BARK BEETLES IN THE BELOVEZHSKAYA PUSHCHA
The article by Heorhi Kazulka, Philosophy Doctor of Biology,
Published in «Zapovednye ostrova» (Reserved Islands) Newspaper (Russia), #2 (36),
February 2003
INFORMATION: Belovezhskaya Pushcha has been protected as a natural territory since the end of the XIVth century. Since 1413 the forest was in possession of Poland. From 1795 it belonged to Russia, but in 1919 Poland owned the forest again. In 1921 a so called «Forestry Reserve» was set up, covering 4,594 hectares, of which 1061 ha were strictly protected. In 1939 Belovezhskaya Pushcha became a part of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialistic Republic and Belovezhskaya Pushcha State Nature Reserve was being established. In 1957 this Nature Reserve was given the status of State Protected Game Ground. The Game Ground was reorganized into the State National Park Belovezhskaya Pushcha in 1991. The border of Poland and Belarus divides the forest over both countries. The Belarusian part of Belovezhskaya Pushcha covers 101,603 hectares. Belovezhskaya Pushcha is the largest remnant of the relic primeval lowland forests that covered a major part of Europe since prehistoric times. These primeval forests have gradually been felled and the Belovezhsky region is virtually the last location where it has remained relatively intact. Belovezhskaya Pushcha has been divided into four functional zones to serve the preservation of this unique primal woodland. The extent of protection varies from zone to zone. They are the Wilderness Protection Zone, the Regulated Nature Zone, the Regulated Recreational Area and the Economic Activity Zone. A Support or Buffer Zone has been established all around the Pushcha. The average age of the woodstands of Belovezhskaya Pushcha is over one hundred years, while separate patches within the forest are aged 250 to 350 years. Over one thousand giant trees in the forest have been registered; 400 to 600 year old oaks, 250 to 350 year old ashes and pines and 200 to 250 year old spruces. About 900 species of high vascular plants occur in the forest. It is home of the largest free living population of the European bison. In 1992 the UNESCO recognized the core area of Belovezhskaya Pushcha as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 1993 the Belovezhskaya Pushcha was granted the status of Biosphere Reserve. In 1997 the Council of Europe granted the forest the prestigious European Diploma of Protected Areas.
The history of Belovezhskaya Pushcha includes «black pages» of times in which natural resources were exploited in such great volumes and in such a way that this unique forest was threatened with destruction. During German occupation in the First World War four timber processing plants were constructed and 4.5 million cubic meters of excellent timber were delivered to Germany within a period of just two years.
The start of the third millennium will stay in our memory because of danger decisions that were made by the administration of Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park. Lead by general director Nickolai Bambiza it tried to organize sanitary clear cutting of living forest areas within the Regulated Nature Zone. A specific protective regime has to be applied here. However, trees were logged under the guise of fighting a struggle with bark beetles. Since the Second World War such strong management measures have not been executed in the Belarusian part of Belovezhskaya Pushcha.
In 2001 a new wave of mass reproduction of bark beetle occurred. It did not only destroy trunks of spruces in Belarus, but also in Russia, the Baltic countries, Poland and other European countries. These outbreak was provoked by very unfavorable weather conditions which lasted several years in a raw. As a result spruces became extremely weak. Y. Marchenko, director of «Bellesozashchita», the state organ for forest protection and monitoring stated that 1.5 million cubic meters of spruce wood would be cut in Belarus in 2001, while an increase of this volume up to 2.5 or 3 million cubic meters was predicted for 2002.
This invasion has also affected Belovezhskaya Pushcha. In our forest 300 infection centers were found according to data of the forest department. It states that about 70,000 cubic meters of spruce wood was affected over an area of 600 hectares in 2001. This mass invasion of spruces by bark beetle has revealed the unawareness of local experts of Belovezhskaya Pushcha. This is not surprising. Monitoring the bug vermin and the long-term forecast of their development was not conducted properly. A regular account of the amount of forest harmful insects has not been made in autumn. A true scientific standard and connection with the Park's management was absent.
