Brodnica County

Brodnica county has a surface of 1039 square km and it is situated in the north-east part of Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship.

The area of the county extends in the Vistula river bank and its right-bank tributaries: Skrwa, Drwęca and Osa. The Drwęca river, the longest right bank tributary of the Vistula river, is the hydrographcic axis of the region. With regard to physical-geographical features, Brodnica county is situated on the Chełmińsko-Dobrzyńskie Lake District macroregion. The central part of the area lies in the borders of mezoregions of the Drwęca River Valley, the northern part in Brodnica Lake District mezoregion and the southern part in Chełmno Lake District.
The county consists of seven village communes, Bobrowo, Brodnica, Bartniczka, Brzozie, Osiek, Świedziebnia, Zbiczno and two urban-village communes, Górzno and Jabłonowo Pomorskie and the town of Brodnica.
The county counts 75 389 inhabitants with population density of 72 people per square km.
Michałowska Land which is identified with the today’s Brodnica county lies at the boundaries of functional area of the Green Lungs of Poland. It makes up the important element of the county’s development.
On the area of the county there are regions full of beautiful landscapes such as Brodnica Landscape Park and Górzno-Lidzbark Landscape Park and the Drwęca River Valley.

Brodnica Landscape Park is a protected area in a central part of Brodnica Lake District, established in 1985 and covering the area of 16 685 hectares. Forests and waters take up respectively 60% and 10% of the park area.  There are about 60 lakes, including 6 with the area over 100 ha. Brodnica Landscape Park is shared among five communes, Jabłonowo Pomorskie, Zbiczno (Brodnica county), Kurzętnik and Biskupiec Pomorski (Nowe Miasto county). In 2005 the Park was enlarged by Bachotek Lake and so-called Marshy Drwęca River Valley, which is a precious mainstay for water-birds. The presence of nine nature reserves proves the high natural rank of the Park. It is rich in fauna, especially in avifauna: lesser spotted eagle, black stork, sea eagle and also red kite, crane, black cormorant, gray heron, gadfly and kingfisher. Out of rare species of mammals we can enumerate, elks, fallow deers, otters, and even beavers, which traces can be found at Skarlanka Lake and Małe and Wielkie Partęczyny Lake. The lakes of the district are rich in the following fish species: pike, tench, eel, bream, perch, roach, crucian. Moreover carp, pike perch, lavaret and Europeanwhitefish can be found.
Górzno Lidzbark Landscape Park was created in 1990 and it covers the area of 27 766 ha. The rivers Brynica and Górzanka run through the lands of the Park. They are fed by waters from numerous well-heads. Comparatively few lakes delight with their natural beauty of deep valleys and mixed forests. The latter are criss-crossed by small enclaves of meadows, fields and river valleys. The nature of the Park is characterized by the great diversity: more than 900 species of vascular plants among which quite a few covered by the species protection e.g. common sundew, bugbane, paradise plant, purple martagon lily, leathery grapefern, club-moss, keyflowers, yellow oatgrass and many others. The research conducted in the Park showed a big variety of mosses and lichens among which is a very rare beard lichen. A kind of showcase of the Park are wildly existing here but generally very rare, bear's garlic and the great fen sedge. The Park is also a perfect place for mushrooms pickers.
The fauna of the Park is equally rich: elks, deer, roe deer, wild boars, beavers, otters and birds: sea eagles,  lesser spotted eagles, black storks, gadflies, corncrakes, black and red kites, marsh harriers, northern harriers and Montagu's harriers and many others can be found in large numbers. In the Park there are 250 species of vertebrates overall.
The area plays a very important role in the country’s ecological system of protected lands. Thanks to many factors it is very little anthropologically transformed.
Lakes are the real treasure of the Brodnica county. They perform a very important ecological and hydrological role. They are also a major pillar of the region’s tourism economy. There are over 100 lakes in the county. Most of them small, with the area of  several hectares.
The biggest lakes are: Bachotek (211 ha), Sosno (188ha), Płowęż (174,2 ha),
The lakes’ waters belong to one of the cleanest in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship.