Chełm Landscape Park (''Chełmski Park Krajobrazowy'') is a

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

( Landscape Park) in eastern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, established in 1983, covering an area of . The Park lies within

Lublin Voivodeship The Lublin Voivodeship, also known as the Lublin Province (Polish: ''województwo lubelskie'' ), is a voivodeship (province) of Poland, located in southeastern part of the country. It was created on January 1, 1999, out of the former Lublin, Che� ...

, in

Chełm County Chełm County ( pl, powiat chełmski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Lublin Voivodeship, eastern Poland, on the border with Ukraine. It was established on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local g ...

( Gmina Chełm,

Gmina Dorohusk Gmina Dorohusk is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Chełm County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland, on the border with Ukraine. Its seat is the village of Dorohusk, which lies approximately east of Chełm and east of the regional ...

). There is a large amount of carbon and limestone in the soil and the are is covered with peat-bogs. There are 152 bird species such as

black stork The black stork (''Ciconia nigra'') is a large bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. Measuring on average from beak tip to end of tail with a wingspan, t ...

common crane The common crane (''Grus grus''), also known as the Eurasian crane, is a bird of the family Gruidae, the cranes. A medium-sized species, it is the only crane commonly found in Europe besides the demoiselle crane (''Grus virgo'') and the Siberi ...

lesser spotted eagle The lesser spotted eagle (''Clanga pomarina'') is a large Eastern European bird of prey. Like all typical eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. The typical eagles are often united with the buteos, sea eagles, and other more heavy-set Acc ...

aquatic warbler The aquatic warbler (''Acrocephalus paludicola'') is an Old World warbler in the genus '' Acrocephalus''. It breeds in temperate eastern Europe and western Asia, with an estimated population of 11,000-15,000 pairs. It is migratory, wintering in ...

short-eared owl The short-eared owl (''Asio flammeus'') is a widespread grassland species in the family Strigidae. Owls belonging to genus ''Asio'' are known as the eared owls, as they have tufts of feathers resembling mammalian ears. These "ear" tufts may or ...

Eurasian curlew The Eurasian curlew or common curlew (''Numenius arquata'') is a very large wader in the family Scolopacidae. It is one of the most widespread of the curlews, breeding across temperate Europe and Asia. In Europe, this species is often referred t ...

, whilst reptiles include the

European pond turtle The European pond turtle (''Emys orbicularis''), also called commonly the European pond terrapin and the European pond tortoise, is a species of long-living freshwater turtle in the family Emydidae. The species is endemic to the Western Palearct ...

. The other three nature reserves located around the area are: Bachus (established in 1958), Brzeźno (1973) and Bagno Serebryjskie (1991).

Purpose of creation

The purpose of establishing the park was to protect valuable forest and peat ecosystems rich in rare and protected species of plants and animals. The specific features of the plant cover are conditioned by the abundance of calcium carbonate in the substrate. Within the park's range there are valuable, slightly transformed forest complexes with a great wealth of biotypes (coniferous, oak-hornbeam and riparian habitats with many rare plants). The vicinity of Chełm is a place of occurrence of carbonate bogs, unique in the scale of the country, with the dominant rush of the log. There are communities of rare species of sedges on the outskirts of the settlements. Other rare plants include the following: pheasant's eye, steppe cherry, star gentian, military orchid and European Michaelmas daisy.

References

Landscape parks in Poland Chełm County Parks in Lublin Voivodeship {{Poland-protected-area-stub