Geographical and Natural Environment

The Torunian District has an area of 1,229.7 km² . It includes in its limits the Town of Chełmża, 8 village communes, 130 village administration areas, and 207 villages totalling over 80 000 people. It belongs to the Kuyavian and Pomeranian Voievodeship and borders the Chełmno and Wąbrzeźno Districts to the north, the Golub-Dobrzyń and Lipno Districts to the east, the Aleksandrów and Inowrocław Districts to the south and the Bydgoszcz District to the west.

Its area encompasses fragments of three larger geographical subregions: the Chełmno Upland, the Dobrzyń Upland and the Torunian Basin. The area has very varied shapes, and owes its recent form to the last glacier called the Baltic glacier. The vastest forms of terrain shaping are flat or undulating moraine uplands, diversified by marginal forms of Pleistocene glacier and cut by valleys of post-glacial gullies, proglacial stream valleys, river valleys and dunes. Two valley systems of the Vistula and Drwęca cross each other in the described area, and at the same time are the main ecological axes of Poland.

The Torunian Basin is particularly worth of underlining (about 80 km of length). It is one of the best shaped complex of inland dunes in Poland, and the places of their significant concentration are the environs of Wielka and Mała Nieszawka, on the left bank of the Vistula.

These dunes developed about 14 to 10 thousand years ago on the higher terrace levels of the proglacial valley of the Vistula. Parabolic and trench dunes prevail among them reaching monumental sizes; for instance, those near the Czernikowo proglacial valley of the Vistula exceed 20 m in places). In turn, on the right bank of the Vistula, within the limits of the city of Toruń and of the communes of Zławieś Wielka, Łysomice and Łubianka there is an edge zone area of the Torunian Basin which covers nearly 12 000 hectares. The sculpture of this terrain is very varied, and the sloping zone of the Torunian Basin is strongly cut into by lateral valleys with many outflows of underground water which is collected by the Struga Łysomicka and the Kanał Górny. An interesting land form are also the esker embankments which were created by cumulative activity of rivers which flowed under the glacier or inside it, and which can be seen in the environs of Chełmża and Grzywna.

The hydrographic axis of the Torunian District is created by its two main rivers; the Vistula and the Drwęca and by their tributaries which collect surface water from most of the district`s area. The width of the Vistula in this area ranges from 300 m to 500 m, and its largest tributaries are the Drwęca, the Struga Toruńska, the Struga Łysomicka and the Struga Zielona. In turn, an important tributary of the Drwęca whose mouth is in Złotoria near Toruń is the Struga Rychnowska flowing along the border with the Golub-Dobrzyń District. The water conditions in the described area are also created by numerous lakes and cave-in lakes. The largest of them is Chełmżyńskie Lake in the basin of the Fryby. This is a typical ribbon lake, and is composed of the main ribbon and the south fork nearly parallel thereto. This reservoir is 2,71 km² in area, 6,100 m long, 600 m wide and 27.1 m deep. Among other lakes worth mentioning are: Grodno, Osiek, Dzikowo, Kamionki, Steklin, Zacisze and Kijaszkowo.

The climate of the Torunian District is characterised by its great changeability, caused by conflicting continental and ocean air masses. Its geographical location contributes mainly thereto. This can be seen in particular in the area of the Torunian Basin, open to western and eastern winds which bring an over-ventilation. Average temperatures are much higher in the Vistula valley than on the surrounding plateaus. The direct climatic impact of the Vistula is, however, limited only to its nearest environs. The rainfall in the district amounts to 550-600 mm per year, and the period when vegetation grows lasts about 215 days.

The fauna and flora of this area is rather abundant which is primarily due to varied climatic (microclimatic)conditions, diversified land sculpture and different soil types. Plant cover includes components not only typical for the valleys of large rivers and dunes, but also typical for more diversified and cooler post-lake terrains. This is why there are numerous varied plant communities with meadow, swamp, forest, brushwood and water flora prevailing. The pine is predominant in forests with some spruce, birch and oak-trees. Forest undergrowth is mainly composed of juniper, hazel, hornbeam, evonymus, various types of moss, fern, raspberry, blueberry, and bilberry. A very important element of permanent plant cover are meadow and swamp plant communities which create biocenotic groups of great ecological significance as they constitute a paramount element of hydrographic system.

Wild service (Sorbus terminalis) and Swedish whitebeam (Sorbus intermedia) are among the trees under full protection. Herbaceous vegetation under protection is represented by various types of gentian, helleborine, feather grass, sundew, pasque-flower, orchid, club-moss and many other plants. The fauna is also characterized by a great variety of species, with a distinct predominance of invertebrates. There are over 1500 species of insects here. In the rivers of the Torunian District there are the same fish as in other regions of Poland; fish from the carp, salmon and perch families. The water of the Drwęca is a perfect spawning area for trout, salmon, brown trout and vimba. Tail amphibians are represented by two species of newt: crested newt and smooth newt; as well as all species of toads and frogs characteristic for Polish Lowland (water frog, lake frog, tree frog and others). Among reptiles one can name: adder, grass-snake, blind-worm, sand lizard, and common lizard. Sometimes smooth snake can be found here. There are 150 species of birds in the area. All species of woodpeckers and hawks nest in the surroundings together with cuckoos, ducks, pheasants, grebes, common herons, terns, buzzards and owls. The mammals which live in the Torunian District are divided into game animals (stag, deer, wild boar and hare) and animals whose population is regulated in a natural manner ( fallow deer and elk). The most numerous predators are: foxes, badgers, raccoons, pine martens and stone martens, polecats and rare ermines. In some wet areas river otters and muskrats occur. Insectivorous mammals are represented by the most frequently met Western European hedgehog, mole and a few species of shrew, whereas flying mammals are represented by a dozen or so species of bats: (grey long-eared bat, common long-eared bat, serotine, pipistrelle, common pipistrelle, moustache bat and other species).

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