Bug Landscape Park (''Nadbużański Park Krajobrazowy'') 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 east-central

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 ...

, and one of over a hundred Polish Landscape Parks. The park lies within

Masovian Voivodeship Masovian Voivodeship or Mazowieckie Province (, ) and any variation thereof, is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship (province) in east-central Poland, containing Poland's capital Warsaw. Masovian Voivodeship has an area of and had a 2019 po ...

, on the

Bug River The Bug or Western Bug is a major river in Central Europe that flows through Belarus (border), Poland, and Ukraine, with a total length of .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. Kurpie is also the name of ...

Masovia Mazovia or Masovia ( ) is a historical region in mid-north-eastern Poland. It spans the North European Plain, roughly between Łódź and Białystok, with Warsaw being the largest city and Płock being the capital of the region . Throughout the ...

and

Podlasie Podlachia, also known by its Polish name Podlasie (; ; ), is a historical region in north-eastern Poland. Its largest city is Białystok, whereas the historical capital is Drohiczyn. Similarly to several other historical regions of Poland, e.g ...

. The park covers an area of 741.36 square kilometres plus 395,35 square kilometres of protection zone. Within the Bug Landscape Park, fourteen

nature reserves 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 geolog ...

have been established with a further three planned. Included within those reserves are seven forests, three

bird reserve A bird reserve (also called ornithological reserve) is a wildlife refuge designed to protect bird species. Like other wildlife refuges, the main goal of a reserve is to prevent species from becoming endangered or extinct. Typically, bird species in ...

s, and two flower reserves. The name of the Bug River is derived from an old Slavic word for “wetland”.

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, composed mainly of pine, and Bug River valley.

Flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

of Bug Landscape Park counts about 1,300 species, among them there are 39 species of trees and 59 of shrubs. The park contains many protected plants, such as: ''

silene dichotoma ''Silene'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Caryophyllaceae. Containing nearly 900 species, it is the largest genus in the family. Common names include campion and catchfly. Many ''Silene'' species are widely distributed, particularl ...

'', ''

saxifraga tridactylites ''Saxifraga tridactylites'', the rue-leaved saxifrage or " nailwort", is a species of plant in the family Saxifragaceae. Rue-leaved saxifrage is a winter-annual herb with distinctive, trilobed, fleshy leaves and red stems. These stems, the le ...

'', ''

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 fixat ...

'',

Turk's cap lily Turk's cap lily is a common name for several plants and may refer to: * '' Lilium martagon'', a species native to a wide area from central Europe east to Mongolia and Korea * '' Lilium michauxii'', a species native to southeastern North America * ' ...

twinflower ''Linnaea borealis'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Caprifoliaceae (the honeysuckle family). It is the only species in the genus ''Linnaea''. It is a boreal to subarctic woodland subshrub, commonly known as twinflower (sometimes ...

and the variety of

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, of the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 350 species (plus numerous hybrids) of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions. Most species are known ...

known as ''Salix starkeana'' The valley of

Bug River The Bug or Western Bug is a major river in Central Europe that flows through Belarus (border), Poland, and Ukraine, with a total length of .bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

s including the

black stork The black stork (''Ciconia nigra'') is a large bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. Measuring on average from beak tip to end of tail with a wingspan, t ...

, the

common sandpiper The common sandpiper (''Actitis hypoleucos'') is a small Palearctic wader. This bird and its Americas, American sister species, the spotted sandpiper (''A. macularia''), make up the genus ''Actitis''. They are parapatric and replace each other ge ...

, the

common snipe The common snipe (''Gallinago gallinago'') is a small, stocky wader native to the Old World. Distribution and habitat The breeding habitats are marshes, bogs, tundra and wet meadows throughout the Palearctic. In the north, the distribution li ...

, the

Eurasian curlew The Eurasian curlew or common curlew (''Numenius arquata'') is a very large wader in the family Scolopacidae. It is one of the most widespread of the curlews, breeding across temperate Europe and Asia. In Europe, this species is often referred ...

, the

grey heron The grey heron (''Ardea cinerea'') is a long-legged wading bird of the heron family, Ardeidae, native throughout temperate Europe and Asia, and also parts of Africa. It is resident in much of its range, but some populations from the more norther ...

, the

ruff Ruff may refer to: Places *Ruff, Virginia, United States, an unincorporated community *Ruff, Washington, United States, an unincorporated community Other uses *Ruff (bird) (''Calidris pugnax'' or ''Philomachus pugnax''), a bird in the wader famil ...

