Trzebiatowsko-Kołobrzeski Pas Nadmorski: Mapped Protected Landscapes of the Baltic Coast

Trzebiatowsko-Kołobrzeski Pas Nadmorski was first proposed and approved in 2008 by the European Commission as a Site of Community Importance under the EU Habitats Directive. In 2009, the Commission adjusted the protected area, reducing it from approximately 18,017 hectares to 17,468 hectares.

In 2018, the Polish Minister of the Environment formally confirmed the site through regulation as a Special Area of Conservation, giving it its current legal status within the Polish Natura 2000 network. A conservation task plan was established in 2014 and revised in 2017, setting out the ongoing management framework for the area.

The protected landscape itself reflects a longer history of human modification. Most of the peat-filled Baltic Pradolina was drained in earlier periods and used as agricultural grassland, and only the deterioration of old drainage infrastructure later allowed the partial return of bog and marsh conditions. Today, the area is administered jointly through regional environmental authorities, state forest districts, the maritime offices in Szczecin and Słupsk, and various local municipalities.

Trzebiatowsko-Kołobrzeski Pas Nadmorski supports seventeen officially recorded natural habitat types. The most prominent are Baltic coastal salt marshes, embryonic shifting dunes with marram grass, white dunes, grey dunes, stabilized dunes with crowberry vegetation, humid dune slacks, and willow scrub along riverbanks.

Further inland, the area preserves riverine floodplain forests, sub-Atlantic oak-lime woodland on richer soils, and bog forest communities on peat substrates. Around the coastal lagoons and along rivers such as the Rega and Parsęta, freshwater and slightly brackish plant communities thrive, including halophytic species typical of saline-influenced habitats.

Sand-loving plant communities dominate the beach and dune zones, with lichens and specialized grasses on the grey dunes, maritime sea holly, and the early stages of crowberry heath forest forming toward the landward side. Where groundwater rises in dune slacks, wet-loving vegetation takes over, producing a sharp ecological contrast within a very short horizontal distance.

Wildlife in Trzebiatowsko-Kołobrzeski Pas Nadmorski is shaped by the alternation between marine, lagoonal, riverine, and forested habitats. The coastal lagoons, in particular Liwia Łuża, Konarzewo, and Resko Przymorskie, serve as the most significant bird refuges within the area, attracting waterbirds that favor shallow, sheltered waters with both freshwater and brackish character.

Around Liwia Łuża, between Włodarka and Mrzeżyno, and to the southwest of Dźwirzyno and Kołobrzeg, the area supports bog forest and floodplain forest communities that add structural variety for woodland and wetland fauna. The combination of wet dune slacks, river estuaries, and forested dunes creates a gradient of habitats that supports breeding birds, migratory species, and a range of smaller fauna typical of Polish coastal ecosystems.

Trzebiatowsko-Kołobrzeski Pas Nadmorski is part of the European Natura 2000 network and was designated specifically to maintain the southern Baltic's characteristic habitat sequence, including coastal saltmarshes, dune ecosystems, riverine willow scrub, floodplain forests, and sub-Atlantic oak-lime woodland, all of which are priorities under the EU Habitats Directive.

The site overlaps partially with the Trzebiatów Coast Special Protection Area for birds (PLB320010), reinforcing its value for both habitat and species conservation. Five nature reserves lie within or adjacent to the area: Roby, Nadmorski bór bażynowy w Mrzeżynie, Wydmy między Dźwirzynem a Grzybowem, Stramniczka, and Jezioro Liwia Łuża, together with the Ekopark Wschodni ecological area and part of the Koszaliński Pas Nadmorski Protected Landscape Area.

Conservation responsibility is shared across regional environmental authorities, state forest districts, the maritime offices in Szczecin and Słupsk, and the relevant municipalities. A formal conservation task plan was established in 2014 and revised in 2017, structuring ongoing protection for the dune system, lagoons, peatlands, and associated forest communities.

The clearest highlight of Trzebiatowsko-Kołobrzeski Pas Nadmorski is its almost continuous belt of southern Baltic coastal habitats, where beach, white dunes, grey dunes, and stabilized crowberry-heath dunes follow one another in an unusually complete sequence. The dune forests between Mrzeżyno and Pogorzelica are among the best preserved stretches of this habitat type along the Polish coast.

The coastal lagoons Resko Przymorskie and Liwia Łuża, together with the peat-filled Baltic Pradolina crossed by the Rega and Parsęta, add a second highlight: a layered mosaic of brackish lagoons, river estuaries, bog forest, and floodplain forest. The combination of dunes, lagoons, river mouths, and mixed forest within a single protected corridor makes this one of the most ecologically inclusive coastal conservation areas in Poland.

Because the dunes, lagoons, and forests of Trzebiatowsko-Kołobrzeski Pas Nadmorski are largely accessible from surrounding coastal towns, the timing of a visit affects the experience mostly through weather, waterbird presence, and dune vegetation. Late spring and early summer bring the most active birdlife around the lagoons and wet dune slacks, while late summer and early autumn offer milder weather, more stable dune trails, and a calmer atmosphere overall.

Winter visits reveal the open structure of the dune belt and large numbers of waterbirds on the unfrozen lagoons, though coastal winds and shorter days reduce comfort. The protected area itself is not a heavily managed visitor destination, so visitors typically approach it on foot from neighboring settlements along the West Pomeranian coast.