A peat bog reserve with a peat dome and an educational trail on boardwalks, about 12 km from Szczecinek.
The Bagno Kusowo nature reserve protects a raised bog of the Baltic type. It was established on 25 May 2005 in a forest 12 km north-west of Szczecinek and 1.5 km east of Kusowo, between lakes Trzebiechowo and Wielatowo. According to the Wikipedia entry, it is probably the best preserved large raised bog of the Baltic type in Poland. It covers about 327 ha.
The peat layer is in places up to 12 m thick. In the northern part of the reserve there is a typical peat dome with a treeless centre, covered with bog vegetation with hare's-tail cottongrass and a dwarf form of Scots pine. Plants growing here include round-leaved sundew, European larch, white beak-sedge and crowberry. Shallow peat pools have formed on the dome, in which grow great sundew, bog sedge and Scheuchzeria, species atypical of raised bogs. The slopes of the dome are covered with well preserved bog pine forests.
The bog pools are a breeding place for rare dragonflies, including the northern emerald and the white-faced darter. Among butterflies, the cranberry fritillary stands out. The reserve is an important refuge for the crane and a nesting site for the woodcock.
On the southern edge of the reserve an educational trail runs through sphagnum bog, partly on wooden boardwalks. In the southern part the bog was formerly exploited, but the peat workings have regenerated well and become overgrown with sphagnum carpet. The reserve lies in the Szczecinek Lakes protected landscape area and in a Natura 2000 area. Its creation was part of a project of the Naturalists' Club to protect Baltic bogs in Pomerania.
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