. Migrating birds use the park for feeding and rest. The park also has 37 mammal species including

beaver Beavers (genus ''Castor'') are large, semiaquatic rodents of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two existing species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are the second-large ...

moose The moose (: 'moose'; used in North America) or elk (: 'elk' or 'elks'; used in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is the world's tallest, largest and heaviest extant species of deer and the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is also the tal ...

and

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which includes weasels, badgers, mink, and wolverines, among ...

s, as well as reptiles including

European pond turtle The European pond turtle (''Emys orbicularis''), also called Common name, commonly the European pond terrapin and the European pond tortoise, is a species of long-living freshwater turtle in the Family (biology), family Emydidae. The species is E ...

s, and ''

coronella austriaca The smooth snake (''Coronella austriaca'')Street D (1979). ''The Reptiles of Northern and Central Europe''. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. 268 pp. . is a species of non-venomous snake in the family Colubridae. The species is found in northern and cen ...

'' known as the smooth snake. Moreover, 12 species of

amphibian Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...

s and 29 species of

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

can be found there.

Tourist and biodiversity interest

Within the park, there are 251 monuments of nature primarily trees such as

ashes Ashes may refer to: * Ash, the solid remnants of fires. Media and entertainment Art * ''Ashes'' (Munch), an 1894 painting by Edvard Munch Film * ''The Ashes'' (film), a 1965 Polish film by director Andrzej Wajda * ''Ashes'' (1922 film), ...

limes Limes may refer to: * ''Limes'' (Roman Empire), a border marker and defense system of the Roman Empire * ''Limes'' (Italian magazine), an Italian geopolitical magazine * ''Limes'' (Romanian magazine), a Romanian literary and political quarterly ma ...

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

s. Other monuments include a colony of

ant-hill An ant colony is a population of ants, typically from a single species, capable of maintaining their complete lifecycle. Ant colonies are eusocial, communal, and efficiently organized and are very much like those found in other social Hymenop ...

s, a

monadnock An inselberg or monadnock ( ) is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain. In Southern Africa, a similar formation of granite is known as a koppie, an ...

hill, a subterranean fungus site and a 3 km long avenue of

s made up of 442 individual trees with diameters of up to 450 cm. The populated areas of the park are composed mainly of villages and small cities with

Sokołów Podlaski Sokołów Podlaski is a town in Poland, in Masovian Voivodeship, about east of Warsaw. The town lies on the Cetynia river, in the historical region of Podlachia and is the capital of Sokołów County. The first settlement was in the 6th century a ...

(pop. 18,000) being the largest. One of the unique characteristics of the park is the continuing presence of Polish rural culture, notably traditional folk music and sculpture. Barns and hay stacks are a typical sight in the Bug River valley, along with historic wooden architecture, roadside crucifixes, old mills and small shrines scattered throughout the many towns and villages, where local fetes are celebrated, such as the Potato Day or Bread Festivals. The park also contains some palaces and stately houses as well as smaller manor houses such as those in Korczew,

Starawieś 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 Warsaw, officially the Capital City ...

and

Sterdyń Sterdyń is a village in Sokołów County, Masovian Voivodeship, in eastern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Sterdyń. It lies approximately north of Sokołów Podlaski and north-east of Warsaw. History ...

. There are some large churches in the area, e.g. in

Kosów Lacki Kosów Lacki is a town in Sokołów County, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland, with 2,152 inhabitants (2004). Within the municipal territory are the two Treblinka camps. History *1202 - First mention of a village Kossów found in documents belonging ...

and

. The area also includes monuments of Polish and regional history such as statues, museums, and tombs. One historically significant site is the

Treblinka extermination camp Treblinka () was the second-deadliest extermination camp to be built and operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II. It was in a forest north-east of Warsaw, south of the village of Treblinka in what is now the Mas ...

, where the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

conducted an extermination program against

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

Gypsies {{Infobox ethnic group , group = Romani people , image = , image_caption = , flag = Roma flag.svg , flag_caption = Romani flag created in 1933 and accepted at the 1971 World Romani Congress , ...

, and other groups considered deviant by the

Nazi party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

. The park contains a large number of hiking and cycling trails, making it an attractive destination for

angling Angling (from Old English ''angol'', meaning "hook") is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook attached to a fishing line to tether individual fish in the mouth. The fishing line is usually manipulated with a fishing rod, although rodless te ...

and

ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of nature-oriented tourism intended to contribute to the Ecological conservation, conservation of the natural environment, generally defined as being minimally impactful, and including providing both contributions to conserv ...

Canoeing Canoeing is an activity which involves paddling a canoe with a single-bladed paddle. In some parts of Europe, canoeing refers to both canoeing and kayaking, with a canoe being called an 'open canoe' or Canadian. A few of the recreational ...

and

rafting Rafting and whitewater rafting are recreational outdoor activities which use an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other body of water. This is often done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water. Dealing with risk is often a ...

are also popular.

References

External links

Official website

Bibliography

* * {{Coord, 52.619425, 21.846953, format=dms, display=title, type:landmark Bug Parks in Masovian Voivodeship Holocaust locations in Poland 1993 establishments in Poland Protected areas established in 1993

Climate and wildlife

Tourist and biodiversity interest

See also

References

External links

Bibliography