The second – after the primeval forest – valuable and attractive distinguishing feature of the area is the water system of the Augustow Canal and the Rospuda – Netta and Czarna Hańcza rivers connected with it. The Augustow Canal is the most valuable monument of water engineering in Poland and Belarus. The canal was built between 1824 and 1839 as a water transport route for the export of local agricultural products to Western European markets, but was practically not used for its intended purpose due to changes in economic conditions and the development of rail transport

The hydrotechnical facilities that made up the Augustow Canal complex were built in accordance with the strict requirements of the technical culture of that time, which placed it in the sphere of the achievements of technical civilization in the first half of the 19th century; these are: locks, weirs (inlets) and ditches.

In 1968, the Augustow Canal was entered into the register of monuments on the section from Augustow to the border with the Soviet Union, along with all buildings and the protected landscape zone. In 1979, the Provincial Conservator of Monuments in Suwałki extended the protection provisions to the entire Polish section of the canal.

In 2003, the Augustow Canal was entered on the State List of Historical and Cultural Heritage of Belarus. Since then, the canal has been seen not only as a historical and cultural monument, but also as a promising tourist destination. In October 2014, the Belarusian side entered the Augustow Canal on the preliminary UNESCO World Heritage List as a unique 19th-century hydrotechnical structure

There are many tourist attractions in the areas adjacent to the Canal. There are picturesque lakes in the surrounding forests. And to the south of the Canal, historical and cultural monuments dominate.