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It might seem that there are no deserts in Poland. But it turns out that a country mainly associated with hectares of green forests and thousands of lakes has one of the largest deserts in Europe. What is more, there are several such sandy areas in Poland. Today, let’s read about the Starczynow Desert.
It is an almost completely overgrown area of dunes located in the Lesser Silesian Forest. Starczynow Desert is between Olkusz and Bukowno in the Malopolska Voivodeship (southern Poland). The name of the desert comes from the former village of Starczynow. Since 1958, it is a part of Bukowno town.
In the 13th century, the Zinc and Lead mines of Olkusz required large quantities of wood used to reinforce the mine shaft structures. Intensive tree felling and groundwater extraction in areas with gravels and sands as substrate led to the creation (as in the case of the Bledowska Desert) of a desert of anthropogenic origin.
At the beginning of the 20th century, it was planned to start the exploitation of the sands located in the area of the Starczynowska Desert, but these plans were thwarted by the outbreak of World War II. From 1949, areas of the desert began to be planted with Siberian violet-willow and pine, among others.
Together with the Kozłow Desert, the Starczynów Desert is part of the larger Lower Silesian Forest (Bory Dolnośląskie) Desert.
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