The Department of Nature Protection in Rural Areas is the only institution which has beeen collecting the knowledge and parametrical data of Polish wetlands continuously for half of the century. There is a full continuity on the merits with the works of distinguished pre-war peat-experts, educated at Polesie, the largest peatlands in Europe.

The Department of Nature Protection offers:

• The largest in Poland Computer Data Bank of Polish Wet- and Grasslands , with nearly 50.000 records on peat and gyttia deposits,

• Maps of Polish peatlands in the scale of 1:100.000,

• The Computer Atlas of Polish Wetlands and Grasslands in the scale of 1:300.000,

• The only copy of The Map of Polish Wetlands and Grasslands hand-drawn in the scale of 1:100.000.

Materials collected in the Institute:

• The Central Archive of Peat Specifications (4.200 volumes describing almost 50.000 peatlands of area larger than 1 ha),

• The Computer Information Catalogue included in the ARCHIGEO system.

The scientific team of the Department will also:

• Prepare:

• environment impact assessment of an investment,

• management plans for valuable natural areas,

• assessment of changes in water and land conditions in reclaimed wetlands,

• inventory of valuable biotopes in the agricultural landscape, together with an assessment of its importance, requirements, and possibilities of conservation,

• restoration projects for various types of agricultural areas,

• evaluation of the most rational management possibilities for an area,

• realize evaluation of semi-natural farmlands in different geographical circumstances,

• define roles of environmental protection and integration of rural activities ,

• create digital maps (for usage in plans of spatial management in rural areas), also based upon archival documentation and computer databases.