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Białowieża National Park - a Polish national park located in the
north-eastern part of Poland, in the Podlaskie Voivodeship, created
from the Reserve Forestry Inspectorate as a National Park in
Białowieża, in force since August 11, 1932, by the Regulation of the
Minister of Agriculture and Agricultural Reforms, restored in its
present form by virtue of a Council Regulation Of Ministers of
November 21, 1947. It is the second national park in Poland after
the Pieniny National Park and one of the first in Europe. Known for
the protection of the best-preserved fragment of the Białowieża
Primeval Forest, the last fragment of primeval forest in Europe, and
the world's largest libertarian bison population, numbering several
hundred.
The seat of the park management is Białowieża.
Currently, the park consists of two administrative units: the
Protection District the Reserve and the Protection District of the
European Bison Breeding Center. Protection Precinct Reserve (area
10,242.71 ha), of which: 6,059.27 ha is under strict protection,
4104.63 ha under active protection and 77.45 ha under landscape
protection. Protection District The reserve is divided into
Protection Districts: Gruszki, Zamosze, Masiewo, Cupryki,
Sierganowo, Dziedzinka.
Protection Precinct Bison Breeding
Center (area 274.56 ha). The entire closed farming area is under
landscape protection. It consists of:
closed (reserve) breeding,
i.e. two breeding reserves and a European Bison Show Reserve with
back-up facilities.
free breeding. Employees of the Protection
Unit of the European Bison Breeding Center deal with restitution
breeding of European bison living in the entire Polish part of the
Białowieża Forest (approximately 130,000 ha).
The Strict
Protection Area of the Białowieża National Park in 1979, due to
its importance for culture and human heritage, was entered on the
prestigious UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List. In 1992, UNESCO
extended the status of a world heritage site to the part of the
Belarussian national park "Bielavieżska Puszcza" adjacent to it from
the east, under strict protection (4500 ha). In this way, one of
seven in the world and three in Europe, a cross-border world
heritage site was created in the Białowieża Primeval Forest.
The oldest traces of human presence in the Białowieża Primeval Forest
come from the Neolithic, i.e. about 4,500 years ago. These are simple
flint tools, stone hatchets and the remains of utensils. Two settlements
also come from the Neolithic, discovered in 1923 near the village of
Rudnia and between the villages of Krynica and Kupicze.
In the
period from the 1st century BC until the 5th century AD in the area of
the forest there were settlements bearing traces of the mixed
influences of the dashed and Przeworsk pottery cultures, and then the
Wielbark culture. One of such settlements, dating from the turn of the
1st century BC. in the 1st century CE, it was found in the Berezowo
hunting clearing (Białowieża Forest District). Remains of iron smelters
from bog iron ore, iron and ceramic relics as well as bones of domestic
cattle and deer were also discovered there. This fact indicates that, in
addition to hunting and breeding, the population of this area was
involved in the local extraction of ore and the burning of charcoal
necessary for smelting iron. This led to a slight loss in the forest
surface, but after the ancient period there was a pause in settlement,
which allowed for their regeneration.
Two forest cemeteries found
so far, left by representatives of the Wielbark culture, come from this
period. The first is an isolated skeleton grave of a child from the
3rd-4th century, found in a gravel pit in the Hajduki forest, on the
road from Białowieża to Narewka. However, it may only be a fragment of
the cemetery that was destroyed during the sand excavation. The second
find is a cremation graveyard from the 3rd-5th century, found in the
Wielka Kletna wilderness in the Białowieża National Park itself. It
probably contains 60-70 flat graves located in a former mid-forest
clearing. In the vicinity of the Białowieża Primeval Forest, there are
three other cemeteries of the Wielbark Culture, containing
cremation-like barrows or flat graves.
A large number of objects
of foreign origin found in graves may indicate the existing road
network, while the constant, several percent share of pollen from plants
growing in open areas (mainly grasses) and anthropogenic pollen in
palynological data from the 1st-4th century indicates a slight degree of
its deforestation in that period.
The first plans to create a
national park in Białowieża were made in 1916, mainly on the initiative
of a Gdańsk botanist and one of the founders of the nature conservation
movement, Dr. Hugo Conwentz. They did not gain much support then. The
idea of protecting at least a part of the forest returned in 1919,
during the counting of Białowieża bison. Its advocates were then the
Polish botanist, professor of the Jagiellonian University, Władysław
Szafer, professor Eugeniusz Kiernik and engineer Jan Kloska. These
efforts, as well as previous efforts, have proved fruitless.
On
December 29, 1921, on the initiative and thanks to the efforts of a
group of Polish naturalists and foresters headed by Professor Władysław
Szafer, the Ministry of Agriculture and State Goods, on the basis of the
decision of December 29, 1921, separated the forestry, which on April
13, 1924 was raised to the rank of a forest inspectorate of the same
name. The forest divisions with the numbers: 258, 288, 289, 319 and 344
were recognized as a strict reserve. The divisions located at the fork
of the Narewka and Hwoźna rivers and several divisions from the former
Zwierzyniec forest district became a partial reserve. In 1923, Józef
Paczoski took over the management of the reserve, and began research
there. On September 9, 1928, Jan Jerzy Karpiński took over the
management. On January 1, 1929, the forest inspectorate was placed under
strict protection.
Pursuant to the ordinance issued by the
Minister of Agriculture on August 4, 1932, the Reserve forest
inspectorate was transformed into the "National Park in Białowieża",
with an area of 4,693.24 hectares. The park was subordinate to the
Directorate of State Forests in Białowieża, but the scientific
supervision over it was entrusted to the Experimental Station of the
State Forests in Warsaw.
