Defileul Crișului Negru

Defileul Crișului Negru is a protected natural area (Natura 2000 site, code ROSCI0061) in the south-west of Bihor County, covering approximately 2,200 hectares on both banks of the Crișul Negru river, between the Depresiunea Beiușului and the Câmpia Crișurilor. Here the river exits the mountains through a gorge flanked by steep slopes carved into limestone, with scree fields, ravines and deciduous forests — a landscape of exceptional naturalness, recognised and protected at European level as a site of community importance since 2007 and as a special area of conservation since 2022. The site includes two nature reserves declared under Law no. 5/2000. The mixed reserve Defileul Crișului Negru la Borz, located in the village of Borz in the commune of Șoimi, encompasses meadows, deciduous forests and limestone slopes shaped by the waters of the Crișul Negru, with scree fields and ravines, making it an area of high ecological integrity. The botanical reserve Dealul Pacău is notable for its sessile oak forest with Banat peony (Paeonia officinalis ssp. banatica), a Balkan floral element found here at the northern limit of its European range; habitats for wild orchids have also been identified within the area. In terms of biodiversity, the protected area shelters three natural habitats of community interest — forests on slopes, scree fields and ravines, beech forests, and dry grasslands on calcareous substrate — as well as the river's fish fauna and numerous species of birds, reptiles and mammals. Nearby stands the wooden church "Sfinții Arhangheli Mihail și Gavril" in Șoimi, a historic monument built in the eighteenth century.