Location
Bialowieza National Park is located in the eastern part of Poland, in Podlaskie Voivodeship, at the border with Belorussia. The Park lies in the central part of Bialowieza Primeval Forest.
The park is located on the area of 1250 km2 . It stretches from the east to the west on 55 km and from the north to the south on 51 km. A border between Poland and Belarus runs through the forest. 580 km2 of the primeval forest are located in Poland.

Landscape
The Primeval Forest of Bialowieza is located on the glacial morainic plateaux diversified by many hills. 96% of its area is occupied by forests and the rest consists of meadows, fields and rivers. The forest lies in the watershed of Vistula and Niemen rivers.

Ecosystem

The greatest influence on the composition and number of plant species is exerted by fertility and humidity of  the soil. There are sands and gravels in this area as well as dominating brown and fawn soil and in the river valleys you can find black earth and bogs.
There is a great mixture of  species within the borders of  the primeval forest of Bialowieza. Exceptionally rare kind of plant gathering is a combination of spruce and deciduous trees growing on peat-bogs. The primeval forest of Bialowieza is also a home to unique species: Heartleaf Twayblade (Listera cordata) and Small Cranberry (Vaccinium microcarpus).

Flora
There is over one thousand species of vascular plants in the primeval forest of Bialowieza. From among them 664 are natural components of this ecosystem and the rest was introduced by humans.

Dominant species among trees are: Norway spruce (Pices albea), Pine (Pinus silvestris), Black alder (Alnus glutinosa), Common oak (Quercus robur), Silver birch (Betula pendula) and Downy birch (Betula pubescens).

A characteristic feature of Bialowieza Primeval Forest is a high diversity in the age of tree specimens. An average age of a tree varies around around 130 years in the “Strict Preservation Area” and around 80 years in the rest of the forest.

There is also a great variety of spore plants in the forest of Bialowieza: over 200 species of  moss, 19 of ferns, 6 of club moss and 7 of horsetail have been found there. Also the presence of  almost 400 species of lichen indicates unchanged and unspoiled environment.

 Fauna
A total number of animal species inhabiting the primeval forest of Bialowieza amounts to 12000. But it is presumed that only 50% of species existing in these forests are known to us. Therefore the true number of species may amount to around 25 thousand.

Insects are the most numerous group (9284 species). Among vertebrates living in the forests of Bialowieza birds are the most diverse taxonomic unit (around 250 species).

Before the World War I there were over 700 specimens of European bison in the primeval forest of Bialowieza. During the war almost all bisons died or were killed. In 1919 the last one of them was killed by poachers. In 1929 new pure-blooded specimens were brought to Bialowieza. Since then, the population of European bison in Bialowieza kept growing and in 2004 it reached 350 specimens.

 Protection
The Bialowieza National Park came into being in 1947 in order to protect primeval lowland forests. Its most precious fragment is an Area of Strict Protection, where human influence is reduced to minimum. Both ecosystem and structure of the forest in this area has remained unchanged for ages.

European Bison Breeding Centre has been also established inside the park and its activity enabled the return of the bison to Bialowieza after its extinction during the I World War.