Puszcza Piska Forest or the Pisz Forest is the largest forest complex of the Masuria

Masuria

Masuria is an area in northeastern Poland famous for its 2,000 lakes. Geographically, Masuria is part of two adjacent lakeland districts, the Masurian Lake District and the Iława Lake District...

 region in northern Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

, adjacent to the Masurian Landscape Park

Masurian Landscape Park

Masurian Landscape Park is a protected area in northern Poland, established in 1977; covering an area of in the Masurian Lake District....

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

C.

c. may refer to:* Circa: in genealogy and historical writing, c. means circa, and is used when the dates of events are approximately known...

100,000 ha

Hectare

The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...

. It covers the counties of Mikołajki, Mrągowo

Mragowo

Mrągowo is a town in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship of northeastern Poland, the capital of Mrągowo County and the seat the Gmina Mrągowo...

, Piecki

Piecki

Piecki may refer to the following places:*Piecki, Bydgoszcz County in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship *Piecki, Podlaskie Voivodeship *Piecki, Pomeranian Voivodeship...

, Sorkwity

Sorkwity

Sorkwity is a village in Mrągowo County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Sorkwity...

, Biskupiec

Biskupiec

Biskupiec is a town in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in Poland. It is located in Olsztyn County and has a predominantly Catholic population of approximately 11,400...

, Biała Piska, Orzysz

Orzysz

Orzysz is a town in Pisz County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland, with 7,512 inhabitants .-Notable residents:* Kurt Sanderling , conductor* Wolfgang Heyda , U-boat commander...

, Pisz

Pisz

Pisz is a town in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in Poland, with a population of 19,328 in 2004. It is the seat of Pisz County. Pisz is located at the junction of Lake Roś and the Pisa River.- Etymology :...

, Ruciane-Nida

Ruciane-Nida

Ruciane-Nida is a town in Pisz County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland, with 4,934 inhabitants . The town was formed in 1966 by the merger of three smaller settlements: Ruciane , Nida , and Wola Ratajowa....

, Dźwierzuty

Dzwierzuty

Dźwierzuty is a village in Szczytno County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Dźwierzuty...

, Rozogi, Szczytno

Szczytno

Szczytno is a town in north-eastern Poland with 27,970 inhabitants . Previously part of the Olsztyn Voivodeship, Szczytno was assigned to the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in 1999. It is the seat of Szczytno County....

, Świętajno, Kolno

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 called Gmina Kolno, but it is not part of this district, as the town has gmina status in its own...

, 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

Sniardwy

Śniardwy is a lake in the Masurian Lake District of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland. It is the largest lake in Poland with an area of . It is long and wide. The maximum depth is 23 metres...

. Two principal rivers flow through the area – Krutynia and Pisa, as well as many smaller tributaries

Tributary

A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...

 and streams.
The southern part of the Forest grows on sands and lowland bog

Bog

A bog, quagmire or mire is a wetland that accumulates acidic peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses or, in Arctic climates, lichens....

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

Pine

Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...

 and spruce

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 regions of the earth. Spruces are large trees, from tall when mature, and can be distinguished by their whorled branches and conical...

 groves with the mixture of birch

Birch

Birch is a tree or shrub of the genus Betula , in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae. The Betula genus contains 30–60 known taxa...

, aspen

Aspen

Populus section Populus, of the Populus genus, includes the aspen trees and the white poplar Populus alba. The five typical aspens are all native to cold regions with cool summers, in the north of the Northern Hemisphere, extending south at high altitudes in the mountains. The White Poplar, by...

, maple

Maple

Acer is a genus of trees or shrubs commonly known as maple.Maples are variously classified in a family of their own, the Aceraceae, or together with the Hippocastanaceae included in the family Sapindaceae. Modern classifications, including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system, favour inclusion in...

, alder

Alder

Alder is the common name of a genus of flowering plants belonging to the birch family . The genus comprises about 30 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, few reaching large size, distributed throughout the North Temperate Zone and in the Americas along the Andes southwards to...

 and oak

Oak

An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...

 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

M

M is the thirteenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The letter M is derived from the Phoenician Mem, via the Greek Mu . Semitic Mem probably originally pictured water...

 and the age of 200 years.

Puszcza Piska is a bird sanctuary

Animal sanctuary

An animal sanctuary is a facility where animals are brought to live and be protected for the rest of their lives. Unlike animal shelters, sanctuaries do not seek to place animals with individuals or groups, instead maintaining each animal until his or her natural death...

 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

Hectare

The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...

. The most valuable reserve is located at the Łuknajno Lake near the town of Mikołajki – a Ramsar

Ramsar Convention

The Ramsar Convention is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands, i.e., to stem the progressive encroachment on and loss of wetlands now and in the future, recognizing the fundamental ecological functions of wetlands and their economic, cultural,...

 site designated by UNESCO

UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

 as a biosphere reserve. It is the home of the Mute Swan

Mute Swan

The Mute Swan is a species of swan, and thus a member of the duck, goose and swan family Anatidae. It is native to much of Europe and Asia, and the far north of Africa. It is also an introduced species in North America, Australasia and southern Africa. The name 'mute' derives from it being less...

 (pictured), native to temperate regions of Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 and western Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

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

Deer

Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...

, elk

Elk

The Elk is the large deer, also called Cervus canadensis or wapiti, of North America and eastern Asia.Elk may also refer to:Other antlered mammals:...

, moose

Moose

The moose or Eurasian elk is the largest extant species in the deer family. Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with a dendritic configuration...

, wild boar, hare

Hare

Hares and jackrabbits are leporids belonging to the genus Lepus. Hares less than one year old are called leverets. Four species commonly known as types of hare are classified outside of Lepus: the hispid hare , and three species known as red rock hares .Hares are very fast-moving...

, fox

Fox

Fox is a common name for many species of omnivorous mammals belonging to the Canidae family. Foxes are small to medium-sized canids , characterized by possessing a long narrow snout, and a bushy tail .Members of about 37 species are referred to as foxes, of which only 12 species actually belong to...

 and recently reintroduced lynx

Lynx

A lynx is any of the four Lynx genus species of medium-sized wildcats. The name "lynx" originated in Middle English via Latin from Greek word "λύγξ", derived from the Indo-European root "*leuk-", meaning "light, brightness", in reference to the luminescence of its reflective eyes...

. On wetlands, most saturated with water, beaver

Beaver

The beaver is a primarily nocturnal, large, semi-aquatic rodent. Castor includes two extant species, North American Beaver and Eurasian Beaver . Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges . They are the second-largest rodent in the world...

 lodges can be found. The symbol of the Park is a white stork

White Stork

The White Stork is a large bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. Its plumage is mainly white, with black on its wings. Adults have long red legs and long pointed red beaks, and measure on average from beak tip to end of tail, with a wingspan...

with nests scattered over many local villages.