Drawa National Park ( pl, Drawieński Park Narodowy) is located in north-western

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 populou ...

, on the border of Greater Poland, Lubusz and West Pomeranian Voivodeships. The park is a part of the huge Drawsko Forest (Puszcza Drawska), which lies on the vast Drawsko Plain. It takes its name from the River Drawa. It was created in 1990 and initially covered 86.91 km². Later, it was enlarged to of which forests account for 96.14 km² (3.68 km² is designated as a strictly protected area), and water bodies cover 9.37 km².

Geology

Over 80 percent of its area is covered with forests – the great and monumental Drawa Forest stretching from the Drawa Lake District to the Noteć River. It is mostly made up of beech and pine trees. There are picturesque and deep valleys of the Drawa and Plociczna rivers as well as numerous water channels, lakes and peat-bogs. In some places the height can vary by 30 meters within 500 meters. The highest hill (106 m) is located near the Martew lake, in northern part of the park. The soil in the park is of poor quality and it mainly consists of sand.

Protection needs

One of main reasons for the creation of the park was the need for to protect valuable areas along the Drawa and Plocziczna rivers. The Drawa creates interesting

valleys A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams ove ...

and hollows and 40 km of the river is within the borders of the park. The river flows at a quite fast pace, which makes it similar to rivers located in mountains. The Drawa kayaking trail is one of the most picturesque in Poland. Lakes include the

meromictic A meromictic lake is a lake which has layers of water that do not intermix. In ordinary, holomictic lakes, at least once each year, there is a physical mixing of the surface and the deep waters. The term ''meromictic'' was coined by the Austr ...

lake Czarne (3.7 km²).

Flora

There are several interesting species of flora in Drawski National Park, among them 210 species of

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the name "mushroom" is ...

s, and

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

trees up to 400 years old. The oldest trees are strictly protected in the Radecin Preserve. Trees older than 81 years old cover 40% of the forested area of the park.

Fauna

There are 129 species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

s, 40 species of mammals, 7 species of reptiles and 13 species of amphibians. The good quality of water in the lakes and rivers enables various species of fish to flourish.

Roe deer The roe deer (''Capreolus capreolus''), also known as the roe, western roe deer, or European roe, is a species of deer. The male of the species is sometimes referred to as a roebuck. The roe is a small deer, reddish and grey-brown, and well-adapt ...

red deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of we ...

and

wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...

are very common in the national park. The park also hosts high populations of

eurasian otter The Eurasian otter (''Lutra lutra''), also known as the European otter, Eurasian river otter, common otter, and Old World otter, is a semiaquatic mammal native to Eurasia. The most widely distributed member of the otter subfamily (Lutrinae) of th ...

and beaver. Occasionally

moose The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult ma ...

and gray wolf can be found in the park.official website of the drawa national park (polish)
/ref> The area in the past, when it was located on the border between Poland and Western Pomerania (later Prussia), was regarded as unsuitable for human settlement and only since the 17th century have its forests been cleared for settlement. The park is crossed by four attractive tourist trails, for both walking and kayaking. There are camping sites and within some distance hotels. The number of visiting tourists has been increasing year on year. The park has its headquarters in the town of

Drawno Drawno (german: Neuwedell; csb, Nowi Wedel) is a town in Choszczno County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland, with 2,219 inhabitants as of December 2021. The headquarters of the Drawa National Park (''Drawieński Park Narodowy'') are located h ...

, in

Choszczno County __NOTOC__ Choszczno County ( pl, powiat choszczeński) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in West Pomeranian Voivodeship, north-western Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish loca ...

References

External links

Drawa National Park

{{Authority control National parks of Poland Protected areas established in 1990 Parks in Greater Poland Voivodeship Parks in Lubusz Voivodeship Parks in West Pomeranian Voivodeship 1990 establishments in Poland Central European mixed forests