Stołowe Mountains National Park
Stołowe Mountains National Park, anglicized to Table Mountains National Park, is a national park in southwestern Poland. It comprises the Polish section of the Table Mountains, which are part of the Sudetes range. It is located in Kłodzko County of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, at the border with the Czech Republic. Created in 1993, the park covers an area of, of which forests account for 57.79 km2. The area of strict protection is 3.76 km2.
History
The landscape of the Table Mountains began to form 70 million years ago. The range's unique shape is a result of hundreds of thousands of years of erosion. There are several notable rock formations, among them Kwoka, Wielblad and Glowa wielkoluda. Also, there is a sophisticated system of corridors which creates rock labyrinths.Currently, plant life is mostly made up of spruce, which was introduced to the area at the turn of the 19th century to replace pristine beech and fir forests, which had been cut. Natural woodland is scarce and covers only around 3% of the forested areas. There are peat bogs, one of which was listed as a strictly protected area in 1959. In the forested areas of the park there are deer, red deer, wild pig, squirrels, hedgehogs, many birds and reptiles including lizards and adders.