Słowiński National Park ( pl, Słowiński Park Narodowy) is a

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

Pomeranian Voivodeship Pomeranian Voivodeship, Pomorskie Region, or Pomerania Province (Polish: ''Województwo pomorskie'' ; ( Kashubian: ''Pòmòrsczé wòjewództwò'' ), is a voivodeship, or province, in northwestern Poland. The provincial capital is Gdańsk. The ...

, northern

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 ...

. It is situated on the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...

coast, between

Łeba Łeba (pronounced: , Kashubian, Pomeranian and German: ''Leba'') is a seaside town in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of northern Poland. It is located in the Pomerelia sub-region, near Łebsko Lake and the mouth of the river Łeba on the coast of th ...

and Rowy. The northern boundary of the park consists of of coastline.

History

The original idea of creating a preserve here came out in 1946, at a conference in Łeba with scientists from

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...

and

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

. The park, however, was created 21 years later, in 1967, on an area of . Today it is slightly larger, covering , of which consists of waters and of forests. The strictly preserved zone covers . In 1977

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

designated the park a biosphere reserve under its Programme on Man and the Biosphere (MaB). The Słowiński wetlands were designated a

Ramsar Ramsar may refer to: * Places so named: ** Ramsar, Mazandaran, city in Iran ** Ramsar, Rajasthan, village in India * Eponyms of the Iranian city: ** Ramsar Convention concerning wetlands, signed in Ramsar, Iran ** Ramsar site, wetland listed in a ...

site in 1995. The park is named after the Slavic (later

Germanized Germanisation, or Germanization, is the spread of the German language, people and culture. It was a central idea of German conservative thought in the 19th and the 20th centuries, when conservatism and ethnic nationalism went hand in hand. In ling ...

) people known as the Slovincians ( pl, Słowińcy), who used to live in this

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

y, inaccessible area at the edge of Lake Leba. In the village of Kluki there is an open-air museum presenting aspects of this people's former life and culture.

Geography

In the past, the park's area was a

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

. The sea's activity, however, created

sand dunes A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...

which in the course of time separated the bay from the Baltic Sea. As waves and wind carry sand inland the dunes slowly move, at a speed of 3 to 10 metres per year. Some dunes are quite high - up to 30 metres. The highest peak of the park – Rowokol ( above sea level) – is also an excellent observation point. The "moving dunes" are regarded as a curiosity of nature on a European scale. Waters, which occupy 55% of park's area, are made up of lakes - Łebsko (, maximum depth ),

Gardno Gardno (german: Garder See) is a lake in the Słowińskie Lakeland in Pomeranian Voivodship, Poland. It is the part of Słowiński National Park Słowiński National Park ( pl, Słowiński Park Narodowy) is a national park in Pomeranian Voivo ...

(, maximum depth ) and Dolgie Wielkie (, maximum depth ). Both Lebsko and Gardno lakes were previously bays. There are also seven rivers crossing the park, the largest being the

and the Łupawa. Forests in the park are mainly made of

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...

s. These trees cover 80% of wooded areas, there are also

peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...

s of several types. Of animals, the most numerous are birds with 257 species. This is because the park is located on the paths of

migrating birds Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement, often north and south along a flyway, between breeding and wintering grounds. Many species of bird migrate. Migration carries high costs in predation and mortality, including from hunting by ...

. They feel safe here because human activities are limited. The most interesting species are:

erne An erne is a sea eagle, or an eagle more broadly. Erne may refer to: People * Adam Erne (born 1995), American ice hockey player * Philippe Erne (born 1986), Liechtenstein footballer * Young Erne (1884–1944), American boxer Ships * HMS '' ...

, eagle owl, crow,

swan Swans are birds of the family (biology), family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form t ...

and various kinds of

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...

s. Among the

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

s, there are

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...

wild pig A wild pig may be: *Suina, a suborder of even-toed mammals, including: **Suidae, a family of animals that are pigs or pig-like, including the Suinae and more distantly related extinct Old World tribes ***Suinae, a subfamily which includes the ''S ...

s and

hare Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The ge ...

Tourist amenities

There are around of tourist walking trails. Beside the lakes are observation towers and along the trails one can find benches and resting places. Around the park there are many parking sites as well as hotels and camp sites, especially in Łeba.

Images

File:Signpost in Słowiński National Park.JPG, Signpost File:Dune in Słowiński National Park 01.JPG, Dune File:Dune in Słowiński National Park 02.JPG, Dune File:Dune in Słowiński National Park 03.JPG, Dune File:Dune in Słowiński National Park 04.JPG, Dune File:Dead trees in Słowiński National Park 01.JPG, Dead trees File:Dead trees in Słowiński National Park 02.JPG, Dead trees File:Dead trees in Słowiński National Park 03.JPG, Dead trees File:Dead trees in Słowiński National Park 04.JPG, Dead trees File:Dead trees in Słowiński National Park 05.JPG, Dead trees File:Dead trees in Słowiński National Park 06.JPG, Dead trees File:Beach in Słowiński National Park, looking east.JPG, Beach, looking east File:Beach in Słowiński National Park, looking west.JPG, Beach, looking west

References

External links