Roztocze National Park

It was established in 1974 on the area of 8482 ha, of which the forests take 95%. The diversified landscape of the Park is composed of ranges of woody hills built of cretaceous and limestone rocks traversed by the river Wieprz and the stream Swierszcz valleys.

The area is covered mainly by forest communities, the dominating species are: the pine (95%), the fir-tree (26%) and the beech (11%). There are around 400 monument trees in the Park, half of which are beeches. 17 forest groups have been distinguished here, the biggest area is covered by the Carpathian beech wood (30%), the most valuable group is the highland fir-tree mixed forest Abietum polonicum. The communities of temporary and low peatbogs are also very interesting.

The flora of the Park comprises over 750 species of vascular plants, including 40 legally protected species of various origin, e.g. the twinflower Linnaea borealis, the scheuchzeria Scheuchzeria palustris and the cord-rooted sedge Carex chordorrhiza.

Rich, mainly forest fauna, many rare and legally protected species, e.g. the common shrew Sorex draneus, the pygmy-shrew Sorex minutus, the white toothed shrew Crocidura, the water shrew Neomys fodies. In 1982 a refuge for the tarpan Equus gmelini was made to maintain this species. In the Park one can observe around 160 species of birds, the rare ones are: the lesser spotted eagle Aquila pomarina, the white-tailed eagle Haliaeetus albicilla, the osprey Pandion haliaetus, the sparrow-hawk Accipiter nisus, the black stork Ciconia nigra.

The amphibians are represented by the salamander Salamandra salamandra the fire bellied toad Bombina bombina, the smooth newt Triturus vulgaris and the warty newt Triturus cristatus.

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