The reintroduction centre covers an area of about 300 ha with 3 sections: handling, adaptation and rewilding areas. Construction of the reintroduction centre started in 2017 and finished just before the first 12 (3 males, 9 females) European Bison arrived in May 2019. The first 2 sections (handling and adaptation area) were built using heavy metal construction covering almost 3 hectares. The largest section – the rewilding area is framed only by electric fences and covers mountain slopes with deciduous forests of oak, hornbeam, ash, hawthorn, beech and others. Undergrowth mainly consists of blackberry and elderberry bushes. From the rewilding area, the species can easily be released into the forests and meadows in the core zone of Shahdag NP.

Reintroduction site in the Shahdag NP, Azerbaijan  

Shahdag NP covers 130,000 ha including different ecosystems – such as alpine meadows, montane mixed forests, sub-montane broadleaved forests. The area where the European Bison are being reintroduced is the core zone of the Shahdag NP with about 40,000 ha protected since 1969. It consists of forested slopes (mixed deciduous forest with undergrowth) and open patches and subalpine meadows at the higher altitudes. The altitude varies from about 600 m to over 2500 m asl. The climate is temperate with snow in winters and warm summers. The annual precipitation is around 800 mm in the low altitudes and 1000 mm in the highest parts. The snow cover lasts 40-60 days with 10-50 cm depth. In low altitudes, oak and hornbeam forests are present, while in higher altitudes (1000-2000 m) the beech species gradually takes over. The alpine meadows are seasonally used for livestock as summer pastures. The large mammals are represented by Wild Boar, Red and Roe Deer, Chamois, Eastern Tur, Gray Wolf, Lynx and Brown Bear.