Gawroniec Nature Reserve

The Gawroniec nature reserve lies on the north-eastern slopes of Gawraniec in the municipality of Świnna, in the northern part of the Żywiec Landscape Park. It protects a natural deciduous forest: fertile Carpathian beech wood in its Silesian-Żywiec form.

What forest the reserve protects

The reserve covers 23.69 ha and lies at an altitude of 375 to 575 m above sea level. It was established in 1995 as a partial forest reserve. The slopes fall steeply towards the Koszarawa river.

The stand, more than a century old, is formed mainly of beech with a considerable share of fir. The trees often exceed 30 m in height, and some beeches are more than a metre in diameter at chest height. On the steep, sometimes sheer slopes with an incline of even more than 50 degrees grows beech wood with perennial honesty, and at the foot of the escarpment runs a narrow strip of riverside mountain alder wood.

Plants and animals

The forest floor includes nine-leaved toothwort, glandular toothwort, hollow-root fumewort and asarabacca. Roe deer, red deer, wild boar, foxes and pine martens live in the reserve, and a lynx appears occasionally.

Practical information

• The reserve is managed by the Kiełbasów forestry unit (Jeleśnia Forest District).
• The reserve has no protection plan; check the rules of movement in it on the boards or with the forest district.
• In the area, as the crow flies, lie the Inn in Jeleśnia (about 4.4 km) and the Grapa nature reserve (about 5 km).