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About a thousand years ago, all our countries were covered by woods like this.
Mateusz Szymura, Białowieża National Park Nature Conservation Team
The forest straddles the Polish-Belarusian border and at 1200 km2 is the largest surviving piece of virgin woodland anywhere in Europe.
Once a hunting ground for mediaeval Polish kings and later for Russian Tsars, Białowieża remained relatively undisturbed by humans until large-scale logging and killing of bison in World War I. The last bison died in 1919 and the species was only saved from extinction through a breeding programme that drew on the few remaining specimens left in zoos and private collections. There are now more than 450 bison in the Polish part of the forest, many of which roam free.
"In Białowieża forest you can see the full cycle of life, a cycle which isn’t stopped by human intervention." Mateusz Szymura
In the ‘strictly protected’ zone of the Park, the forces of nature are allowed to take their course without any human interference. Covered in moss and mushrooms, decomposing trees lie on the ground, allowing staff to observe how fast the forest naturally regenerates.
Other areas of the Park are ‘actively protected’, which means that staff work to maintain the natural ecosystems and habitats for plants, animals and fungi.
"The forest has a unique ecosystem. Some species still behave like they did centu-ries ago. It’s behavior you can’t see anywhere else." Mateusz Szymura
Weather observations show a small increase in the average annual temperature here over the last 50 years, and there has also been some lowering of the groundwater level. So far, the only indications of climate-related impacts have been an earlier blossoming of certain plants, and a lower resistance to insects among the spruce trees, perhaps caused by the decrease in rainfall. The changes noted are far from clear, however, and more time will be needed before any definitive conclusions about the likely impacts of climate change can be drawn.
For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/atlas/eea/a-day-in-my-forest/story/article or scan the QR code.
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