Lower Vistula River Valley (984)
Poland, Europe
Site overview
KBA status: confirmed
Year of last assessment: 2010
National site name: Dolina Dolnej Wisly
Central coordinates: Latitude: 53.3833, Longitude: 18.4167
System: freshwater, terrestrial
Elevation (m): 1 to 50
Area of KBA (km2): 336.05378
Protected area coverage (%): 100.00
KBA classification: Regional
Legacy site: Yes
Site details
Site description: The site comprises a 260-km stretch of the Wis³a (Vistula) river flood-plain (of which about 190 km is embanked against floods), between W³oc³awek town in the south and Przegalina sluice (6 km from the Wis³a river mouth) in the north. The terrain is highly varied. Riverbanks or slopes are dozens of metres high in some places, very flat and low-lying in others. The riverbed itself constitutes about quarter of the site's area; the rest consists of meadows, scrub (mainly willow Salix), small patches of riverine forest, and numerous oxbow lakes and wetlands. The river passes through some quite large towns (e.g. Toruñ, Bydgoszcz, Grudzi¹dz, Tczew).
Rationale for qualifying as KBA: This site qualifies as a Key Biodiversity Area of international significance that was identified using previously established criteria and thresholds for the identification of Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) and for which available data indicate that it does not meet global KBA criteria and thresholds set out in the Global Standard.
Additional biodiversity: A total of 126 bird species have been recorded breeding or probably breeding at the site, including the largest number of Crex crex (153 calling males in 1998) at any site in the Wis³a valley. The area also supports significant parts of the national breeding populations of Charadrius hiaticula, Charadrius dubius, Sterna hirundo and Sterna albifrons. In 1994 a total of c.37,000 waterbirds were estimated to occur along the river in the late summer post-breeding period, and 46,500 in winter (mainly ducks).
Habitats
Land use: agriculture (20%) | fisheries/aquaculture (25%) | hunting | not utilised (15%) | tourism/recreation (5%) | urban/industrial/transport (20%)
| IUCN Habitat | Coverage % | Habitat detail |
|---|---|---|
| Wetlands(Inland) | 31 | |
| Forest | 8 | |
| Grassland | 21 | |
| Artificial - Terrestrial | 38 | |
| Other | 2 |
Threats
Summary of threats to biodiversity at KBA: The greatest threat is a potential one: the possible construction of a series of dams along the Wis³a river (`cascadization').
| Threat level 1 | Threat level 2 | Threat level 3 | Timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transportation & service corridors | Shipping lanes | Only in the future | |
| Energy production & mining | Renewable energy | Ongoing |