia). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/gumista-iba-georgia on 23/11/2024.
