Bug Landscape Park
Encyclopedia
Bug Landscape Park is a protected area
(Landscape Park
) in east-central Poland
, and one of over a hundred Polish Landscape Parks. The Park lies within Masovian Voivodeship
, on the Bug River
. It includes part of three Polish, historical regions: Kurpie
, Masovia and Podlasie.
The Park covers an area of 741,36 square kilometers plus 395,35 square kilometers of protection zone. Within the Bug Landscape Park, fourteen nature reserves have been established with a further three planned.Included within these nature reserves are seven forest, three ornithological, and two floristic reserves.
of Bug Landscape Park
counts about 1,300 species, among them there are 39 species of trees and 59 of shrubs. The park is rich in species of plant under protection, such as: silene dichotoma
, saxifraga tridactylites
, medicago minima
, Turk’s cap lily, twinflower
and willow
Salix starkeana
The valley of Bug River
and associated wet areas is the habitat of many birds
endangered of becoming extinct. These include the: black stork
, common sandpiper
, common snipe
, Eurasian curlew
, grey heron
, ruff
. Migrating birds use the park for feeding and resting.
Moreover, in the park there are 37 species of mammals, including beavers
, moose
and otters
.
Among reptiles there are: European pond turtles, and coronella austriaca known as the smooth snake. Moreover, 12 species of amphibians
and 29 of fish
can be found there.
primarily comprised of trees such as(ashes, limes
, oaks
, pines
). Other monuments include: colony of ant-hills, a monadnock
hill, a subterranean fungus site and a 3 km long oak
avenue which includes 442 trees (up to 450 cm in diameter).
One of the unique characteristics of Bug Landscape Park
is the continuing presence of Polish village culture manifesting in tradition folk sculpture and music. This also includes local holidays such as the Potato’s Day and Bread festivals along with historic wooden structures, roadside crucifixes, old mills, and small chapels scattered throughout the many villages and towns. Barns and hay stacks seem to be typical of the Bug River valley. Furthermore, within the park are palaces and nobleman's manors like those in Korczew
, Starawieś
and Sterdyń
as well as big temples, for instance in Kosów Lacki
and Sokołów Podlaski. National and regional history is commemorated by monuments, museums, and tombs. The historically significant site is the Treblinka extermination camp
, where the Nazis during World War II
conducted an extermination program against Jews
, Gypsies, and other groups who the Nazi party deemed deviant.
In park there are numerous hiking and cycling trails making in an attractive destination angling
and ecotourism
. Canoeing
and rafting
are popular activities as well.
The populated areas of the park are comprised mainly of villages and small cities with Sokołów Podlaski, population about 18,000, being the largest.
Protected area
Protected areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognised natural, ecological and/or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the enabling laws of each country or the regulations of the international...
(Landscape Park
Landscape Park (Poland)
A Landscape Park is the name given in Poland to a type of protected area, of lower status than a National Park and with less stringent restrictions on development and economic use....
) in east-central Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, and one of over a hundred Polish Landscape Parks. The Park lies within Masovian Voivodeship
Masovian Voivodeship
-Administrative division:Masovian Voivodeship is divided into 42 counties : 5 city counties and 37 "land counties"...
, on the Bug River
Bug River
The Bug River is a left tributary of the Narew river flows from central Ukraine to the west, passing along the Ukraine-Polish and Polish-Belarusian border and into Poland, where it empties into the Narew river near Serock. The part between the lake and the Vistula River is sometimes referred to as...
. It includes part of three Polish, historical regions: Kurpie
Kurpie
Kurpie is one of a number of ethnic regions in Poland, noted for its unique traditional customs, such as its own types of traditional costume, traditional dance, and distinctive type of architecture and livelihoods...
, Masovia and Podlasie.
The Park covers an area of 741,36 square kilometers plus 395,35 square kilometers of protection zone. Within the Bug Landscape Park, fourteen nature reserves have been established with a further three planned.Included within these nature reserves are seven forest, three ornithological, and two floristic reserves.
