A water reserve covering the headwater streams of the Vistula in the Silesian Beskids, established in 1959.
The Wisła Nature Reserve is a faunal water reserve in the Silesian Beskids, within the town of Wisła. It lies in the centre of the range of Barania Góra and Skrzyczne, within the Silesian Beskids Landscape Park, and covers the headwater streams of the river.
The reserve was created by a ministerial order of 25 June 1959 and covers 17.61 ha. It includes the streams of the Biała Wisełka and Czarna Wisełka with their tributaries, the headwater course of the Vistula down to the mouth of the Malinka, and the Malinka stream itself, at altitudes from 575 to 995 m above sea level. The aim was to preserve these stretches as a habitat and breeding place for the native population of brown trout.
The streams are accompanied by forest communities: a lower montane spruce-fir forest in the upper part, a fertile Carpathian beech forest in the lower part, and a narrow strip of montane riverside alder wood in the lowest part of the reserve. More than 200 species of vascular plants grow along the streams, among them rare and protected ones such as green hellebore, alpine blue-sow-thistle, aconite and alpine rose. Rare ferns have been found on the flysch outcrops above the Biała Wisełka.
According to the studies cited in the Wikipedia entry, the exact location of the reserve and the ownership relations have been unclear from the start. The regulation of the streams, the construction of the dam at Wisła Czarne, and the acidification and pollution of the water meant that trout died out in the Czarna Wisełka, and in the Biała Wisełka they survive thanks to restocking.
On the mountain side the closest are Barania Góra and the PTTK mountain hut at Przysłop. By the water, Lake Czerniańskie is also nearby.
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