Białowieża Forest

People have protected this forest for a very long time.

Dead trees stay in the forest, standing up or lying down.

UNESCO says that, thanks to protection over several ages, the forest has survived in its natural state. Its extensive undisturbed areas let natural processes carry on.

In these areas, dead trees stay where they are, standing or lying on the ground. All this dead wood feeds many kinds of fungi and invertebrates (animals without backbones).

The Białowieża National Park says the forest was a royal hunting area for centuries and so avoided the logging that removed other forests; in its strictly protected area, natural processes only slightly disturbed by people have never been interrupted. UNESCO credits several ages of protection for its natural state.

UNESCO describes extensive undisturbed areas where natural processes are ongoing; one result is the richness of dead wood, standing and on the ground, and a high diversity of fungi and saproxylic (dead-wood-dependent) invertebrates.

Wolves, lynx and otters live in the forest.

Beavers and many kinds of birds live here too.

UNESCO counts 59 kinds of mammals, more than 250 kinds of birds, 13 amphibians, 7 reptiles and more than 12,000 kinds of invertebrates. UNESCO says the forest supports complete food webs, including wolves, lynx and otters.

On the park's Wolf's Trail, visitors may see beavers and birds of prey over the Narewka River valley, and an oak about 350 years old.

UNESCO lists 59 mammal species, over 250 birds, 13 amphibians, 7 reptiles and over 12,000 invertebrates, plus a diverse flora and notable fungi; several new species have been described here. Besides forest it protects wet meadows, river valleys and other wetlands, and its integral forest area supports complete food webs, including large carnivores (wolf, lynx and otter).

Along the national park's Wolf's Trail, the park mentions beavers and birds of prey over the Narewka valley, a raised bog and an oak more than five and a half meters around that has grown for about 350 years.

The European bison is the biggest land mammal in Europe.

People brought bison back to this forest, and now many walk free here.

The Białowieża National Park calls the European bison the largest land mammal in Europe and the park's symbol. The forest was the lowland bison's last refuge, and it was here that people began returning bison to the wild.

The park says the Polish part of the forest now has the largest free population of European bison in the world, about 800 animals.

The national park calls the forest the lowland European bison's last refuge and the place where its restitution (return to nature) began. The European Bison Pedigree Book, published by the park, has its origins in the 1930s, when international work began to restore a species already extinct in the wild; a census of the surviving pure-bred animals in zoos and private collections was made in 1931.

Today the park reports about 800 free-living bison in the Polish part of the forest (about 62,000 ha). UNESCO gives about 900 in the whole World Heritage site: almost 25% of the world's population and over 30% of free-living bison.

Stay on the paths in the forest.

Do not go into the forest at night or in a storm or strong wind.

The Białowieża National Park asks visitors to stay on its designated trails and paths. It does not allow visits to the forest at night, from half an hour after sunset to half an hour before sunrise, or during storms and strong wind.

The most strictly protected part can be visited only with a guide licensed by the park, in groups of up to 10 people.

Park rules forbid being in the forest at night (half an hour after sunset to half an hour before sunrise, with a September exception at the Kosy Most bison viewing area), during storms and strong wind, and off the designated routes, trails and nature paths.

The strictly protected zone (the former Strict Reserve) is open only on a set route with a guide licensed by the park director, in groups of at most 10. The park says bison are easiest to see from the Wolf's Trail viewing point in autumn and winter.