The bark beetles grow thicker in the depth of the forest
The article by Dasha Sokolova,
Published in «Byelorusskiy rynok» (The Byelorussian market) Newspaper, #4,
February 3, 2003
It is proven that all conceivable misfortunes have fallen upon the Belovezhskaya Pushcha at the same time.
The Belovezhskaya Pushcha has recently become an object of attention of the mass media. Many people believe that the industrial felling of the forest is conducted on protected territories, whereas the President's Property Management Department gets money after its sale.
To justify the felling and to avoid suspicions, the Ministry of the Natural Recourses and Environment Protection as well as the Property Management Department of the President (the Belovezhskaya Pushcha State National Park is under the jurisdiction of this Department), have organized out a press-tour. Aim was to convince participants that of no industrial fellings take place in the Reserve.
The officials give several reasons for the presence of tumbled down trees along roads and a timber processing plant in Kamenyuki village.
The first reason, a very serious problem of the Belovezhskaya Pushcha is, as they said, the fact that last years a large part of the natural forest is dying. Because of the high age of the forest, trees wilt, fall by the wind or die. This process has reached an enormous amount which was never seen before. Dying trees produce 240 — 250 thousand cubic meters every year, while only 50 — 60 thousand cubic meters are the result of clearance in the form of sanitary selective fellings, basically, of dry wood and wind-fallen trees along roads and compartment lines. The second reason for the presence of the dead trees is the dramatic decrease of the biological stability of the forest. Hence the forest is more susceptible for pests. In June 2001, the unexpected mass breeding of the bark beetle and its damage of spruces has taken place on the territory of the Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Spruce forests occupy 14 percent of the territory, mainly in the Regulated Nature Zone. In order to study the situation and to look for a method to control the bark beetle, scientists and experts on forest protection and forestry were involved in the research.
According to their conclusion, the extreme weather conditions of last years, the high (140 years) average age of spruce stands, the presence trunk and root moulds in the southern area (the spruce grows better in north) and the dramatic decrease of biological stability of spruce stands were main reasons of fast breeding of pests on the spruce trees, of damages and starvation. Stopping of the mass breeding of this bark beetle could only be possible after the exhaustion of its fodder base and the change of weather-climatic conditions. So far as this could not take place by a natural way, the deterioration of the sanitary condition of spruce stands in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha and the preservation of conditions for the mass breeding of trunk pests and the destruction of trees was prescribed.
This has taken place. By the autumn of 2001, the bark beetle has affected about 100 thousand cubic meters of a forest, while 80 thousand cubic meters were removed out in the winter of the same year. According to the experts, a struggle with the use of a poison against this pest is impossible in the Reserve. The only way is to localize centers of bark beetle spreading and to prevent their expansion by cutting the dead standing and populated trees. But this method of the chainsaw was not successful. In the first half of 2002, 728 centers of this pest on the area about 1.880 hectares were revealed. The volume of the damaged spruce trees has comprised 115 thousand cubic meters. By the autumn of last year it was reached 200 thousand cubic meters.
A third reason for the presence of this high number of dead trees, can be the thunderstorms which passed through the forest in February and July 2002. These storms caused the turning of 50 thousand cubic meters of the forest of all tree species on an area of 181 hectares on one spot and the same volume of the stand forest on separate sites in the Pushcha into the dense wind-fallen forest. This was the source for a new fourth problem. Dry standing and wind-fallen trees created the extremely serious danger of an occurrence of forest fires, which could put an irreparable loss to the Reserve. Since there was a dry hot weather, it was quite impossible to linger. In prescribed manner with the permission of the Committee of the Forestry at the Council of Ministersl of the Republic of Belarus and with agreement of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Protection, after the
Thus, the authority has presented many proofs that fellings of the forest in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha are harmless and even useful to this Reserve. However, these proofs were so numerous that it is possible unintentionally to doubt of their truthfulness.
It turns out that during
Half of the unfortunate spruces, prematurely within two years grown old, were consumed by bark beetles. Then trees, being underfed, were tumbled down by a hurricane and charred by a forest fire. And only then their rests were delivered to a timber processing shop and turned to a heap of planks.
By the way, a trip to the Pushcha, probably in view of the attack danger of the bark beetle become brutalized, was shortened in time and space a little bit. It lasted one day instead of planned three ones and a bus with participants went on a route scheduled beforehand where, according to the informal data, there were hastily removed felled trees. All wishing journalists as well as the former deputy director of the State National Park «Belovezhskaya Pushcha» Heorhi Kazulka, which could show places of the cutting of healthy trees (see «BR» #1/2003, page 30), could not take part in the trip.
But the amusing story about Dutch stoves which one of workers of Pushcha told as a joke, seems like a true pearl. As he said the Dutch adore fire-places and stoves but forest in their too civilized country is absent, therefore these poor fellows are compelled to buy it in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha at the considerable price. Once by mistake, the hornbeam has delivered to the Netherlands. As much as this valuable wood is not good for fuel, «the whole facing on their Dutch stoves has fallen».
It is clear everybody takes benefit of rescuing of the Belovezhskaya Pushcha to protect it against pests and fires. The Netherlands receive the fire wood, while any other country gain the hornbeam which is the firmest tree excluding the
However, the creation of national parks usually follows some other purposes.