There should be backwaters here. Narew on a drone recording

The Narew National Park is struggling with water shortage.

– It's terrible. At this point, there should be huge backwaters in the park, there should be a lot of birds that are preparing for breeding – Agnieszka Pruszyńska, a specialist in nature protection from the Narew National Park, told TVN24 reporter Adrian Zaborowski. She added that the lack of backwaters is a consequence of climate change. – Last year's warm summer, dry autumn and snowless winter led to this situation. These are the consequences – she explained.

As Pruszyńska noted, the hydrological drought has been going on in the park since June last year. She added that such a low water level was not recorded here for nearly 30 years.

Can high temperature and lack of rainfall cause fires in the Narew National Park, as was the case in 2020 in the Biebrza National Park?

– Of course. The risk is huge. In a situation where there are no backwaters and peat bogs are dry, there is a huge risk of fires – said the expert. She added that extinguishing a fire in this area would be very difficult.

The backwaters, which usually appeared in March in the park, were a water reservoir for the spring and summer months.

– Bogs are like a sponge, they absorb water. They store it for periods of drought. If these habitats are already dry, it will be even worse in the summer, they will be totally dry – emphasized Pruszyńska.

For the situation to improve and the water level rose by 1.5 meters, as the specialist said, it should rain continuously for 2-3 weeks.

The Narew National Park is located in northeastern Poland, in the Podlasie Voivodship, 30 kilometers west of Bialystok. It covers the area of ​​the Narew Valley between the Suraż and Rzędzians. The symbol of the park is the predatory bird of pond mudr (Circus aeruginosus).