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Borow Tucholskich
National Park
The symbol of the Park is humid pine
forest.
Borow Tucholskich National Park is one of the smaller
National Parks in Poland with an area of 4,789 ha,
and was established on July 1, 1996. The Park comprises
of 4,250 ha of forests in the community of Chojnice
in the Bydgoszcz voivodship, and 530 ha of water
including numerous lakes and the Brda River with
its tributaries and streams. The Park is surrounded
by a protective zone of some 10,286 ha. The whole
protected area will soon be free of any human dwellings;
a forester presently living there will move out
of the Park area.
The major task of the Park, other than maintaining
an environment unchanged by humans, is to become
developed for tourist and educational activities
in the future. These will be centered at the community
of Chojnice, which is expected to be a center of
international ecotourism. Furthermore, a promotional
forest complex with its center in Tuchola has been
established. The community of Tuchola hosts the
model educational center and the Group of Forestry
Schools, which have a long standing tradition. The
Borow Tucholskich National Park will be the crucial
element of a protection system, which joins the
areas protected as parks, located in the western
and northern Poland, with those located in the eastern
and central parts of the country.
Natural values
The Park is located in the drainage basin of
the Brda River. Both the forest and water system
contribute to the unique quality of the Park's
landscape. The most representative natural elements
of the central part of Pomeranian Lakeland can
be found within the territory of the Park. One
of the most important reasons for creating a National
Park here was to protect water reservoirs, which,
due to the pristine water found here, are often
compared to the lakes in Tatra Mountains. The
Park's borders encompass over 40 lakes (17 lakes
with an area over 1 ha) with exceptionally clean
water, since there are neither industrial enterprises
nor any farms in the neighborhood. The water running
through the park is almost as clean as if it was
coming from a distillery - the concentration of
chemicals in the water is almost negligible.
The Tucholskie lakes are of oligotrophic character.
They are deep and many of them are overgrown with
lobelia. This means, that their waters provide
proper conditions for the growth of the lobelia
plant (the relict Lobelia Dortmanna, called "stroiczka
jeziorna" in Polish), which is extremely
sensitive to the water purity and grows only in
a very clean water. In this lake district, lobelia
is found in several lakes, all of which are protected
by the National Park. There are 3 strict reserves:
Bagno Stawek, Jezioro Laska and Nawionek.
Vegetation
The Pomeranian Primeval Forest, located between
the communities of Chojnice, Koscierzyna, Tuchola
and Starogard, constitutes one of the largest
forest systems in Poland, covering an area of
over 120,000 ha (1.5 per cent of the national
territory). The Tucholskie Forests, which are
a part of this primeval forest, are 12.5 thousand
years old and remain in relatively unspoiled shape.
However, only recently a part of them has been
granted the highest form of protection, that is,
National Park status.
The lakes are rich in water flora, with nearly
a hundred species of flowering plants. Owing it
to the presence of lobelia and other relicts in
its flora, the Park plays the role of a "bank
of genes". Furthermore, in the flora of the
Park, 56 communities of aquatic plants, 7 communities
of moss vegetation, 15 communities of forest plants
and as many as 206 species of lichen have been
reported.
Fauna
The Park's fauna is also regarded as very rich.
The following species have been listed:
43 species of mammals, including 7 species of
bats,
144 species of birds, including 108 breeding species
and 35 migratory species, occurring quite regularly,
6 species of reptiles (all of them typical for
Polish Lowlands),
13 species of amphibians,
25 species of fish, including the rainbow trout
and other types of trouts and graylines, as well
as the brook and the river lamprey.
The most precious representatives of mammals in
the Park include beaver, elk (North American -
moose) and deer. The beavers were reintroduced
into the local waters in 1974 and have lived there
since. In the forest one can easily see the traces
of their activity - felled and gnawed trees laying
along the lake banks. The lakes and rivers are
also a home to otter.
Among the bird species, the eagle owl, white-tailed
eagle, crane, black stork, kingfisher, golden-eye
and merganser are noteworthy. The rarer of them
live in the drainage area of the Creek of Seven
Lakes (Ostrowite, Zielone, Jelen, Plesno, Glowka,
and Skrzynak with Mielnica).
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