Nature reserves in Lesser Poland Voivodship. Past, present and future

The fourth monograph in the series resulting from the nationwide campaign "Nature reserves – time for a comeback!" conducted by the Naturalists' Club in cooperation with several non-governmental nature organizations and a large group of scientists and nature enthusiasts has been published. The authors, including Dr Łukasz Piechnik from our Institute, described the history, current state and possible future of nature reserve protection in the Lesser Poland (Małopolska) Voivodship. They also gave a detailed presentation of 100 sites – selected based on field inspections from among 168 proposals (completely new and those submitted in the past) – worthy of being placed under reserve protection. Each site was checked for compliance with the criteria (including the degree of threat or representativeness of a given habitat or population in the protection system in the voivodship).

The proposed reserves are of very different types. They include geological, floristic and landscape reserves, as well as those aimed at protecting animal populations. The proposals for peatland and water reserves, of which there are very few in the Lesser Poland Voivodship, deserve special attention. All the sites presented in the monograph cover over 7,600 ha, i.e. 0.5% of the voivodship's area.

It should be noted that the monograph was somewhat outdated at the time of publication. Fortunately, in the positive sense of the word. Four of the sites presented by the authors – "Cisy w Wyskitnej", "Jaworzyna na Chełmie", "Kozie Żebro" and "Markowiec-Gródek" – became reserves by the decision of the Regional Director for Environmental Protection (of December 4 this year). These reserves were established as part of the initiative to create 100 new nature reserves on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Polish State Forests.

The publication of the monograph does not mean the end of activities within the social campaign for the expansion of reserve protection in the Lesser Poland Voivodship. Inventory work is planned in several sites in the near future, and then the submission of appropriate applications to the Regional Directorate for Environmental Protection in Kraków. One of the first sites where the inventory has already begun is the proposed reserve "Bagna Puszczy Dulowskiej (Swamps of the Dulowska Forest)" (see photos below). Interestingly, its creation would be the reactivation of the "Oblaszki" reserve that existed in this area before World War II.

We invite you to download the monograph in PDF version (in Polish).

Paper version of the monograph.
Photo: Łukasz Piechnik.

Chechło River – the proposed reserve "Bagna Puszczy Dulowskiej".
Photo: Łukasz Piechnik.

Coniferous bog forest of the Dulowska Forest – the proposed reserve "Bagna Puszczy Dulowskiej".
Photo: Magdalena Ryszowska.

The Chechło River floodplain – the proposed reserve "Bagna Puszczy Dulowskiej".
Photo: Magdalena Ryszowska.

Coniferous bog forest and sedge beds in the proposed reserve "Bagna Puszczy Dulowskiej".
Photo: Łukasz Piechnik.