The Seimsky Regional Landscape Park is the largest nature conservation area in Sumy Oblast, covering nearly 99,000 hectares within Konotop Raion. The park encompasses the Seim floodplain and the first supra-floodplain terrace, which is more pronounced on the left bank. Here, pine forests on sands alternate with old oak groves, floodplain meadows, and marshes in the tributary valleys.
A park made of preserves
The park was established on December 14, 1995. It is managed by a municipal institution of the Sumy Oblast Council. It incorporates previously established sites: the Boromlya Tract zoological natural monument, the Yezutsky, Mutynsky, Bochechansky, Ozarychansky, Marytsia, Kaminsky Sandstones, Popiv Hrudok, and Olenkyn preserves, the Drahomyrivshchyna protected tract, the Kaminsky and Volokutynsky park-monuments, and Chervone and Spadshchanske lakes.
Pine forests, oak groves, and meadows
Pine forests grow on sandy hills; rare plants for Sumy Oblast such as *Jurinella moschata* and *Jurinea candicans* can be found here, and in spring, pasque flowers from the Red Data Book bloom. Lower down are pine forests with bracken, spiny clubmoss, and fir clubmoss. In deciduous forests among old oaks grow the large-flowered foxglove, Hungarian iris, columbine, Turk's cap lily, broad-leaved helleborine, lesser butterfly-orchid, and shade sedge, which is found nowhere else in Sumy Oblast. In places, maple-oak forests are almost entirely covered with periwinkle.
The Seim floodplain is occupied by true meadows with colonial bentgrass and brome, while the tributary valleys feature marshes. The Seim here is winding, with sandy beaches and oxbow lakes, making the park attractive to kayakers and anglers.
How to get there
The park stretches along the Seim through the entire Konotop Raion, from the outskirts of Putivl to the border with Chernihiv Oblast. It is most convenient to start from Konotop: from here to the Seim near the villages of Kamin or Ozarychi is 20–40 km.
What to consider
The eastern part of the park is closer to the border with Russia. Before your trip, check the security situation and the restrictions of the Sumy Oblast State Administration. Do not light fires in pine forests and do not pick rare plants.
