Obrożyska Lip Forest Reserve

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The reserve was established in 1919 as one of the first in independent Poland. Currently, it covers an area of 100.38 ha. A 4.2 km educational trail, marked with a white and green square, runs through the reserve. Seven thematic stops draw attention to the characteristic parts of the reserve. The most convenient access to the educational trail is at ul. Lipowa, from a convenient car park next to the Rehabilitation Center of the Polish Association of the Blind; it is only 1500 meters from the Muszyna market square.
Walking through the linden forest for 2-3 hours, you can effectively forget about the "noise" of civilization and relax in the home of deer, fox, badger, wild boar, numerous birds and insects. Maintaining silence is conducive to meeting these animals. Particularly rare species of Polish fauna also occur here: wildcat, Mnemosine pollen, white-necked moth, and black stork, and one of the largest refuges of the spotted salamander.
"Obrożyska Lipowy Forest" is worth visiting at any time of the year, and it is really close, almost in the center of Muszyna.

NATURAL PATH IN THE OBROŻYSKA LIP FOREST RESERVE

optimal group size: 15 people
walking time: approx. 3 hours
recommended guide (preferably engineer forester)

The most convenient access to the marked nature path - from ul. Lipowa in Muszyna (car park next to the Rehabilitation Center of the Polish Blind Association; it is only 1500 meters from the city center). The nature trail is equipped with boards containing condensed scientific information about a characteristic part of the reserve. The botanical formations and interesting specimens of trees are described in the form of seven "stops" on the nature trail, additionally equipped with a starting point (introductory board), signposts, a board describing the position of protected amphibians and a general description of the nature reserve at the entrance from Lipowa Street. The path is equipped with information boards regulating the way of moving and behavior while visiting the reserve. It takes about 10-15 minutes to familiarize yourself with the content of one board, locate its content in the field and comment from a professional guide.

It is OBLIGATORY to walk only along the designated trail.
SILENCE is conducive to making full use of the stay in the unique linden forest and guarantees numerous meetings with animals.

Stop no.1
You are surrounded by a luminous deciduous forest - Tilio Carpinetum with Tilia cordata. The main species are small-leaved lime (Tilia cordata) and hornbeam (Carpinus betulus). Note the cross-section of the trees and the rich vegetation of the forest floor.

The area between stops 1 and 2 is certainly the most beautiful part of the linden forest and the nature path. The harmonious structure of the stand consisting mainly of small-leaved linden, oscillating around 200 years old, with an admixture of hornbeam, fir and sycamore. Going down the path winding among the forest, it is worth keeping silence to see deer grazing in this part of the forest, as well as numerous singing birds. It is worth paying attention to the trunks of dead trees lying on the slope - you can clearly see the different degree of wood decomposition and the slow transformation into forest ground. Recumbent trees are a very important element of a healthy and natural forest structure, which cannot be seen in the so-called commercial forest, i.e. a more or less artificial tree stand. Fallen trees (not always dead) go through many different phases of dying and decay, and the whole process, during which they fulfill many important tasks for the forest biocenosis, may take even several hundred years.
Going down the nature path, you can also see on its left side (about 50 m above the first guard rail) a muddy wilderness bathing area, which is also used by other forest animals. Narrow, well-worn animal trails lead to it - the so-called bills of exchange.
In the spring, right next to the path, you can see a flowering protected plant - the daphne mezereum (Daphne mezereum L.).
Walking at a slow pace to stop 2 should not take more than 20 minutes.

Stop no.2
You are watching an alder forest - Carpathian alder (Alnetum incane). Pay attention to the substrate, humidity and lush green vegetation. Notice the difference between this habitat and the place of occurrence of the linden forest.

We are at the bottom of a forest ravine in which a mountain stream flows. Both the change in tree species and the general appearance of the forest are clearly visible. Standing on the valley road, it is easy to see the border between the lime tree stand (hornbeam forest) and the Carpathian alder. A particularly good example of a tree stand with a predominance of alder is located slightly downstream. In spring and autumn, you can meet up to a dozen salamanders in one trip. In spring, these amphibians travel to the shallow backwaters of the stream so that salamander larvae can be born there - and in the fall they mate, which is quite unique among our amphibians.
Also here, on the steep slopes of the ravine, live large forest mammals - badgers, whose traces can sometimes be found imprinted in the wet ground.
A walk downstream is an opportunity to observe the meandering and ever-changing bed of a mountain stream, as well as to observe various forms of water erosion.

ATTENTION!
From the stop and board no. 2, go back along the path (going up the wooden steps) to the fork in the path and continue walking to stop no. 3. The fork is marked with a board and a wooden dam.
The walk from stop 2 to stop 3 should not take more than 20 minutes, while paying attention to the path that runs through heavily bushy fragments.

Stop no.3
You are watching a deciduous forest - Eastern Polish oak-hornbeam forest (Tilio Carpinetum from Abies alba). Small linden trees are accompanied by fir. Pay attention to the shape of the forest and the age of the trees.