This was a consequence of a policy which had been adopted over the last six years. In 1994 the Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Property Management Department of the President. Ivan Titenkov, former head of this department, raised a motto: «Reserves and National Parks do not just have to earn income to keep their own business alive, they have to obtain finances as well for the Management Department». A new and strict management line was proclaimed. It targeted at commercialization of the Park's activities and the development of intensive economic businesses. Science and nature conservation, which even in the past had not been leading topics, were overshadowed even more. The park assigned managers which had no background at all connected with nature protection or wildness conservation. The new managers started to breed horses, geese and cows and they extended agricultural fields. At a certain moment they even started to develop the idea to establish a pig farm. They took over shops from the state, they arranged them under the administration of the Park and they started wide trade. Birch juice, mushrooms, berries and medicinal plants were procured in great volumes. They started to construct wood processing workshops and other smaller enterprises.
In 1998 an idea to construct a large wood processing plant in the village of Kamenyuki, the residential center of the National Park, was established. In order to equip that sawmill a huge loan was incurred. It amounted over 1.5 million USD.
The National Park gradually turned into some kind of agri-industrial trading complex. In this «complex» there was no place for forestry in its ordinary meaning. All year round foresters were involved in executing fellings. Financing the works on forest maintenance was very limited.
Simultaneously when the bark beetle appeared the President's Property Management Department appointed Nickolai Bambiza as the new general director. This was done in order to «break through» the situation. From the first days he lead the Park it was clear that the purposes, working methods and management principles of this man were far from ecological or pointed at wildness protection or conservation of biodiversity. Immediately after he inspected the Pushcha he put a management line in order to cut the living forest. At once when the first traits of a bark beetle infection became apparent in spruce forests he issued an order to log out the affected plots. It included living stands in the Regulated Nature Zone (category II of protection). It did not result in an official sanction and the order was done without coordination with the Scientific Council of the Park and the Academy of Sciences. It further appeared that the measures were insufficient.
Nickolai Bambiza decided that pure forestry aimed methods should be used to manage the Pushcha. He initiated clear sanitary fellings in the Primeval Forest. In short time a commission was convened to serve that purpose. The commission justified clear felling within the protected territory as a suitable management principle. Documents to justify this method were prepared in secret. The public and experts of the Park had no voice in this matter. The documents were handed over to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Protection and to the Forestry Committee. The necessary permission had been produced rapidly.
After the Second World War an unwritten law ruled the Belarusian part of Belovezhskaya Pushcha. It stated that no single living tree should be logged. Even if only a single branch of a tree is still alive that tree would stay alive untill its natural death. This law was strictly respected. However, the efforts made and the work done by several generations of scientists and associates in the Pushcha were crossed out in a single turn; their experience and knowledge were just thrown away.
Journalists and associates of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Protection got to know about this «vague adventure». They raised noise. The media published scandalous articles in which the extended plans to fell parts of Belovezhskaya Pushcha were opened up.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Protection suspended the permission of clear fellings for sanitary reasons in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. It established a Commission in order to study the feasibility and expediency of such clear cuttings. The Commission gathered in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. It studied the matter in detail. It concluded by majority that clear sanitary fellings are inadmissible in the National Park, since this activity contradicts the very goals and purposes of the Park. The Commission noted that no efforts were made by the Park to find solutions in fighting bark beetles, apart from clear fellings. However, the protocol as it was prepared by the Commission remained unsigned. The administration of the National Park and representatives of the President's Property Management Department were «offended». Therefore both parties refused to undersign the protocol.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Protection ordered the Commission to gather once again. The Commission had more members at that moment. It reaffirmed that clear sanitary fellings in the living forest should be prohibited, while it allowed logging of spruces if they were freshly populated by bark beetle. This would be permitted in May and June. It allowed felling of pure spruce stands, which are not numerous in the Pushcha. However, the administration did not agree with these measures either. Nickolai Bambiza and the President's Property Management Department firmly kept following their management line. They demanded execution of clear fellings of living forest stands in protected quarters of Belovezhskaya Pushcha. The second document prepared by the Commission remained unsigned as well.
Even modestly competent experts on forest protection will confirm that bark beetle will have its greatest effect when infected trees are felled in May or June. In those months bark beetles have already settled themselves intensively in spruces. The first generation of the bug is being developed in those very months.
In the summer of 2001 many bark beetles grew up successfully. They flew out and infected other trees. The administration tried to blame scientists as «irresponsible» colleagues, but this was false reasoning. The spreading of insects was possible owing to the poor management which the National Park provided. Numerous violations were made in applying technologies to log trees which were infected by bark beetle. Once trees were cut they were left on their felling ground for months. On the 1st of January 2002 a total of 15,608 cubic meters of felled wood were lying on felling grounds! The impression raised that the efforts of logging were directed mainly at cutting as many trees as possible. The further fate of those trees seemed no to be any concern to the administration of the National Park.
