The Puszcza Zielonka Landscape Park is one of Poznań’s two green lungs – the other being Wielkopolski National Park. Located north from the city, the area was shaped by a glacier during the so-called poznanian glacial, leaving behind moraine elevations and sills, the largest of which is today filled by Lake Stęszewskie.

The park’s two water reserves – Lake Pławno, Kociołek and Lake Czarne are covered by reserve protection, which is to preserve the rate aquatic and peat flora, especially carnivorous plants – there are three species of bladderworts here: the common, the lesser and the flat-leaf. Among animals, noteworthy are the black stork and the black woodpecker and among the mammals – the fallow deer whose population in the park is among the most numerous in the country. There are 14 species of bat in the park, including the rare lesser noctules. It is worth adding that there are as many as 200 natural monuments in the park, and among them not only individual trees but also entire alleys (and one glacial erratic in Zielonka).

The Puszcza Zielonka Landscape Park is crisscrossed with a dense network of hiking paths, equestrian routes, cycle paths and nordic walking and cross country skiing routes. The forest paths are also used by enthusiasts of sled dog races for training and competitions. There are five designated educational paths in the park. Nearby runs the magnificent Trail of Wooden Churches near Puszcza Zielonka as well as the interesting rafting trail from Lake Stęszewskie, via Lake Wrończyńskie Duże and Małe, to Lake Biezdruchowo in Pobiedziska. On the top of Dziewicza Góra, there is a fire fighting observatory, also serving the purpose of a lookout tower.

Text: Jacek Y. Łuczak
Translation: Kaja Kurczewska