Gunung (Mount) Merbabu National Park (GMNP), which lies on the geographical location between 7o27'13" S latitude and 110o26'22" E longitude, with maximum height 3.142 m above sea level. It covers an area of 5.725 hectares and located in Central Java Province, Indonesia. Merbabu National Park shares its borders with Boyolali regency to the east and south, Magelang regency to the west, and Semarang regency to the north.
Merbabu Mountain is a dormant stratovolcano in Central Java. The name of Merbabu could be loosely translated as 'mountain of Ash' from the Javanese combined words : Meru means 'mountain' and awu or abu means 'ash'.
The active volcano Mount Merapi is directly adjacent on its south-east side, while the city of Salatiga is located on its northern foothills. A 1.500 m high broad saddle lies between Merbabu and Merapi, the site on the village of Selo and highly fertile farming land.
There are two peaks o Mount Merbabu, namely Puncak Syarif (3.119 m asl) and Puncak Kenteng Songo (3.142 m asl). These peaks cam be reach from Kopeng, Salatiga regency (Tekelan Track) with the distance about 6,25 km.
One of the forestry research centers nearby, Balai Penelitian Kehutanan Solo, in its research in 2008 reported that the GMNP is mainly dominated by shrub. According to the research this shrub land spreads from the middle to the top slope of the mountain. The presence of some grasses on the top part of the slope region is also included in the report.
The climate classification proposed by Schmid and Fergusson is the most widely used in Indonesia categorizes as wet climate (zone B), with value of Q = 31,42 %. The annual rainfall in the area is 2.000 - 3.000 mm per year, while the average annual temperature range between 17o C to 30o C.
The vegetation type in this park has been generally divided into Low mountain forest (1.000 - 1.500 m asl), High mountain forest (1.500 - 2.400 m asl), and Sub alpine mountain forest (2.400 - 3.142). GMNP host a lot of flora and fauna life. Some of the plant species which are found in the park are Pinus merkusii, Acacia decurens, Schima noronhae, Albizia montana, Quercus sp., Engelhardia serrata, and Podocarpus sp. There also mammal such as Herpates javanica (Java Civet) and Macaca fascicularis (Long-tail Monkey).
Based on Aves Inventory (Balai Taman Nasional Merbabu, 2007) by GMNP agency, 52 species of birds were found in GMNP, such as Picnanotus aurigaster, Lanius schach, Picoides macei, Dichrurus leuchopeus, Pericrocotus miniatus, Halcyon cyanoventris, Streptopeli chinensis, Tracypithecus auratus, Spizaetus bartelsi, Ictiaetus malayaensis, Corvus enca, Falco sp., Zoosterops montanus, and Parus mayor which are residing in the national park.
Generally, land use in Merbabu Mountain can be categorized into two groups :- Irrigated rice field on the western slopes, whit plenty springs and permanent rivers. Forest are dominated by dense Pines with shrub on the peak of slope.
- Maize and tobacco plants on the eastern of the slopes, with small springs. The forest area is dominated by Pines with very small shrub on the peak of slope.
There are 37 villages, 7 sub districts, and 3 regencies with approximately 116.385 people and 31.725 household living surounding the national park. These people have more or less the same standard of living and socio-economic status. Roughly 87,47 % of the local people earn their living through farming rice, vegetables such as onion leaves, potatoe, cabbage, maize and celery, and fruits such as strawberry. Furthermore, almost every household has livestock such as cows and goats.
Declared by Minister of Forestry No. 135/Menhut-II/2004. May 4, 2004