| Bug Landscape Park | |
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| Nadbużański Park Krajobrazowy | |
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IUCN Category V (Protected Landscape/Seascape)
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Bug River near Nur |
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| Location | Masovian Voivodeship |
| Area | 741,36 km² |
| Established | 1993 |
| Governing body | Masovian Governor |
Bug Landscape Park (Nadbużański Park Krajobrazowy) is a protected area (Landscape Park) in east-central Poland, and one of over a hundred Polish Landscape Parks. The Park lies within Masovian Voivodeship, on the Bug River. It includes part of three Polish, historical regions: Kurpie, Masovia and Podlasie.
The Park covers an area of 741,36 square kilometers plus 395,35 square kilometers of protection zone. Within the Bug Landscape Park, fourteen nature reserves have been established with a further three planned.Included within these nature reserves are seven forest, three ornithological, and two floristic reserves.
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Low-intensive human activity makes the park more natural and unique. The park includes a large variety of landscapes but the two most predominant are the forest complexes, comprised mainly of pine, and Bug River valley. Flora of Bug Landscape Park counts about 1,300 species, among them there are 39 species of trees and 59 of shrubs. The park is rich in species of plant under protection, such as: silene dichotoma, saxifraga tridactylites, medicago minima, Turk’s cap lily, twinflower and willow Salix starkeana
The valley of Bug River and associated wet areas is the habitat of many birds endangered of becoming extinct. These include the: black stork, common sandpiper, common snipe, Eurasian curlew, grey heron, ruff. Migrating birds use the park for feeding and resting. Moreover, in the park there are 37 species of mammals, including beavers, moose and otters. Among reptiles there are: European pond turtles, and coronella austriaca known as the smooth snake. Moreover, 12 species of amphibians and 29 of fish can be found there.
Within the park, there are 251 monuments of nature primarily trees such as(ashes, limes, oaks, pines). Other monuments include: colony of ant-hills, a monadnock hill, a subterranean fungus site and a 3 km long oak avenue which includes 442 trees (up to 450 cm in diameter).
One of the unique characteristics of Bug Landscape Park is the continuing presence of Polish village culture manifesting in tradition folk sculpture and music. This also includes local holidays such as the Potato’s Day and Bread festivals along with historic wooden structures, roadside crucifixes, old mills, and small chapels scattered throughout the many villages and towns. Barns and hay stacks seem to be typical of the Bug River valley. Furthermore, within the park are palaces and nobleman's manors like those in Korczew, Starawieś and Sterdyń as well as big temples, for instance in Kosów Lacki and Sokołów Podlaski. National and regional history is commemorated by monuments, museums, and tombs. The historically significant site is the Treblinka extermination camp, where the Nazis during World War II conducted an extermination program against Jews, Gypsies, and other groups who the Nazi party deemed deviant.
In park there are numerous hiking and cycling trails making in an attractive destination angling and ecotourism. Canoeing and rafting are popular activities as well.
The populated areas of the park are comprised mainly of villages and small cities with Sokołów Podlaski, population about 18,000, being the largest.
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