Climate and wildlife
Low-intensive human activity makes the park more natural and unique. The park includes a large variety of landscapes but the two most predominant are the forest complexes, comprised mainly of pine, and Bug River valley. FloraFlora
Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...
of Bug Landscape Park
Bug Landscape Park
Bug Landscape Park is a protected area in east-central Poland, and one of over a hundred Polish Landscape Parks. The Park lies within Masovian Voivodeship, on the Bug River...
counts about 1,300 species, among them there are 39 species of trees and 59 of shrubs. The park is rich in species of plant under protection, such as: silene dichotoma
Silene dichotoma
Silene dichotoma is a species of flowering plant in the pink family known by the common name forked catchfly. It is native to Eurasia and it is known in other parts of the temperate world, such as sections of North America, where it is a weed that grows in disturbed habitat. It is an annual herb...
, saxifraga tridactylites
Saxifraga tridactylites
Saxifraga tridactylites, the Rue-leaved Saxifrage or "nailwort", is a species of plant in the family Saxifragaceae....
, medicago minima
Medicago minima
Medicago minima is a plant species of the genus Medicago. It is native to the Mediterranean basin but is found worldwide. It forms a symbiotic relationship with the bacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti, which is capable of nitrogen fixation...
, Turk’s cap lily, twinflower
Twinflower
Linnaea is a plant genus in the family Caprifoliaceae . The genus includes a single, generally boreal to subarctic woodland subshrub species, Linnaea borealis, commonly known as Twinflower .This plant was a favorite of Carl Linnaeus, founder of the modern system of biological nomenclature, for...
and willow
Willow
Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...
Salix starkeana
The valley of Bug River
Bug River
The Bug River is a left tributary of the Narew river flows from central Ukraine to the west, passing along the Ukraine-Polish and Polish-Belarusian border and into Poland, where it empties into the Narew river near Serock. The part between the lake and the Vistula River is sometimes referred to as...
and associated wet areas is the habitat of many birds
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
endangered of becoming extinct. These include the: black stork
Black Stork
The Black Stork Ciconia nigra is a large wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. It is a widespread, but rare, species that breeds in the warmer parts of Europe, predominantly in central and eastern regions. This is a shy and wary species, unlike the closely related White Stork. It is seen in...
, common sandpiper
Common Sandpiper
The Common Sandpiper is a small Palearctic wader. This bird and its American sister species, the Spotted Sandpiper , make up the genus Actitis. They are parapatric and replace each other geographically; stray birds of either species may settle down with breeders of the other and hybridize...
, common snipe
Common Snipe
The Common Snipe is a small, stocky wader native to the Old World. The breeding habitat is marshes, bogs, tundra and wet meadows throughout northern Europe and northern Asia...
, Eurasian curlew
Eurasian Curlew
The Eurasian Curlew, Numenius arquata, is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae. It is one of the most widespread of the curlews, breeding across temperate Europe and Asia...
, grey heron
Grey Heron
The Grey Heron , is a wading bird of the heron family Ardeidae, native throughout temperate Europe and Asia and also parts of Africa. It is resident in the milder south and west, but many birds retreat in winter from the ice in colder regions...
, ruff
Ruff
The Ruff is a medium-sized wading bird that breeds in marshes and wet meadows across northern Eurasia. This highly gregarious sandpiper is migratory and sometimes forms huge flocks in its winter grounds, which include southern and western Europe, Africa, southern Asia and Australia...
. Migrating birds use the park for feeding and resting.
Moreover, in the park there are 37 species of mammals, including beavers
Beaver
The beaver is a primarily nocturnal, large, semi-aquatic rodent. Castor includes two extant species, North American Beaver and Eurasian Beaver . Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges . They are the second-largest rodent in the world...
, moose
Moose
The moose or Eurasian elk is the largest extant species in the deer family. Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with a dendritic configuration...
and otters
Otter
The Otters are twelve species of semi-aquatic mammals which feed on fish and shellfish, and also other invertebrates, amphibians, birds and small mammals....
.
