A Natura 2000 refuge of loess gorges, xerothermic grasslands, and ancient river valleys in the Świętokrzyskie region.
Ostoja Żyznów
Ostoja Żyznów is a Natura 2000 Site of Community Importance located in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship of south-central Poland. Designated under the EU Habitats Directive with the code PLH260036, the area covers roughly 4,480 hectares of protected landscape defined by thick loess deposits, a dense network of dry ravines, and the valley system of the Koprzywianka River and its tributaries.
The site spans three physical-geographical mesoregions: the Sandomierska Upland, the Świętokrzyskie Mountains, and the Szydłowskie Foothills, creating a transitional landscape where flat agricultural loess plateaus meet steep gorges, river valleys, and isolated hills. This dramatic relief, cut into old Paleozoic rocks along the deeper valleys, has produced a remarkable mosaic of habitats.
Ostoja Żyznów is recognized above all for its combination of xerothermic (warm-dry) grasslands clinging to steep loess slopes, patchy pine and mixed forests, peatlands, oak-hornbeam woodlands, and riparian corridors. These habitats shelter numerous rare and threatened plant and animal species, including several protected under the EU Habitats Directive.
