Lower Oder Valley Landscape Park lies in Międzyodrze (the Oder floodplain), between the fork of the Oder into the West Oder and the Regalica, north of Widuchowa. According to the Association of Landscape Parks of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, which manages it, it was established on 1 April 1993, and its area is 6,009 ha, with a buffer zone of 1,140 ha. The park lies in the municipalities of Kołbaskowo, Gryfino and Widuchowa.

A peatland flooded by the river

The park's manager describes its area as the largest fluvial fen in Western and Central Europe, that is, one that formed from and is flooded by river waters. The whole area is crossed by a network of oxbow lakes, ditches and canals with a total length of more than 200 km. Międzyodrze is about 2 km wide in the southern part and up to 12 km wide near Szczecin. According to the manager, the park has no protection plan. For the part of the Oder valley on the German side, south of Widuchowa, there is separate protection as a national park, and according to Wikipedia the two parks form the Lower Oder Valley International Park.

Wikipedia adds that the vegetation is dominated by sedge beds, sweet-grass beds and reed beds, willow scrub and osier thickets, while alder carr forests occupy about 4 per cent of the park. Among rare plants it names water-fringe (Nymphoides peltata) and floating fern (Salvinia natans).

Birds and other animals

This is the most important group of animals in the park: according to the manager about 250 species (the park's descriptive page speaks of more than 250), a considerable part of which live here permanently. The valley lies on a migration route, so in season geese stop here, according to the manager up to 20,000 individuals, and cranes, up to 13,000. The same organisation, in its description of the Natura 2000 area, gives up to 12,000 cranes at the autumn gathering site. The figures therefore come from different counts and should be treated as an order of magnitude.

Among breeding species threatened with extinction on a European scale, the manager names, among others, the white-tailed eagle, osprey, Montagu's harrier, short-eared owl, aquatic warbler and water rail. Wikipedia gives a longer list, including the black kite, red kite and marsh harrier. The kingfisher was formerly the symbol of the park and, according to the manager, is still common, especially in autumn. Among mammals the manager points to the beaver and otter, while the elk is a rare visitor.

Natura 2000 and nature reserves

The whole park lies within the Natura 2000 network, in two areas: the bird area “Dolina Dolnej Odry” PLB32003 and the habitat area “Dolna Odra” PLH320037. According to the manager, the bird area covers the Oder valley from Kostrzyn to the Szczecin Lagoon, over a length of 150 km, together with Lake Dąbie, and is a refuge for birds of European importance, while the habitat area covers 30,458 ha.

Two nature reserves lie within the park's boundaries. Kurowskie Błota (98.4 ha, 1965) was created to protect a colony of cormorants and later of grey herons, of which there were once about 600 pairs. The colony no longer exists, and the reserve protects a hard-to-reach riparian forest. Kanał Kwiatowy (3 ha, 1976) protects rare aquatic plants, such as floating fern and water-fringe, on a fragment of an oxbow lake. Outside the park boundary, in its vicinity, lies the landscape reserve Wzgórze Widokowe nad Międzyodrzem, established in 1973, which is discussed in more detail below.

How to see the valley

The manager notes that most of the park, except for the nature reserves, is open to visitors, and that the most convenient way to see it is by kayak. Outside the main river channels, the use of motorboats is prohibited. The park describes four kayak routes. The loop from Żabnica through the Żeglica canal, Moczyły and the Moczydłowski Canal is, according to the manager, considered by many to be the most beautiful in Międzyodrze, but in midsummer some of its sections are difficult because of a mat of aquatic vegetation. In Moczyły stands the ruin of a Gothic church from the second half of the 13th century, the ruins of the church in Moczyły, and by the water there is a shelter with a place for a campfire. A classic is the route from the marina in Siadło Dolne through the Kanał Kwiatowy and Lake Samotne, which according to the manager was created during the building of the motorway embankment and is 16 m deep at its deepest point. The other two routes lead from Marwice to Gartz in Germany and from the town beach in Gryfino through the Kanał Dziewiczy.

On foot and by bicycle it is hard to get around Międzyodrze itself, because bridges, footbridges and locks are damaged, and the canals cannot be crossed. The manager advises choosing areas next to the park: the upland and the edge of the valley, and viewing the floodplains from the embankments along the Oder. The Zielona Odra cycling route from Gryfino to Widuchowa is 18 km long and leads through the natural monument Crooked Forest, where, according to Wikipedia, more than 50 pines grow with trunks bent at the base at an angle of about 90 degrees. Just before Widuchowa stands a viewing platform on Góra Słowiańska, the highest hill of the Sarbskie Górki, with a view of the southern edge of the park and the German national park. From Gryfino to Mescherin in Germany one can walk along a paved road, 2.5 km, and beyond the border bridge there is a viewing tower over the Oder.

From the Szczecin side, the valley can be seen from the nature reserve Wzgórze Widokowe nad Międzyodrzem. According to Wikipedia, this is a cone-shaped hill called Morenka, about 35 m above its surroundings, with a steep path from the north and xerothermic grasslands where feather grass and meadow pasqueflower grow. A panorama of the Lower Oder valley can also be seen from Wzgórze Akademickie in Zdroje Forest Park, 51 m above sea level. Near Szczecin there is the Dziewoklicz bathing area, which according to the manager can serve as a kayak base. For the trip take a map, a phone and water, and in summer mosquito and tick repellent.