Beautiful fir trees can be noticed in the surroundings of the array, and especially deep inside the stand. It is the main species that built the ancient CARPATHIAN FOREST.
Fir is a very interesting tree with high water and climatic requirements. Currently, this species is giving way to beech and most likely large fir specimens from the Poprad Landscape Park are one of the last opportunities to get to know this species in the mature and so-called standstill phase. old trees. In Forest Life, certain cyclical changes take place both in time and space, which means that stands age and decay to give way to often new stands composed of other species. It is a natural process. Unfortunately, the increasing amount of harmful factors (air pollution, drainage, etc.) accelerates this natural cycle, which only some tree species and not necessarily their most valuable groups can bear. The changes in this regard are now so fast that the maintenance of natural forests, protected under a reservation, is of great importance for the comparison of what is happening in managed forests with natural processes. And today, no one questions the opinion that it is Nature that manages the best.
Of course, the harmful influence does not avoid the reserves, but - as it turns out - there is less impact on a harmonious and more resistant forest biocenosis.
Nature reserves are also not fully known reservoirs of species and forms that may be of invaluable economic importance in the future. We already know today that biotechnology companies buy large, virgin stretches of forests, and then keep these lands in their natural state as the most valuable safeguard for an infinite number of resources for the future.

Stop no 4
Look out for a fine specimen of spruce (Picea excelsa)

It is worth paying attention to the very path we are following so far. Designed and laid out in the interwar period, it was constantly renovated and cleaned. Unfortunately, for many years it became completely forgotten, and its less and less clear course was used to tread shortcuts and new routes. Thanks to the care of the Park and a large group of high school students, it was possible to return to the original course of the path. Attempts were made to close shortcuts and unnecessary wild passages by accumulating dead branches and logs, setting up wooden barriers and raking the path regularly.
We ask you to respect these efforts and walk only along the designated trail, in this way we will limit human interference to the necessary minimum, and the nature path - despite its availability - will become an additional way to protect the reserve.
The distance from stop 4 to 5 you will cover in 15 minutes.

Stop no 5
You are in a deciduous forest - eastern Polish oak-hornbeam forest (Tilio Carpinetum from Acer pseudoplatanus). Lime trees are accompanied by a sycamore tree. Pay attention to the shape of sycamore trees and the appearance of the bark and trunk characteristic of old trees of this species.

In the stand around stop no. 5, you can see nice specimens of sycamore, a typical forest tree, which is a valuable biocenotic admixture, influencing the forest environment by its presence (leaf fall with a specific pH, own connections with fungi, regulation of access to light and others). Worth seeing are the specimens with the protruding bark characteristic of forest sycamore specimens, the forms of which cannot be found in the same species planted in urban greenery.
In the immediate vicinity of the table No. 5, you can see a tree with several hollows, the example of which shows how many functions are performed by old trees, which are usually missing in commercial forests. Many species of birds (without which keeping harmful forest insects "under control" is impossible) do not have the conditions to live in forests devoid of old, hollow trees. It is also worth paying attention to the old specimens of fir, visible in the depths of the stand, mixed loosely with gondola linden trees.
The attraction of this part of the reserve is a very cautious and not very often protected wild forest cat - the wildcat.
The transition from stop 5 to 6 is not difficult and does not take more than 25 minutes of free walking.

Stop no 6
The deciduous forest you see is the Carpathian beech (Dentario glandulosae Fagetum). Pay attention to the forest floor plants. In spring, glandular livestock (Dentaria glandulosa) blooms here in large numbers.

Walking from stops 5 to 6, you could see how different the forest composed of different species of trees looks like. The difference in the appearance of a mature stand and a young stand is also striking. These differences are worth remembering. and be aware of the length of the forest's life cycles. Human life lasts about 80 years and most often in such time frames we plan profits and losses, we evaluate development and regression, success and failure. The life of individual stands counts for hundreds of years and in order to plan well and achieve actual economic profits, this must be taken into account. Rapid maximum profit from a stand by cutting it down and selling wood often turns out to be a real economic disaster over a longer period of time.
Treating the forest only as a timber factory is a fundamental mistake, although it is also a mistake not to take into account the real needs of human capabilities that are brought by ecological methods of working with the forest. Beech stand in the phase of the so-called stakes and poles (from the average thickness of trees), which we pass along the way, will transform into an old beech forest in a hundred years, and in two hundred years it will change into another. It is worth remembering this.
It is a 5-minute walk from stop 6 to the magnificent larch trees marked with a board number 7.

Stop no.7
Clump of larch (Larix decidua). Pay attention to the size of the trees and the thickness of the bark.

A clump of old and extremely beautiful larch, referred to in older literature as "Polish larch", is a good opportunity to get to know this species. Thick, cracked bark, the characteristic shape of trunks and twigs with cones (always a certain number of them lie under the trees) are so characteristic that, after familiarizing yourself with them, identifying larchs in the future should not be difficult. Larch is an eminently light-transmitting tree, which means that it grows best in open areas, and in its stand, it stubbornly strives to dominate other species in order to provide its crown with free access to light.
This species is perfect for sunny mountain slopes, hilltops, and the speed of growth makes it eagerly planted both in the forest, as well as in urban green areas and at houses.
Moving from the resting place with a pond to a clump of larch, we left the summit of Mikowa Mountain on the southern side. You are only a few minutes walking along the forest road to the sign with the words END OF THE NATURAL PATH, and a few hundred meters further from the entrance sign, from where you started visiting the reserve two hours ago.

Bibliography:
Marek Styczyński, Obrożyska Lipowy Forest, Stary Sącz 1997