After the war, the Park was reactivated
by the regulation of the Council of Ministers of October 21, 1947 and
has been known as Białowieża National Park ever since. It was joined by
meadows on the rivers Narewka and Hwoźna. The Narewka River became the
western border of the Park, the northern border - the Hwoźna River, and
the eastern border with the USSR. The trees are dominated by spruce and
hornbeam, while smaller areas are occupied by alder, pine, birch, oak
and ash. No economic activities are performed in the Park, it serves
scientific and didactic purposes, and partly also for tourism.
On October 26, 1996, the area of the park was enlarged to 10,502 ha
by joining a part of the area of two neighboring forest districts, and
a buffer zone of 3224 ha was created around the park. Since April 19,
2011, the protection zone of game animals has also been covered by the
buffer zone, which means that hunting and the creation of hunting
equipment are forbidden.
The strict protection area in the
Białowieża National Park is the last fragment of the primeval forest of
Europe that has survived to our times. Many opponents of appreciating
this uniqueness deny it, asking how primitive it is, since we find in it
numerous traces of human activity? It is true that man has been in the
Forest a long time ago, but he has never managed to break the natural
natural processes that have shaped this forest for thousands of years,
since the last ice age. From the beginning of the twentieth century,
this fragment of the forest was already protected against the
exploitation of the age of technology, development and wars.
Abiotic environment
Rivers
The Białowieża National Park is
situated at the watershed of the Vistula and the Nemunas. There are no
lakes or major rivers in the park. The most valuable area of the park
lies at the fork of the Hwoźna and Narewka rivers. The Orłówka River has
its source in the park. Moreover, the following tributaries of the
Narewka flow through the park: Łutownia, Przedzielna and Braszcza. The
average air temperature per year is 6.8 ° C, while the average amount of
precipitation is 633 mm per year, most of which falls in the growing
season.
Fauna
The Białowieża Primeval Forest is the living environment for
a huge number of animal species for this climate zone. Starting from
invertebrates: protozoa, flatworms, roundworms, gastropods, molluscs,
earthworms, tardigrades, spiders, mites, wraps, insects and many others,
to vertebrates: fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals - so far,
the presence of over 12 thousands of animal species. There are about
35-40 thousand of them in Poland. It is estimated that the forest fauna
is recognized in about 50%, so the actual number of species inhabiting
this forest massif may be around 25,000.
The value and uniqueness
of the Forest is determined not by the number but the quality of the
animal species present in it. There are few species associated with
man-transformed environments and many species characteristic of natural
forests. It is also characteristic that species very often occur in
small densities of individuals, with a very high diversity in a given
area. So far, around 12,000 have been identified in the Białowieża
Primeval Forest. animal species, most of which are invertebrates,
especially insects (8,000 species). In addition, there are 58 species of
mammals, 120 species of birds, 32 species of fish, 7 species of reptiles
and 11 species of amphibians.
The bison is the symbol of the
park, because it was in this park that this animal was saved from
extermination. Wisents were almost completely extinct in the 18th
century. Their sparse populations survived only in the Caucasus and the
Białowieża Primeval Forest. In 1919, the last individual in the
Białowieża Forest was killed. The Caucasian population also died out.
Individuals from zoos began to be brought to Białowieża. Initially, they
were bred in a separate courtyard. It was not until 1952 that the first
specimens were released. Currently, about 950 bison live in the
Białowieża Primeval Forest (of which about 510 on the Polish side), out
of 4,500 all over the world; all of them come from Białowieża breeding.
Flora
The Białowieża Primeval Forest is the best-preserved
natural forest in the East European Plain. Deciduous forests cover over
2/3 of the park. The largest area is covered by hornbeam forests
(oak-hornbeam), which grow on the most fertile soils of the forest. In
places flooded with water for several months, alder and riparian forests
grow, mainly consisting of black alder and ash. In drier places,
however, pine, spruce and mixed forests grow. There are 20 forest
complexes here. In general, the flora of the park consists of over 1,000
species of plants, including 728 species of vascular plants and 277
species of lichens. Particularly rare plants include the European globe,
Siberian iris, mountain arnica and marsh violet.
Grady
The
richness of the local primeval forest is best seen in the multi-layered
nature of the local broadleaved forests. The top floor is occupied by
single spruces, often exceeding 50 m in height. The oaks, lindens and
ash trees are less high (40–44 m). The maple does not reach 40 m.
Hornbeams grow at its lowest, up to a height of 30 m.
Dead wood
The Białowieża National Park is characterized by a large amount of dead
wood. In the Strict Protection Area, it covers about 25% of the mass of
all trees. Thanks to the decomposition of dead trunks, valuable
nutrients are returned to the soil, restoring its fertility. Moreover,
dead wood becomes a habitat for countless saproxylic organisms - fungi,
bacteria and invertebrates. Many of them are endangered species found
nowhere else in Europe.
Tourism
About 140,000 tourists come to
the Białowieża National Park every year. The most frequently visited
sites are the Bison Show Reserve, the BNP museum and the BNP Strict
Protection Area. Tourists may enter the strict protection areas (Orłówka
Protection District) and the museum only under the supervision of an
authorized guide. In this area, there are routes to the Jagiełło Oak and
further to the honey pine trees (visiting time about 3 hours). There are
two marked hiking and cycling routes in the Hwoźna Protection District,
6.5 km long and 11.5 km long. An animal observation tower was built in
the Narewka valley.