The Country of Thirty Primeval Forests

Tourists coming to Poland can enjoy a rest in beautiful and clean forests - natural Białowieska Forest, as well as the well-managed Piska, Knyszyńska and Bory Tucholskie Forests.

Polish foresters were busy planting trees on wastelands and introducing deciduous trees into poor pine stands. At present, Poland can boast thirty vast sylvan expanses known as primeval forests.

Our forests are dominated by pine stands, and spruce stands prevail in the foothill areas. Thanks to the introduction of other species, we have quite a number of picturesque mixed forests.

Other tree species include birch, oak, lime, hornbeam, and beech in some regions.

Wetlands are overgrown with alder or wet leafy forest with a mixture of ash and birch. Flooded in spring, such forests are difficult to penetrate and constitute comfortable wildlife habitat.

Forests are a haven for red deer, roe deer and wild boar, especially in the regions of Masuria, Pomeranian, and the Carpathian foothills. The carnivorous mammals are represented by fox, raccoon dog, pine marten, and such rare species as lynx and wolf.

The biggest population of wolves (20 individuals) roams through the Bieszczady Mountains. Many naturalists want to put the wolf under total protection.

Rare forest bird species are represented by western capercaillie and hazel grouse - and by birds of prey which nest in forest but hunt elsewhere.

More and more of Poland's territory is protected in nature reserves as well as in national and landscape parks. More than half of those parks' area is covered by forests which are rich in undergrowth, where berries - blueberry, wild strawberry, red bilberry, cranberry - and mushrooms abound.

Swietokrzyski Primeval Forest

Wyzyna Malopolska (Lesser Poland upland) is located on the area of 16.700 km2 (that is 5.3% of Polish territory).

It stretches from the valley of the Vistula river between Cracow and Sandomierz to north-west in the region of Tomaszow Mazowiecki and Radomsko. It descends southwards along a tectonic ledge in the direction of the Carpathian valleys.

It is a very diversified region considering its geologic structure and relief. It consists of rocks of Cretaceous, Jurassic and Tertiary origin. There is a limestone layer, created as a result of sea transgression, covered by a thick strata of loam in the southern part of this region. The average height of this region amounts to 200–300 m above sea level - only in the Swietokrzyskie Mountains do the highest peaks reach as high as 600 m (Lysica range – 612 m above sea level).

A watershed of Oder and Vistula runs through the north-west of the region.

The climate of Wyzyna Malopolska is diverse, cooler and more moist in the area of the Swietokrzyskie Mountains. The yearly average temperature equals 7.5°C but in the area of an old formation it is on average 1-2°C cooler. The yearly rainfall amounts to 800 mm in the mountains and to 550 mm in the valley of the Nida river.

The largest forest complexes in this region are located only in its northern part, where the terrain is covered by the Swietokrzyski Primeval Forest. The dominant tree species are firs, pines, beeches and spruces. Swietokrzyski National Park as well as 8 landscape parks and 50 nature reserves can be found within the borders of Malopolska Upland.

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