Podwilk is a small village that owes its name to its first mayor, Feliks Wilczek. It is beautifully situated in the valley of the Czarna Orawa River. It is home to around 2,000 people who speak the Orava dialect, and it is here that the Bembeńskie Nature Reserve was established. It was established in 2001 to protect the swamp spruce stands (or herbaceous spruce) with black and grey alder and protected and rare subalpine herbaceous species. These include the soft-haired cornflower and other species protected by law. It covers an area of 40.54 hectares and is divided into two separate parts, surrounded by a buffer zone. It is one of four reserves within the New Targ Forest District. The others are 'Bór na Czerwonem', 'Przełom Białki pod Krempachami', and 'Skałka Rogoźnicka’.