The park encompasses the highest, bordering parts of the Karkonosze, from Mumlawski Wierch in the west to Okraj Pass in the east, as well as two enclaves: the area around the Szklarki waterfall and theChojnik Mountain. The areas of the Karkonosze National Park are the highest part of the Sudetenland with the main peaks Śnieżka (1602 m), Wielki Szyszak (1508 m) and Szczernica (1361 m). In its area there are characteristic forms of relief: monadnock rocks, (Słonecznik, Końskie Łby, Pielgrzymy, Paciorki, Trzy Świnki), rock formations (Śnieżne Kotły, Kotły with Mały and Wielki Staw), gołoborza and flat plains with peat bogs. Significant slopes and rock faults favor the formation of waterfalls. Among the largest are Łomniczka Waterfalls (a 300-meter-long string of cascades of the Łomniczka stream), Szklarski Waterfall (13 m high) and the largest in the Polish Karkonosze - Kamieńczyk Waterfall (27 m high).In 1992. The park, along with the Czech part, was recognized by UNESCO as a World Biosphere Reserve of the Karkonosze Mountains - a total area of 60,000 ha. Noteworthy for tourists is Mount Chojnik with a castle on top, housing a PTTK shelter, St. Lawrence Chapel on Śnieżka, Samotnia - a shelter over the Little Pond. There are 12 hostels and accommodation facilities in the Park. There are chairlifts to Kopa and Szrenica open all year round, as well as ski lifts open in the winter. There are also 200 km of hiking trails in the Park. At the foot of Mount Chojnik in Sobieszów there is a small museum of the Karkonosze National Park and the management. Karkonosze - the highest mountain group located on the border with the Czech Republic. An area of 617 square meters, of which 177 square meters in Poland. They are formed by a 36-kilometer-long compact mountain rampart built of granite. Above the flattened surface of the ridge (1350 -1450 m above sea level) rise the hardwood hills, which are the culmination of the range: Śnieżka (1602 m above sea level) and Wielki Szyszak (1509 m above sea level). The Giant Mountains on the Czech side are larger and have a more extensive ridge system. The slopes of the massif are cut by glacial basins, with lakes in their bottoms. In places the slopes are pierced by rocks of fantastic shapes. There is a mountain climate here with a clearly marked environmental stackedness - forest reaches an altitude of 1,250 m. - dwarf pine up to 1500 m above sea level. Above that there is an alpine floor. Important localities: ? in Poland: Szklarska Poreba, Karpacz ? in the Czech Republic: Harrachov Waters Along the ridge of the Karkonosze runs the European watershed, demarcating the catchment area of the North Sea (Elbe basin) and the Baltic Sea (Oder basin). Many of the Karkonosze's streams flow down waterfalls from the vertical cliffs of glacial cirques and rocky thresholds. The longest (300 m) string of cascades in the Polish Karkonosze is formed by the Lomniczka flowing into the Lomniczka Basin. Vegetation Karkonoski PN has well-developed vegetation floors: the foothills floor (up to 500 m above sea level), the lower regal floor (up to 1000 m above sea level), the upper regal floor (up to 1250 m above sea level), the subalpine floor (up to 1450 m above sea level) and the alpine floor (above 1450 m above sea level). Forests characteristic of the lower regal floor are beech forests: acid mountain beech and fertile Sudetic beech. Acid mountain beech occurs on poor and acidic soils. Fertile Sudetic beech is much rarer and grows on more abundant soils. In the past, beech forests were the most widespread forest communities in the Giant Mountains. Today they occupy only about 5% of the park's forest area. The upper regiel is naturally poor spruce. The subalpine floor is the floristically richest and most diverse in terms of plant communities in the Karkonosze. It is dominated by dwarf pine thickets. A characteristic element of the Karkonosze is spring and bog vegetation. Two types of peat bogs can be found in the upper regal and subalpine floors: hanging peat bogs, developing on slopes within the dwarf pine and upper alpine spruce forests, as well as top-mountain raised bogs formed on the flat surfaces of the flats near Śnieżka and Szrenica. The alpine floor mainly includes the peaks of Śnieżka and Wielki Szyszak. The flora of the Polish Karkonosze includes about 650 species of vascular plants, 450 species of bryophytes and 400 species of lichens. The great value of the Park's flora is evidenced by the occurrence of protected species (about 40 species), as well as relicts and endemics. Many taxa here have the only or one of the few localities in the country. Endemic plants include the basaltic rockrose Saxifraga moschata subs. basaltica, as a subspecies of the turf rockrose, which grows in basalt gullies, and the Karkonosze bellflower. Animals The main factor shaping the natural conditions of the Giant Mountains was the total glaciation of the mountains. This process determined the peculiarities of the modern fauna. As relics of the glaciation period, 2 species are mentioned: whirlwind - Otomesostoma auditivum and the snail Arctic pupfish Vertigo modesta arctica. As the climate warmed, the Karkonosze was populated by boreal-mountain species, such as the snail alpine quadruped. In the next stage, species from other European mountains, mainly from the Alps and the Carpathians, e.g. the Alpine glandworm, entered. The core of the invertebrate fauna, however, is made up of eurytypic species, found over a wide area. Among vertebrates, birds are the most numerous group. A total of about 100 species have been found, including the woolly owl, owl, black grouse, capercaillie, collared thrush, mountain puffin. The avifauna of Karkonosze has characteristics characteristic of mountain areas, i.e. zonation in the distribution of species is marked. In the lower alpine level the number of breeding species exceeds 50, and in the alpine level it falls below 10. In the Karkonosze there are about 40 species of mammals, including 16 species of bats. An attraction of Karkonosze is the mouflon introduced here in the early 20th century. Also found in Karkonosze are 4 species of fish, 6 species of amphibians, 5 species of reptiles. The forests of the Karkonosze National Park are exposed to the constant adverse impact of a complex of abiotic, biotic and anthropogenic factors. Factors causing existing and anticipated threats to forests in the area can be conventionally divided into two groups: a) factors whose negative impact can be reduced by protective measures. This group may include, among others, the consequences of inappropriate forest management in the past, consisting in the simplification of the structure and species composition, especially of lower alpine forests, threats caused by pathogenic insects and fungi, damage caused by herbivorous mammals, as well as caused by mass tourism. This group also includes the ever-present adverse abiotic factors in the mountains - wind, excessive precipitation, etc. b) factors whose negative impact is independent of the management of the forests of the Park and the buffer zone. This group primarily includes atmospheric air pollution, soil contamination, climatic anomalies, including possible climate warming. The ultimate effects of the various factors in this group are not fully understood, making it very difficult to plan effective countermeasures. More than 1.5 million tourists visit the Karkonosze National Park annually. Tourist infrastructure includes 112 km of trails, 10 ski lifts and 12 hostels. The most attractive season for hiking in the Karkonosze is from mid-May to mid-October.
04.07.2013
