BARK BEETLES
The article by Tatyana Antonove-Mel'yanovich,
Published in «Trud-7» (Work-7) Newspaper, #27 (24219),
February 13–19, 2003
Belovezhskaya Pushcha is a unique natural complex with the status of natural heritage of world importance. The forest awarded by high titles is a standard of wild primary nature. It is a home for relic communities of plants and animals. But today it looks rather as the timber enterprise where economic planers have quite a successful business providing native and foreign consumers with timber produced from century pines, oaks, spruces and ashes. Well-known home adherents of nature and local inhabitants living on farms and in Kamenyuki village within the Belovezhskaya Pushcha have already informed the «Trud» newspaper that the beauty and pride of our land got to trouble and danger. They were indignant because of scales of fellings, of the sawmill working in three shifts, and also of heartlessness and cynicism of those who turns protected forests into a source of their income and commerce.
The last visit of a group of metropolitan journalists who have been in the National Park «Belovezhskaya Pushcha», has confirmed the worst fears.
Topic one
Apocalyptic sights
Today in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha it is quite possible to shoot horror-films about the end of world, a nuclear explosion, a huge earthquake or an unprecedented mismanagement, human greed and callousness. On one site within the former dense spruce and pine stand, tops of trees were cut like a huge edge of the cutting instrument has done it. Hundreds of large trees with roots turned out from the ground lay as the deceased, being paralyzed by ridiculous pose in that time when unexpected death has found it. Above the cut trees, warped by wind and affected by bark beetle, workers with chainsaws stir skillfully turning them to blocks. Bonfires are seen here and there. Wood-cutting remains are burnt there. Many old and fresh stumps and timber stacks accurately put at a road is striking. Timber lorries are going there and here loading up the wood. A bulldozer moves blockages away to places where the access for people is impossible.
It is quite possible to imagine what was here before arrival of Belarusian and Polish scientists, representatives of nongovernmental organizations and some tens of journalists — participants of the press-expedition from Minsk. Obviously, there was done considerable work on removal of rotted wood and clearing fall-trees along the route, beforehand chosen by administration so that to be ready to meet our expedition. But these efforts of managers of the park to introduce if only of some visibility of the order cannot draw veil over the calamity fallen on the oldest European forest.
What happened in the Pushcha?
In February and July 2002, two hurricanes of unprecedented power passed through the Pushcha. They turned the whole area of more than 180 hectares into the pure wind-fallen forest. Totally 50 thousand cubic meters of different woods were annihilated. It is unknown how much wood was destroyed at separate sites located fragmentally within the Pushcha because. The park has not enough workers and engineering for clearing this
But the trouble is not alone. On May 5, 2002, in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha fire has been set up on one of forest place which suffered after the above mentioned hurricane and where the wood cleaning has been conducted. It was extinguished five days later. About 15 hectares of the area including 5 hectares of best
«But unexpected infection of the bark beetle, is the biggest misfortune», general director of the National Park Nickolai Bambiza considers. «This pest affected spruce stands. They cover 14 percents of Pushcha's territory».
On his opinion, extremely adverse weather conditions of previous years were the reason of this phenomenon. But scientists are convinced that the drainage of lands around the Pushcha forests, which is being conducted secretly even now, provoked an attack of bark beetle in the first instance. For this reason the spruce as the species very sensitive towards moisture amount started to die. And such weakened spruce trees are the most attractive for the bug.
The point of view
The mass breeding of bark beetle in Belovezhskaya Pushcha has started in 2001 and was unexpected for managers of the parks as the former deputy director on science, the Philosophy Doctor in biology Heorhi Kazulka considers. It was not surprising. Monitoring for bug pests and long-term forecast of development of these insects were not conducted properly. Real connection with the science was absent. Newest methods and techniques of the struggle with pests were not applied.
Topic two
About the bark beetle and the love to a native land
Generally, the bark beetle periodically attacked the Pushcha forest in the past. But the forest successfully won the pest. In 2001, new period of mass reproduction of bark beetle started. It affected spruce forests both in Belarus, Russia, Poland, Baltic, and other European countries.
Manageres of the park decided to struggle with this disaster in own way namely to provide clear fellings within protected zones. But efforts of scientists prevented these clearings.
As Nickolai Bambiza convinces everyone, «undertaken struggle measures against pests have not achieved expected result. The bug has infected about 20 percent of afforested territory within reserve. 27 centers of bark beetle infection were recorded in 2001, while in the first half of 2002, 728 such centers were already fixed. If we had not carried out the clear felling on wind-fallen forest sites of the area of 167 hectares, the bark beetle probably would have »taken prisoner« the whole Pushcha.
By the way, according to prognosis, about 150 thousand cubic meters of spruce wood is expected for damaging in 2003. The state has already no power to solve ecological problems of Belovezhskaya Pushcha on own and decided to address for help to international organizations using the UN Office in the Republic of Belarus.
For the justices sake it is necessary to say there is no unanimous opinion concerning the forests with the prolific bark beetle invasion. Scientists and environmentalists prove that possible successful method of the struggle with the bug is applying pheromone traps and spruce trap-logs.