Among reptiles there are: European pond turtles, and coronella austriaca known as the smooth snake. Moreover, 12 species of amphibians
Amphibian
Amphibians , are a class of vertebrate animals including animals such as toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. They are characterized as non-amniote ectothermic tetrapods...
and 29 of fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
can be found there.
Tourist and biodiversity interest
Within the park, there are 251 monuments of natureNatural Monument
A natural monument is a natural or natural/cultural feature of outstanding or unique value because of its inherent rarity, representative of aesthetic qualities or cultural significance....
primarily comprised of trees such as(ashes, limes
Tilia
Tilia is a genus of about 30 species of trees native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The greatest species diversity is found in Asia, and the genus also occurs in Europe and eastern North America, but not western North America...
, oaks
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
, pines
Pine
Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...
). Other monuments include: colony of ant-hills, a monadnock
Monadnock
A monadnock or inselberg is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain...
hill, a subterranean fungus site and a 3 km long oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
avenue which includes 442 trees (up to 450 cm in diameter).
One of the unique characteristics of Bug Landscape Park
Bug Landscape Park
Bug Landscape Park is a protected area in east-central Poland, and one of over a hundred Polish Landscape Parks. The Park lies within Masovian Voivodeship, on the Bug River...
is the continuing presence of Polish village culture manifesting in tradition folk sculpture and music. This also includes local holidays such as the Potato’s Day and Bread festivals along with historic wooden structures, roadside crucifixes, old mills, and small chapels scattered throughout the many villages and towns. Barns and hay stacks seem to be typical of the Bug River valley. Furthermore, within the park are palaces and nobleman's manors like those in Korczew
Korczew
Korczew may refer to the following places:*Korczew, Bełchatów County in Łódź Voivodeship *Korczew, Zduńska Wola County in Łódź Voivodeship *Korczew, Masovian Voivodeship...
, Starawieś
Starawies
Starawieś is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Liw, within Węgrów County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It lies approximately north-west of Węgrów and east of Warsaw.The village has a population of 560.-References:...
and Sterdyń
Sterdyn
Sterdyń is a village in Sokołów County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Sterdyń. It lies approximately north of Sokołów Podlaski and north-east of Warsaw....
as well as big temples, for instance in Kosów Lacki
Kosów Lacki
Kosów Lacki is a town in Sokołów County, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland, with 2,152 inhabitants .-History:*1202 - First mention of a village Kossów found in documents belonging to prince Konrad Mazowiecki....
and Sokołów Podlaski. National and regional history is commemorated by monuments, museums, and tombs. The historically significant site is the Treblinka extermination camp
Treblinka extermination camp
Treblinka was a Nazi extermination camp in occupied Poland during World War II near the village of Treblinka in the modern-day Masovian Voivodeship of Poland. The camp, which was constructed as part of Operation Reinhard, operated between and ,. During this time, approximately 850,000 men, women...
, where the Nazis during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
conducted an extermination program against Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
, Gypsies, and other groups who the Nazi party deemed deviant.
In park there are numerous hiking and cycling trails making in an attractive destination angling
Angling
Angling is a method of fishing by means of an "angle" . The hook is usually attached to a fishing line and the line is often attached to a fishing rod. Fishing rods are usually fitted with a fishing reel that functions as a mechanism for storing, retrieving and paying out the line. The hook itself...
and ecotourism
Ecotourism
Ecotourism is a form of tourism visiting fragile, pristine, and usually protected areas, intended as a low impact and often small scale alternative to standard commercial tourism...
. Canoeing
Canoeing
Canoeing is an outdoor activity that involves a special kind of canoe.Open canoes may be 'poled' , sailed, 'lined and tracked' or even 'gunnel-bobbed'....
and rafting
Rafting
Rafting or white water rafting is a challenging recreational outdoor activity using an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other bodies of water. This is usually done on white water or different degrees of rough water, in order to thrill and excite the raft passengers. The development of this...
are popular activities as well.
The populated areas of the park are comprised mainly of villages and small cities with Sokołów Podlaski, population about 18,000, being the largest.