An official permission had not been issued to execute clear sanitary fellings. Still foresters were orally ordered by the director to cut living trees — it included trees which showed no traces of infestation by bark beetle. The first Commission forbade felling of living trees as it understood the true purpose of these sanitary clear cuttings of living forest very well. It got confirmed of such practice through visual survey of felling plots as well as during discussions with the managers of the Park. The task had been set to maximize the supply of high quality timber for the powerful new sawmill. Hence, there was a serious danger that measures would be abused and cuttings would be conducted on healthy trees, with an interesting market price, under the guise of sanitary felling.
I have requested the known Swedish entomologist Gunnar Isacsson to inform me of experiences with the struggle of bark beetle in Sweden. Here is a quotation from his letter, dated 11th January 2002: «My preliminary view is that no trees should be cut at all in pristine forests or in strictly protected areas. Experiences from Sweden and Lithuania have shown that
The famous Polish scientist Jerzy Gutowski has been investigating dynamics and ecological factors of development of the bark beetle population on the protected territory of the Polish part of Belovezhskaya Pushcha for long time. In the strictly reserved area wild nature continues to prosper like ever before, while in other managed area forestry methods are applied according to rules of timber enterprises. However, some restrictions apply to the forestry management there.
His research revealed that in similar forest-environmental conditions centers of bark beetle infection do frequently fade away more rapidly under natural conditions than on protected areas where felling of infected spruces is conducted. Such centers do spread out slower as well. It is because the environment in the strict reserve provides a rich community of predators and parasites of bark beetle. These communities are much poorer in managed parts of the forest. During periods of infection with bark beetle the number of predators and parasites grows very fast, although a bit late, as a simple reaction on the development of bark beetle. In short time these enemies suppress the population of bark beetle and they reduce its numbers to levels which do not harm the forest.
On the managed territory the effects of felling of infected stands of spruces are only significant in May and June, when the bark beetles have occupied spruces and the first generation is being developed. If trees are felled in July to September the potential breeding success of predators and parasites of bark beetle is being undermined to a great extent. In this period clearing infected trees harms the positive role of the natural enemies of bark beetles. At fellings applied to infected stands of spruces in October to March irretrievable damage is made to populations of predators and parasites. At that time significant shares of the bark beetle population migrate or have migrated into the forest litter for wintering. In this way the future pressure on bark beetle by its enemies decreases when the next period of growth of the vegetation starts.
The conduction of year round felling of infected stands of spruces can only be justified as necessary if industrial and commercial purposes are considered to be top priority. Then it is rational to harvest timber of high quality. Such fellings do negatively influence both the enemies of bark beetle as well as the sustainability of the affected spruce stands. First of all special protected territories are under our concern here; trees continue their life cycle until they face natural death. On such territories fellings are not conducted according to the regulations. In those areas changes of ecological conditions in sites which are infected by bark beetle are visibly less strong, since those trees which were «lost» remained on site. At cutting sites wood is being removed. Because of that light exposure and the increase of temperatures in the hot summer days is stronger here. Single living trees of other species which continue their growth after the felling is conducted as well as spruces located at the edge of infected sites suffer drought in their root system. Such trees are strongly weakened this way and they are easy victims for attacks of bark beetle. Owing to this mechanism the infection center continues to spread out.
Belovezhskaya Pushcha does not face threats from bark beetle today. The forest faces a «two legged beetle» who does not take into account scientific knowledge of nature conservation. He does not know the laws of the environment. This beetle is a lying, tough and voracious person. Under the guise of «protection» and «preservation» of Belovezhskaya Pushcha the timber processing complex operates at full scale. These activities result in destruction of principles of nature conservation and of traditions which were built by generations of local inhabitants of the Pushcha. It simply imposes its primitive logging practices. Lies, deceits, falsifications and juggling facts are its basic methods to achieve his purposes. These purposes have nothing in common with the ideas of any National Park or Biosphere Reserve. This complex is run under «high» patronage. This represents a fatal danger to Belovezhskaya Pushcha.
It is the task for all ecologists and all people with a sensible and progressive attitude to prevent repeated recurrence of tragic events which repeatedly visited the Belovezhskaya Pushcha in the past. The most recent event which took place in Belovezhskaya Pushcha is a rather instructive story which demonstrates the distressful results of intensive economic activities and commercialization of Special Protected Natural Territories.