Bialowieza Forest

Bialowieza Forest is a large forest complex straddling the border between Poland and Belarus, representing one of the last and largest remaining fragments of the immense primeval forest that once covered the European Plain. Located about 62 kilometers southeast of Bialystok, Poland, and spanning the Podlachia region of Poland and the Brest and Grodno oblasts of Belarus, the forest is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a European Union Natura 2000 Special Area of Conservation, with the full World Heritage area covering about 141,885 hectares. It is home to more than 800 European bison, the heaviest land animal in Europe, and holds ancient pedunculate oaks, some individually named, including a Barrel Oak with a circumference of 740 centimeters. The forest supports roughly 12,000 species overall, about half of which depend on decaying wood, and it preserves the last significant remnants of old-growth forest on the North European Plain.