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 Greater Poland, often known by its Polish name Wielkopolska (; german: Großpolen, sv, Storpolen, la, Polonia Maior), is a historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief and largest city is Poznań followed by Kalisz, the oldest cit ...

Lubusz Lebus ( pl, Lubusz) is a historic town in the Märkisch-Oderland District of Brandenburg, Germany. It is the administrative seat of '' Amt'' ("collective municipality") Lebus. The town, located on the west bank of the Oder river at the border wit ...

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 The Drawa () is a river and popular aquatic trail in Poland, 192 km long. The surface of its catchment area amounts to 3291 km2. The Drawa begins its course at Krzywe Lake and ends it in Noteć below Krzyż Wielkopolski. The Drawa i ...

. 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

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

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 ...

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 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 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

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 ...

s, 7 species of

reptile Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates ( lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalia ...

s and 13 species of

amphibian Amphibians are four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arbo ...

s. 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 ...

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 i ...

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 Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers a ...

. 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 The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

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, 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