Słupia Valley Landscape Park (''Park Krajobrazowy Dolina Słupi'') is a

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

( Landscape Park) in northern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Geography

The park was established in 1981, and is a

Natura 2000 Natura 2000 is a network of nature protection areas in the territory of the European Union. It is made up of Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas designated under the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, respectiv ...

Special Protection Area A special protection area (SPA) is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union (EU) have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and cer ...

. In 2003, at least one wolf family lived here, and before 1900 bears were encountered. It protects an area of . Within the Landscape Park are four

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

Flora

476 species of

vascular plants Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes (, ) or collectively tracheophyta (; ), are plants that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They also have a specialized non-lignified tissue ( ...

have been identified in the park, including 24 fully protected and 9 partially protected. The area is characterized by high forest cover. Forests cover 72% of its area. Fresh pine forests have a significant share in this, where the predominant species is

Scots pine ''Pinus sylvestris'', the Scots pine (UK), Scotch pine (US), Baltic pine, or European red pine is a species of tree in the pine family Pinaceae that is native to Eurasia. It can readily be identified by its combination of fairly short, blue-gr ...

, mainly planted. Additionally, one can meet trees not originally found in this area, such as:

Norway spruce ''Picea abies'', the Norway spruce or European spruce, is a species of spruce native to Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. It has branchlets that typically hang downwards, and the largest cones of any spruce, 9–17 cm long. It is very clo ...

Douglas fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is the tallest tree in the Pinaceae family. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Or ...

, European silver fir, Weymouth pine and

pitch pine ''Pinus rigida'', the pitch pine, is a small-to-medium-sized pine. It is native to eastern North America, primarily from central Maine south to Georgia and as far west as Kentucky. It is found in environments which other species would find unsuit ...

. The park's pine forests are diverse in terms of age, but most of them do not exceed 120 years. The oldest stands, estimated to be 160 years old, are, among others, in the vicinity of the village of Jutrzenka.

Counties and Gminas

The Park lies within

Pomeranian Voivodeship Pomeranian Voivodeship ( ; ) is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship, or province, in northwestern Poland. The provincial capital is Gdańsk. The voivodeship was established on January 1, 1999, out of the former voivodeships of Gdańsk Voivo ...

, in *

Bytów County Bytów County (, ) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Pomeranian Voivodeship, northern Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. Its admi ...

— Gmina Bytów, Gmina Borzytuchom, Gmina Czarna Dąbrówka, and

Gmina Kołczygłowy __NOTOC__ Gmina Kołczygłowy is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Bytów County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. Its seat is the village of Kołczygłowy, which lies approximately north-west of Bytów and west of the regiona ...

Słupsk County __NOTOC__ Słupsk County (, ) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Pomeranian Voivodeship, northern Poland, on the Baltic coast. It came into being on 1 January 1999, as a result of the Polish local government re ...

—

Gmina Dębnica Kaszubska __NOTOC__ Gmina Dębnica Kaszubska is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Słupsk County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. Its seat is the village of Dębnica Kaszubska, which lies approximately south-east of Słupsk and west of ...

, Gmina Kobylnica, and

Gmina Słupsk __NOTOC__ Gmina Redzikowo is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Słupsk County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. Its seat is the town of Słupsk, although the town is not part of the territory of the gmina. Before 2023 the gmin ...

References

Landscape parks in Poland Parks in Pomeranian Voivodeship Bytów County Słupsk County Natura 2000 in Poland 1981 establishments in Poland Protected areas established in 1981 {{Poland-protected-area-stub

Geography

Flora

Counties and Gminas

See also

References