Puszcza Piska Forest or the Pisz Forest (german: Johannisburger Heide) is the largest forest complex of the

Masuria Masuria (, german: Masuren, Masurian: ''Mazurÿ'') is a ethnographic and geographic region in northern and northeastern Poland, known for its 2,000 lakes. Masuria occupies much of the Masurian Lake District. Administratively, it is part of the ...

region in northern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

, adjacent to the

Masurian Landscape Park Masurian Landscape Park ( pl, Mazurski Park Krajobrazowy) is a designated Polish Landscape Park protected area within Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It is one of the largest landscape parks in Poland. It was established in 1977 ...

, and the Masurian Lowlands. Formerly known as the Jańsborska wilderness, Puszcza Piska bears the name of the

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the ...

river bordering the Forest along its west bank. The Pisz Forest consists of a unique combination of coniferous trees, lakes and rivers. Its total area is 100,000 ha. It covers the

communes An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, ...

Mikołajki Mikołajki () is a resort town in Mrągowo County in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in north-eastern Poland, with 3,852 inhabitants as of 2017. The town is located near the Śniardwy, the largest lake of both the Masurian Lake District an ...

Mrągowo Mrągowo (until 1947 pl, Ządźbork ; ) is a resort town in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship of northeastern Poland, with 21,889 inhabitants (2019). It is the capital of Mrągowo County and the seat (though not part of) the Gmina Mrągowo. Th ...

, Piecki, Sorkwity,

Biskupiec Biskupiec (german: Bischofsburg, ) is a town in northern Poland, in Warmia, in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. It is located in Olsztyn County and, as of December 2021, it has a population of 10,496. The countryside surrounding Biskupiec is a ...

Biała Piska Biała Piska (former pl, Biała; german: Bialla, 1938-45: Gehlenburg, 1334: Gailen) is a town in Pisz County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland, with 3,986 inhabitants as of December 2021. Geography Biała Piska is a recreation area in ...

Orzysz Orzysz (English pronunciation , german: Arys) is a town in northeastern Poland, in the Pisz County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, with 7,512 inhabitants (2007). It is located on Orzysz Lake in the region of Masuria. A garrison of the Polish Ar ...

Pisz Pisz (pronounced , previously also ''Jańsbork'', german: Johannisburg) is a historic town in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in northern Poland, with a population of 19,466 (2016). It is the seat of Pisz County. Pisz is situated at the juncti ...

Ruciane-Nida Ruciane-Nida is a town in Pisz County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland. The town was formed in 1966 by the merger of three smaller settlements: Ruciane (german: Rudczanny, renamed ''Niedersee'' in 1938), Nida (German: ''Nieden'') and Wola R ...

Dźwierzuty Dźwierzuty (german: Mensguth) is a village in Szczytno County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Dźwierzuty.Rozogi,

Szczytno Szczytno (german: Ortelsburg) is a town in northeastern Poland with 27,970 inhabitants (2004). Szczytno is situated in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodship (since 1999), but was previously in Olsztyn Voivodship (1975-1998). It is located within the ...

, Świętajno,

Kolno Kolno is a town in northeastern Poland, located in the Podlaskie Voivodeship, about 150 km northeast of Warsaw. It is the seat of Kolno County, and the seat of the smaller administrative district (gmina) called Gmina Kolno, but it is no ...

, Turośl and Łyse. Within its borders are a number of lakes, designated as nature reserves. Among them: Bełdany, Nidzkie, Jegocin, Warnołty nature reserve, Mokre, and the largest lake in Poland called

Śniardwy Śniardwy () is a lake in the Masurian Lake District of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland. At , Śniardwy is the largest lake in Poland. It was also the largest lake in Prussia, when Warmia-Masuria was under German rule. It is long an ...

. Two principal rivers flow through the area – Krutynia and

, as well as many smaller

tributaries A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...

and streams.

Flora

The southern part of the forest grows on sands and lowland

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...

s. The soil is being drained by the Narew tributaries, including Pisa and Szkwa, as well as many lakes. The northern part of the complex borders on

Masurian Lake District The Masurian Lake District or Masurian Lakeland ( pl, Pojezierze Mazurskie; german: Masurische Seenplatte) is a lake district in northeastern Poland within the geographical region of Masuria, in the past inhabited by Masurians who spoke the Masuri ...

known in Polish as Kraina Wielkich Jezior. The Piska Forest consists of

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family (biology), family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanic ...

and

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ( taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the sub ...

groves with the mixture of

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 3 ...

aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section ''Populus'', of the ''Populus'' genus. Species These species are called aspens: *'' Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (Chin ...

maple ''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since ht ...

alder Alders are trees comprising the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus comprises about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few sp ...

and

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

growing on sandy soil mainly at the southern end of the forest. The best known among the local trees is the "Masurian pine" covering eastern edges of the Mokre lake. It reaches the height of 40 m and the age of 200 years.

