The Tuchola Forest, also known as Tuchola Pinewoods or Tuchola Conifer Woods, (the latter a literal translation of ; ; ) is a large forest complex near the town of Tuchola in northern Poland, which lies between the Brda and Wda Rivers, within the Gdańsk Pomerania region. The largest towns in the area are Czersk and Tuchola. The designation may also refer to the eponymous historical land and ethnocultural region, World War II battle, geomorphological mesoregion, phytogeographic landscape region and syntaxonomical subregion, nature and forest mesoregion, promotional forest complex, Biosphere Reserve, Natura 2000 Special Protection Area, national park, LEADER/CLLD local action group, or a number of local associations. Geographical extent varies greatly among these units or entities. Geography, nature and ecology With 3,200 km² of dense spruce and pine forest, the area is one of the biggest forests in Poland and Central Europe. Geomorphology and geology The area was formed during the last glacial age and is covered with low hills and more than 900 post-glacial lakes. From the geomorphological point of view, the area is located in the South-Pomeranian Lakeland macroregion of the South-Baltic Lakelands Sub-Province belonging to the Polish Plain, a part of the North European Plain province. The forest covers the eponymous Tuchola Forest mesoregion, but also the Świecie Plain (both mesoregions sometimes jointy referred to as Tuchola Plain), large swaths of the Charzykowy Plain and the Brda River Valley mesoregions, as well as lesser parts of other mesoregions: the Bytów Lakeland, the Kashubia Lakeland, the Starogard Lakeland, and the Krajna Lakeland. The geology of Tuchola Forest consists mainly of sandar glaciofluvial deposits of sand sediment, while the soil is predominantly of podzol type. Climate The climate in the area is classified as Dfb climate, a variant of the hemiboreal subtype belonging to the humid continental climate type. Phytogeography From the geobotanical point of view, the area encompasses several floristic landscape subregions forming the eponymous Tuchola Forest landscape region, classified as the only landscape region in the eponymous Tuchola Forest syntaxonomical subregion of the Sandar Forefields of Central Pomeranian Lake District syntaxonomical region located in the Pomeranian divide of the South-Baltic subprovince. A smaller part of the forest is located in three out of five floristic landscape subregions forming the Świecie Plain landscape region, classified in the Chełmno-Dobrzyń syntaxonomical region belonging to the Mazovian subdivide of the Mazovian-Polesian divide in the Central European (Proper) subprovince. Both floristic