This 130.000-acre forest is the biggest oak forest in the whole Balkans. It is located on the west side of Aetoloakarnania prefecture, extending from the coastal area of Astakos and Platygyalos to Acheloos river on the east and Ozero lake on the northeast. This forest belongs to the municipality but there are a few private fields, mainly cultivated and pasture lands. The basic core of the forest is a line of hills on the southwest of Lake Ozeros that is named Ligovitsi-Manina.
In the oak forest of Xiromero there are up to 800-year old oak trees and generally the vegetation of the area is rather rich. According to a research conducted by the University of Ioannina’s Department of Environmental and Natural Resources Management, 256 kinds of plants were recorded in the spring and summer of 2003. This collection includes some rare and interesting plants such as the Paeonia mascula russoi, Ophrys reinholdii and the Ophrys helenae.
The flora and fauna in the oak forest constitute an ecosystem of rich biodiversity, which has been downgraded lately and needs immediate protection, in order to avoid further downgrading.
Source: www.velanidodasos.gr