The three tectonic lakes, Ohrid, Prespa and Dojran, owing to their natural characteristics and their great importance for science, have been protected by law.

There are four national parks protected by law in Macedonia covering an area of 130,000 hectares.

The Pelister national park is the oldest, obtaining this status in 1948. The five-needle (Pelister) pine, the only such variety in the world, covers and area of about 1,600 hectares.

The Mavrovo national park, covering an area of 11,750 hectares, was declares as such in 1949. In 1952 it was enlarged to 73,100 hectares. Some 27,000 hectares are forested. It is presumed that it includes more than 1,000 types of higher plant forms, about a 100 of which are extremely rare of endemic to the Balkans.

The slopes of Mount Galichica, situated between Lake Ohrid and Lake Prespa and covering an area of 22,750 hectares, were declared a national park in 1958. Nineteen different forest communities have been discovered here. This indicated that the vegetation in this park is very rich, including several extremely rare types of flora.

The Jasen forest reserve was proclaimed a national park in 1958. It covers an area of 24,000 hectares and streches across the mountain massifs of Suva Gora, Suva Planina and Karadzhica. This park comes into the category of special natural reserves protecting many species of flora and fauna and other natural rarities.