02.03.2009 | Autor Karolina Włodarczyk

The Ełk Lake District stretches over vast picturesque forests, lakes, hillocks and morainal valleys and plains. The area is rich in fauna. The backwoods are inhabited by roe deer, stags, wild boars, hares, polecats, martens, and even wolves in winter. On the marshy land near Żelazki one can see elk, and in the Bartosze forests, beavers. And the lakes are rich in numerous species of fish. Much of the lakeland is protected area. All of this makes the region a paradise for anglers, mushroom pickers as well as for lovers of long strolls or bike or canoe rides and skiing. 

In 1997 eight communes (Ełk and the Ełk commune, Kalinowo, Kowale Oleckie, Prostki, Stare Juchy, Świetajno and Wieliczki) signed an Agreement for the Development of the Ełk Lake District. The main goal of the agreement is common representation and promotion of the region. The stork was accepted as the symbol of the agreement and the name The Land of the Stork was chosen, as storks exist in large numbers in the region. Storks only live in an unpolluted environment. Their presence in the Ełk Lake District is a sign of purity of the environment of The Land of the Stork.