Fauna

Puszcza Piska is a

bird sanctuary An animal sanctuary is a facility where animals are brought to live and to be protected for the rest of their lives. Pattrice Jones, co-founder of VINE Sanctuary defines an animal sanctuary as "a safe-enough place or relationship within the cont ...

on a European scale, featuring eleven nature reserves within its own Masurian Landscape Park (Mazurski Park Krajobrazowy) established in 1977 with the total area of 53,600 ha. The most valuable reserve is located at the

Łuknajno Lake Łuknajno (german: Lucknainer See) is a lake in the Masurian Lake District of north-eastern Poland, in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. It lies approximately east of the town of Mikołajki, close to the north-western corner of Poland's largest lake ...

near the town of

– a

Ramsar Ramsar may refer to: * Places so named: ** Ramsar, Mazandaran, city in Iran ** Ramsar, Rajasthan, village in India * Eponyms of the Iranian city: ** Ramsar Convention concerning wetlands, signed in Ramsar, Iran ** Ramsar site, wetland listed in a ...

site designated by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. I ...

as a

biosphere 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, or features of geological or o ...

. It is the home of the

mute swan The mute swan (''Cygnus olor'') is a species of swan and a member of the waterfowl family Anatidae. It is native to much of Eurosiberia, and (as a rare winter visitor) the far north of Africa. It is an introduced species in North America, ho ...

(''pictured''), native to

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...

regions of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

and western

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...

, in time of

moult In biology, moulting (British English), or molting (American English), also known as sloughing, shedding, or in many invertebrates, ecdysis, is the manner in which an animal routinely casts off a part of its body (often, but not always, an outer ...

arriving in numbers reaching up to 2,000 birds. Many species of wild animals live in the forest, among them:

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the ...

elk The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The com ...

moose The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult ma ...

wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...

hare Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The g ...

fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

and recently reintroduced

lynx A lynx is a type of wild cat. Lynx may also refer to: Astronomy * Lynx (constellation) * Lynx (Chinese astronomy) * Lynx X-ray Observatory, a NASA-funded mission concept for a next-generation X-ray space observatory Places Canada * Lynx, Ontar ...

. On

wetlands A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free ( anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

, most saturated with water,

beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers a ...

lodges can be found. The symbol of the park is a

white stork The white stork (''Ciconia ciconia'') is a large bird in the stork family, Ciconiidae. Its plumage is mainly white, with black on the bird's wings. Adults have long red legs and long pointed red beaks, and measure on average from beak tip to en ...

with nests scattered over many local villages.

Gallery

Puszcza Piska - Stare Kiełbonki, 2021 01.jpg, Forest near

Stare Kiełbonki Stare Kiełbonki is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Piecki, within Mrągowo County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It lies approximately south of Piecki, south of Mrągowo, and east of the regional capital ...

Poland. Gmina Ruciane-Nida. Niedźwiedzi Róg 008.JPG,

Lake at the Pisz Forest near

Gmina Piecki, Poland - panoramio (75).jpg, Nature reserve Królewska Sosna Majcz4.jpg, Nature reserve Strzałowo Zdróżno.JPG, Zdróżno Lake

References

* Paulina Garbalińska, Jarosław Skłodowski
"Body size differentiation in selected carabid species inhabiting Puszcza Piska forest stands disturbed by the hurricane."
Department of Forest Protection and Ecology,

Warsaw University of Life Sciences The Warsaw University of Life Sciences ( pl, Szkoła Główna Gospodarstwa Wiejskiego, lit=Main School of Rural Homestead, SGGW) is the largest agricultural university in Poland, established in 1816 in Warsaw. It employs over 2,600 staff including ...

*
"Kraina Mazursko – Podlaska Charakterystyka przyrodniczo-leśna,"
''Regionalna Dyrekcja Lasów Państwowych,''

Białystok Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area. Białystok is located in the Białystok Up ...

External links

{{Authority control Forests of Poland Geography of Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship Parks in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship Natura 2000 in Poland Special Protection Areas Nature conservation in Poland

Flora

Fauna

Gallery

See also

References

External links