Greenpeace forest patrols in Białowieża Forest

"The purpose of the patrols is to check whether the forest management conducted in the forest violates the UNESCO protection zones" - reads the release sent to PAP. All of Białowieża Forest is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Environmentalists explain that the organization of patrols is in response to the plans of the State Forests, which under an annex to the Forest Management Plan for the Białowieża Forest District for the years 2012-2021 want to source more wood than ever before from the forest. The current permitted volume is 63.4 thousand cubic meters per 10 years, and foresters want to increase to 188 thousand cubic meters. Foresters justify this with spruce bark beetle gradation in spruce stands.

Regional Directorate of State Forests in Białystok reported earlier that in 2015 approx. 200 thousand spruces populated by bark beetles had been inventoried in the Białowieża Forest forestry districts. The total volume of the wood is 260 thousand cubic meters, and the "decay of stands" due to spruce bark beetle gradation occurred on a total area of approx. 4 thousand ha.

Many scientific communities and organizations called for leaving the forest nature without human intervention. The decision lies with the Minister of the Environment.

Greenpeace forest patrols will check dozens of natural areas protected by UNESCO on site, in the forest. They will focus on places where felling of trees is prohibited, including the sanitary felling. "Greenpeace patrols control the places in which forest management has carried out since inscribing the entire Białowieża Forest as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Compliance of the proposed annex to the Management Plan for the Białowieża Forest District with the UNESCO requirements will also be verified" - reads the release.

Greenpeace Poland director Robert Cyglicki emphasised in the release that as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Białowieża Forest requires protection of its natural biological processes. "The forest heals its wounds after heavy exploitation in the communist era, and we should not interfere. That is why we are on site and monitor forest areas covered by the planned felling" - he emphasised.

The observations will provide material for a report which will assess the state of the Białowieża Forest - as stated - "in view of taken and planned economic activities since its inscription in its entry on the UNESCO list". The document is expected to be provided to both Prime Minister Beata Szydło as well as the Minister of the Environment Jan Szyszko.

"Scientists have long recognized the special natural values of the forest and appreciated its natural character. UNESCO share their opinion. However, Polish legislation fully protects a third of the forest area - the national park and nature reserves" - emphasised Greenpeace and reminded that the remainder of forest is a timber forest. It is administered by three forest districts of the State Forests. Environmentalists believe that the Białowieża Forest should be "entirely covered by the special protection it deserves".

Controversy surrounding the forest has also been also publicized by the prestigious weekly "Nature". The problem of a possible felling increase was discussed in the editorial section "News in Focus." The weekly reports that plans to increase felling from of 6 thousand meters per year to 53 thousand meters in the Białowieża Forest District alone caused protests of Polish scientists, including scientific bodies such as the National Council for the Protection of Nature and the Nature Conservation Committee PAS.

At the same time, the authors of two letters to "Nature": Paweł Michalak from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in the United States USA ("Ancient forest: keep the logging ban") and Dr. Przemysław Chylarecki from the Museum and Institute of Zoology PAS together with Dr. Nuria Selva from the Institute of Nature Conservation PAS ("Ancient forest: spare it from clearance") are calling to put a stop to felling.

"We want to publicize the problem. We believe that the currently planned solutions are bad, doomed to failure and very harmful to the Białowieża Forest. We are certain of this based on all our knowledge" - Przemysław Chylarecki told PAP on Thursday.

"At the moment the Polish government, under the banner of protection against bark beetle, is applying heavy felling. We say that it is absolutely necessary. This type of object should be preserved to learn from it, to see how natural processes occur. Especially in times of when we have an increased the pace of change, even in the woods, under the influence of climate change" - he added.

Citing the results of spruce range modelling, Dr. Chylarecki stressed that by the end of the century, this species will have retreated from the northern Poland. Scientists emphasize on the "Nature" website that these changes take place with the participation of bark beetle and other natural factors. "The planned felling completely ignores the role of the spruce bark beetle in shaping the natural dynamics of the forest" - the researchers point out.

Any sanitart felling aimed at combating the bark beetle in the Białowieża Forest is doomed to failure - believes Dr. Chylarecki, relying on the proven model of ability to combat bark beetle. This model assumes that success in the form of with stopping (or slowing down) bark beetle gradation requires one hundred percent effectiveness in destroying detected, infected trees. "But this is by definition impossible in the forest, in which 35 percent of the area is protected and beyond the possibility of felling" - he said.

Regional Directorate of State Forests recently sent the annex to the management plan for the Białowieża Forest District to DG of State Forests in Warsaw. From there, the document is expected to be forwarded to the Minister of the Environment, who will be making decisions on this matter.

In connection with the forest dispute, on Monday the Podlaskie province council appealed to the government to work out a compromise on the management of Białowieża Forest and commence activities for the development of the region. Councillors want the government to "develop and implement, on the basis of a compromise between all the parties to the dispute, a uniform system to manage the entire forest, which will take into account the developmental aspirations of the inhabitants of the Białowieża Forest region".

PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland

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