The Bory Tucholskie Biosphere Reserve
The day of 2nd June 2010 is a very particular date in the history of the Bory Tucholskie Protection. On that day, the International coordination Council having its session in Paris (under Man and Biosphere Program) decided to establish the “Bory Tucholskie” Biosphere Reserve. This is the tenth and the biggest biosphere reserve in Poland. The establishment of the reserve effected after almost 20-year cooperation between scientific circles, self-governmental authorities and non-governmental organizations. It is designed to protect valuable area from the natural and cultural perspectives. The international rank of the area, namely the granting of the recognizable in the whole world brand, certainly will facilitate the promotion of the Bory Tucholskie forest as the area, on which an economic growth is combined with the environmental protection, including the protection of landscapes and cultural heritage in the light of widely understood sustainable development. Moreover, inhabitants of the region more sensitive to the pro-ecological manners of using eco-systems intend to establish harmony between the society and the nature.
Functions of the reserve
- Protection – contribution to the protection of eco-systems, landscapes, genetic and species diversity. Within the area of the reserve there is a number of valuable nature habitats, among others acid beech woods, fertile beech woods, bog birch woods, acidophilic oak woods, cladonia forests, transient peat-bogs and raised peat bogs, inland sand grasslands, lobelia lakes, dystrophic lakes, lakes facilitating underwater meadows growth, dry heathlands. They represent ecological systems typical of lowland areas of the Central Europe, where many rare, relict and protected species of animals and plants exist.
- Development – triggering of ecological and social development of ecologically, socially and culturally balanced area. The area of the reserve is inhabited by several ethnic groups of the population, where the maintenance sources are obtained by collecting products of forest eco-systems (soliciting timber, picking berries, mushrooms and hunting), water eco-systems as well as harvesting small farms. Inhabitants of the region are deeply aware of the fact that the condition of nature exerts the influence on their standards of living. In recent years, a rapidly developing branch of economy refers to agro-tourism.
- Logistic support – supporting projects related to the environmental protection and a balanced development (ecological education, research, monitoring, promoting the region). Scientific research and monitoring are run on the basis of 10 field stations of universities and institutes, among others from Toruń, Bydgoszcz, Gdańsk, Łódź and Poznań. The educational activity is run by educational laboratories: of the national park, landscape parks, forestry managements; nature and ethnographic museums, dendrology parks as well as laboratories in schools of the region.
The area of the Reserve
- the indigenous zone with the area of 7880.72 ha covering the “Bory Tucholskie” National Park and 25 nature reserves: the Brda River Valley, the Bogs at the Stążka River, the Source of the Stążka River, the Piaseczno Lake, Service Trees under the name of Zygmunt Czubiński, Miedzno, old Polish yews under the name of Leon Wyczółkowski, the Laska Lake, the Mętne Lake, the cladonia forest, Bagno Stawek (the little pond bog), the Ciche Lake, the Małe Łowne Lake, Piecki, yews over the Czerska Struga, Kręgi Kamienne (stone circles), the Zdręczno Lake, Krwawe Doły, Dury, Jeziorka Kozie, Nawionek, Ustronie, Bagno Grzybna (the Grzybno bog), Jelenia Góra, and Martwe. The above mentioned constitute the most precious nature objects of the whole Bory Tucholskie region.
- the buffer zone with the area of 104 779.32 ha covering 4 landscape parks: the Tucholski, Wdecki, Wdzydzki, Zaborski parks. They constitute a buffer for nature reserves located within them.
- the transit zone with the area of 206 864.57 ha consisting of the area of 22 municipalities (13 municipalities of the Kujawy and Pomerania Region and 9 municipalities from the Pomeranian Region), which do not fall into the composition of the national park or landscape parks: Bukowiec, Cekcyn, Drzycim, Gostycyn, Jeżewo, Kęsowo, Lniano, Lubiewo, Osie, Śliwice, Świekatowo, Tuchola, Warlubie and Brusy, Chojnice, Czersk, Dziemiany, Karsin, Konarzyny, Kościerzyna, Lipusz, Stara Kiszewa. From the economic perspective the area is homogenous, oriented on forest management, timber and other forest products processing as well as recreation and leisure.