**10. Results and discussion**

A national park's history, archeological structure, topography, flora and fauna, vegetation, and recreations are quite favorable in terms of natural beauty. Ilgaz Mountain National Park is home to many extreme sports like mountaineering, canyon rafting, camping, hiking (hiking), caving, and rock climbing. Ilgaz Mountain National Park, Central Anatolia, North Anatolian transition zone forming the North West Anatolia, the largest mountain range is located on the Ilgaz Mountains. The national park area from the highway is 200 km away from Ankara, 75 km from Cankiri, and 25 km away from Kastamonu. The area is at an altitude of 800 m between 1600–2000 meters and 1500 m. The park involves two ski slopes in lengths. Ilgaz National Park's area is ideal to respond to recreational needs such as excursionist botanical trips, nature walks, bicycle tours, mountain climbing, running, shooting, skiing, and so on [13].

When looking at the major national parks in terms of recreational use, Kastamonu Mountains National Park of biological diversity and geological structure increase the diversity of recrea‐ tional activities. The national park's recreation options such as wildlife viewing, hiking, canyoning, rafting, caving, landscape watching, photo safaris, climbing, and so on offer a very suitable environment for camping activities.

In national parks, forest areas, forest openings, accommodation and recreational facilities, a river forms a border with the ski slopes. Because of its rare landscape value, rich vegetation and wildlife, Ilgaz Mountain was declared as a national park on June 2, 1976. The total area is 1088.61 hectares. The location of Ilgaz Mountain on a map of Turkey is shown in **Figure 1**, and the topographic maps are shown in **Figure 3**. The Ilgaz Mountain terrain consists mostly of serpentines, schists, and volcanic rocks. Soil groups in the area are shown in **Figure 4**. The geological structure of the area has interesting properties for up mountain formations. Different geomorphological character movements in the valley are characterized by ridges and peaks. Slope conditions in Ilgaz Mountain National Park are shown in **Figure 5**. This geomor‐ phological structure creates an extraordinary natural landscape combined with lush forests [50].

Assessing Potential Areas of Ecotourism through a Case Study in Ilgaz Mountain National Park http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/62573 93

**Figure 3.** Ilgaz Mountain National Park between Kastamonu and Cankiri.

**Figure 4.** Ilgaz Mountain National Park soil groups.

**Figure 5.** Ilgaz Mountain National Park slope conditions.

Ilgaz Mountain is noted for its natural, cultural, and archaeological values. These floristic regions with specific climatic advantages allow the growth of plant species with endemic features. Kastamonu is a province benefiting from land and air transport. Ilgaz is on the Ankara–Cankiri highway. Ilgaz Mountain can be reached from Kastamonu at approximately 25 km by road.

The Ilgaz Mountains' humid Black Sea is situated on the transition zone between the Black Sea climate and the terrestrial climate of Central Anatolia. The transition zone between the Black Sea and the Central Anatolia region of Ilgaz Mountain has provided a rich diversity of species and habitats.

National parks, topography, rich forests and vegetation, high wildlife potential, unique natural beauties, rich recreational resources, and winter tourism facilities provide a potential area for a recreational atmosphere beneficial to health tourism, which focus on medical treatments and the utilization of healthcare services. Due to the transition area between the inner regions and areas, the park is rich in habitats. The national park has geomorphological and geological features, rich textures of plants and forests, interesting sights, and high recreation facilities which attract attention with clean air, winter sports, and tourism facilities [51, 52].

The average annual temperature is 9.8 °C in Ilgaz Mountain National Park. **Figure 6** shows Ilgaz Mountain National Park's annual average temperature. The highest temperature in July is 19.7°C and that in August is 20°C. January is the coldest month with −0.8°C. The average annual precipitation is 65 mm rainfall in Kastamonu, which is 110 mm lower than that in the national park, and 1200 mm at the mountain peaks. **Figure 7** shows Ilgaz Mountain National Park's average annual precipitation. With the features of continental mountain climate, the maximum precipitation is in spring and early summer is harsh. The northern slope gets more rain. The summit consists of up to about 1 m of snow for 6 months of the year and remains in place.

**Figure 6.** Ilgaz Mountain National Park annual average temperature.

**Figure 7.** Ilgaz Mountain National Park annual average precipitation.

In the Ilgaz Mountains, the Euro-Siberian region of great flora is included in the lower region. Uludag fir and pine forests are the main trees in the region. Around the national park forest, shrub and grass formations of 617 taxa were identified. Floristic research conducted in national parks included groups of 51 families in which 234 species and subspecies-level taxa have been identified. Out of these 37 species in Turkey (15.8% rate of endemics), 4 are endemic to the Ilgaz mountains. Two of the endemic class are gravely endangered––*Arabis abietina* and *Barbarea trichopoda*. *Ornithogalum wiedemannii* with *Corydalis wendelboi* are the other endemic species.

Mountains overlooking the northern slopes of the Black Sea, compared to the southern side, get more rain and are damp. Larch is seen on the southern slope. In general, coniferous tree species up to a height of 2000–2200 m are common. Alpine plants can be seen at the upper limit of the forest. In the northern slope, with the broad-leaved oak trees, beech trees can also be seen. Pine and fir dominate the heights.

Mammals common in the forest include brown bear, red deer, roe deer, wolves, lynx, fox, wild boar, dwarf bats, hares, Caucasian squirrel, falcon, and lesser spotted eagles. Flora and fauna are shown in **Figure 8**.

A one-to-one survey was conducted randomly in Ilgaz Mountain National Park in order to determine the awareness level of the protected areas. The number of visitors coming to the park daily during the tourist season reached 100 in 2015. The national park offers many recreational activities such as skiing, hiking, camping, photo safaris, trekking, cycling trips, amateur line fishing, botanical tourism, and air sports, along with its unique natural beauty. SWOT analysis was carried out and was used in the decision-making, planning, and manage‐ ment phases by predicting the opportunities and threats that can be encountered in the future along with the present strengths and weaknesses. **Table 1** provides the results of the SWOT analysis.


**•** Turkey's increasing demand for ecotourism **•** Expansion of ecotourism has adversely


**Table 1.** SWOT analysis of Ilgaz Mountain
