WWF’s project for protection of Bulgaria’s ancient woodlands

Ecology

Nowadays old growth forests are nothing more than a romantic memory for most European countries. Only 1 percent of the Continent’s woodlands are ancient and those are situated mainly in Russia, ecologist Zheko Spiridonov claims. So, Bulgaria is a sort of an oasis with 1/3 of its territory covered with woodlands and 5 percent of those being ancient. Many of the latter are situated in protected areas in the mountains of Rila, Pirin, Strandja etc., but some 3 percent of the 5 mentioned remain vulnerable, outside those areas, WWF representatives say, adding that half of these forests are endangered by planned logging. That is why the environmental NGO kicked off end-2012 a campaign for the protection of these forests.

Five percent of ancient woodlands mean thick and tall trees, i.e. precious wood material. Nearly 20 percent of Bulgaria’s wood supplies can be found in these 5 percent. Hence the understandable appetite of entrepreneurs. Environmentalists insist on the reaching of a sensible balance in the usage of the forest reserve. This is the new European practice in forestry, arboriculturist Aleksander Dunchev from WWF told a Radio Bulgaria reporter.

“Balance means to use 80 – 90 percent of the forests in a nature-friendly manner, leaving 10 percent of them totally untouched. There is no way that one can find more than 10 m3 of deadwood per ha in an industrial forest. Exactly there – in dead trees with hollows and in deadwood we can see the very rare species of the Eurasian Three-toed Woodpecker, its White-backed brother, the European pine marten, the Eurasian lynx and many, many others…”

Old growth forests also give shelter to half of the entire biodiversity in Bulgaria – for instance, only here you can see 16 oak species, expert in biodiversity Zheko Spiridonov claims. 80 percent of all the 555 Bulgarian endemic species can be found exactly in forests. Hence the huge importance of woodlands for biodiversity protection. Mammals for instance need vast wild territories for their survival – forests. One should bear in mind, by the way that the average age of forests in Bulgaria has been growing in a sustainable manner ever since 1980, reaching 53 years in 2010. However, nowadays forestry starts to turn its head to old growth forests that used to be untouchable till recently, due to the lack of road infrastructure in the hearts of the mountains. Now the construction of such roads is envisaged and it will be followed by intense logging too.
There is a trend existing. For instance, in 2012 forestry in Bulgaria implemented its plans by 110 percent, to a great extend due to the increased demand of firewood in Greece that even endangered the Bulgarian consumers. The WWF campaign comes right on time in this period of intensified logging.

The battle is mainly for the territories, included in the Natura 2000 network, where 80 – 90 percent of the old growth forests are gathered, Mr. Dunchev goes on to say.
“My colleagues are puzzled by the fact that deadwood starts to concentrate in a forest that nobody takes care of. Traditionally this deadwood is taken out, since it loses its value and is even dangerous to the forest. On the other hand we are all interested in preservation of at least one part of our ancient woodlands. The generations should have the chance to observe the forest growing without any human interference, following only the laws of nature. There is a growing trend among the computerized young generation of North America and Europe that wants to enjoy true wild forests…”

The identification and mapping of Bulgaria’s ancient forests are among WWF’s priorities, followed by the struggle against the so-called sanitary felling. “They call it sanitary just to make it sound good,” Aleksander says with irony.
“Sanitary felling is a real problem for old growth forests, since it is not always necessary. For instance, take an old tree, full of hollows that has stood in the forest for like 20 years and woodpeckers live in it. We all now that the latter are the sanitarians of the forest. Old trees with hollows used to be removed, since those were considered dangerous for the forest, but now a new, modern forestry way of thinking has appeared in Europe, saying that those are useful. We talk and discuss with arboriculturists how to solve the issue with sanitary felling.”

Even the old German school now changes its attitude towards forestry care, Mr. Dunchev goes on to say. In Switzerland they even have ceased logging, he adds, no new arboriculturists are trained. Tourism is another thing that can be damaged by the destroying of ancient forests.

“We are logging our century-old forests that are our main tourist resource,” environmentalists and experts in ecology ring alarm.
“People now opt for ecotourism – they create eco routes, win European projects. Then loggers come and destroy the beautiful landscape that actually has won these projects. Practically we export our ancient woodlands that are Bulgaria’s main tourist resource! We try to make some sort of a temporary living on logging, losing at the same time the permanent one – tourism. The main signals that we recently receive are exactly those – people say: “They came and wiped out the forest, where an eco path had been created, which had attracted many tourists!” The municipalities of Dryanovo, Chiprovtsi, places in the West Balkan Range and many other ring alarm on the situation,” Aleksander Dutsov from WWF says in conclusion.

Source: www.bnr.bg

(22.01.2013)