Dez

Dez National Park lies at Miyanrud near Dezful in Khuzestan Province and covers about 17,000 hectares along roughly 150 km of the Dez River^[1].

The park is home to the Persian fallow deer, and is an important bird habitat with small wetlands and rich aquatic life^[1]. Hyena also occurs there^[1].

The riverside forest is a semi-tropical growth zone along the banks of the Dez^[1].

The park follows the Dez River across the flat alluvial plain of northern Khuzestan.

Khuzestan has very hot summers and mild winters, and the river corridor keeps its forest green through the dry season.

The park lies beside the farmland and towns of the Dezful area, on a river corridor that runs across the Khuzestan plain.

The area was established as a national park in 2010 and is run by a park management office^[1].

The draw is the riverside forest and its wildlife, above all the endangered Persian fallow deer, which today survives in the wild only in the Dez and Karkheh protected areas^[2].

The park is reached from Dezful, about 20 km away.

Rangers of the Mianrud and Dez posts patrol against poaching, and cases of illegal hunting of partridge, pigeons and hyena have been reported and prosecuted^[1].