Network of GPW (Soil Reference Areas, in Polish: Glebowe Powierzchnie Wzorcowe) is a form of soil protection in Poland, initiated in 1975 by the Soil Science Society of Poland and the Polish State Forests. Currently, 135 such areas operate in Poland, but they have not been properly monitored for a long time, and their condition in most cases remains unknown. The lack of studies and the extensive form of protection are causing controversy among foresters, who are faced with management restrictions on forest areas covering several hundred hectares. The aim of this study is to assess the current soil condition of Soil Reference Area located in the Osie Forest District, northern Poland, and in particular, the soil surface distortions resulting from soil preparation for stand planting (forest ploughing), based on remote microrelief analysis (LIDAR data and GIS tools), photointerpretation of available orthophotomaps and fieldwork. The minimum curvature interpolation method and an attempt to identify correlations between the visibility of ploughing traces and stand age were applied. Three classes of soil surface condition were established with respect to the presence of traces of forest ploughing: no marks, faint marks, and clear marks. This method enabled precise identification of the most severely plough-affected sections of the GPW. Ploughing traces were identified on 43% of the entire GPW, most of which are located under stands planted during the GPW's existence. The least transformed areas are located under the oldest forest stands.