By the end of 1965 there were already 490 reserves, which occupied over 31,000 ha. MUTE SWAN with young on a nest. Currently, the network of nature reserves consists of 1,122 reserves, which occupy over 121,303 ha. Reserves are not uniformly distributed over the territory of the country. The largest agglomerations of them are in the Carpathian Mountains, in the southern belt of the old mountains and highlands and in the area of the Drawski, Kaszubski, Masurian, and Wielkopolski lake districts.
Nature reserves are valuable objects for scientific studies.
Among existing nature reserves those which represent natural values significant to international nature protection, should be considered the most valuable.