The Augustów Forest surrounds Augustów from three sides and within its borders there are several lakes with varied shorelines, sandy beaches, and often high escarpments. The Augustów Forest is a huge forest complex with an area of approximately 160 thousand ha (on the Polish side it covers an area of over 114 thousand ha). It is dominated by coniferous trees: pine and spruce, but birch, maple, hornbeam, linden, ash and alder can also be found. There are many tree stands of old trees, some of which are over 120 years old, with trees reaching 30-40m in height.
The Augustów Forest is rich in mushrooms, berries, wild strawberries and raspberries. The protected plants include: the wolf bark, Turk's cap lily, pasque-flowers, Lycopodium, yew and many others. The Augustów forest is also home to many animals: deer, roe-deer, elk, wild boar, black grouse, fox, beavers, and marten.