« We are doing so now», the Polish forester Adolf Korczik invited for participation in this press-expedition, said to me. « We carefully monitor and remove trees affected by beetles as soon as there is a need. It is not clear to me why there was achieved such illiteracy and state mismanagement at the Belarusian part of Pushcha.
It is valid, why? Why does Nickolai Bambiza not ask the neighbours to share an experience? Why does he ignore the opinion of scientists, environmentalists and ordinary conservators of native nature? Why were there not invited such known and authoritative scientists as Academician Victor Parfenov and Professor Vladimir Baginskiy for participation in this expedition? They have the Pushcha at own finger-tips.
Meanwhile, Nickolai Bambiza makes all accusations to the scientists who supposedly have «bound his hand and foot» and have not allowed cardinally clearing voracious bark beetles from the Pushcha in 2001. As an economic planner, he pursues quite definite purposes, namely to gain a profit and to introduce order in the Pushcha in accordance with his ideas. What kind is this order? The people with ideas of economic managing, which differ of the director's vision, as well as with traditions of observance of nature protection legislation and implementation of scientific recommendations are simply dismissed from the park. For example, former deputy director on science Heorhi Kazulka was fired after he worked more than 16 years in the Pushcha. Former general director and general forest warden Evgeny Smoktunovich is another example. He is the forester heredity. There are other employees which were against the order to cut healthy
Many people who are employees of the park now told me that they disagree with the policy provided by the management of the national park, but they cannot resist it openly. It is because, as they said themselves, they are humble folk. And if they lose a job they will not be able to support their families.
Heorhi Kazulka and Evgeniy Smoktunovich have openly raised a protest against the unthoughtful treatment to the Belovezhskaya Pushcha forest. But they have not obtained permission to participate in the representative press conference. Moreover, they were named for all to hear as originators of all troubles in the National Park, softly speaking, they are mentally diseased a little bit… It is good that they have not been located into a mental hospital by force yet, as there was a tradition in respect of dissidents during unforgettable times of the USSR. I personally keep very pleasant impressions after meetings with these people in previous years: they are competent and cultured people guided by principle.
Topic three
The sawmill of the Titenkov's name
Local inhabitants call a new sawmill on behalf of the name of Ivan Titenkov, former Manager of the Property Management Department of the presidential administration. Thus, Ivan Ivanovich has immortalized his name in Belarus.
The point is that Ivan Titenkov was an initiator of purchase of notorious sawmill in Germany obtaining the credit of 1.5 million dollars from the state bank. This technology is not very good. It is targeted, by the way, for processing the raw wood of living trees instead of dry timber. Therefore, probably this is sense for the administration to realize clear sanitary cuttings. There is information that the credit for sawmill is not still paid. If there will be timber the sawmill will process and money will be earned. «Reserves and national parks should earn for internal running goals and also bring an income», Ivan Ivanovich liked to say. «You are walking on gold», he did not forget to repeat as he came in the Pushcha.
By the way, it is not possible to enter the sawmill territory without a special permission. But the visit to this enterprise was allowed for participants of the press-expedition. The timber processing shop is organized solidly and in a big way. It works in three shifts. All platforms, as far as one can see, are full of huge stocks of the timber. Among this wealth it was not possible to find out spruce trees eaten up by bark beetle. But on the other hand, there were a lot of quite healthy pines, ashes and other valuable trees, probably, delivered here after clear fellings or some other manipulations in protected zones of Pushcha.
Nickolai Bambiza asserts that living wood is processed only in Shereshevskoye timber enterprise located out the protected zone. But how we can believe this? It is quite logical to assume that regime of secrecy existed here can promote abuses. Crimes are impossible only if there is control of all kinds of forest activities within the territory of specially protected zone. But there was no any control missions in the National Park provided by independent bodies, as well as «green» activists are removed out of here after they are only visible on horizon.
Employees of the sawmill are mainly people come out of the Pushcha. General director has sharply negative treatment to locals as if supposedly they are drunkards. By the way, I asked one of «teetotaler» who arrived from another area to take a job here, whether it was a pity to him to turn the Pushcha into timber. «It is a pity», he sincerely and honestly told and even sworn concerning endless fellings. But representatives of the National Park's administration appeared in time to take the lad away having whispered conspiratorially about a disease of him.
Unfortunately, journalists had no possibility to talk to anybody else who is local inhabitant. Seeing our aspiration to understand the current situation, former employee of the Park Vyacheslav Semakov assisting us as a guide noticed «Why are you looking for criminal everywhere!? It doesn't exist here while the Pushcha was sawn in all times. Look here it is our beauty till now…»
I will repeat again that everybody likes the Pushcha in his own way…
Regarding to Heorhi Kazulka, he is convinced that it is necessary to learn competently to manage such a unique site of nature as the Belovezhskaya Pushcha and also to save it as the law and recommendations of the European Diploma oblige. To achieve this, it is necessary to strictly follow the methods and technologies which have already been approved in our and other countries.
The point of view
Many Belarusian scientists who were employees of the Pushcha in the past, consider that everything what has taken place in the National Park is the result of rough policy on commercialization and economic activity development which have been applied here for the last five years. Due to this shifting, protection of nature and science which were not domination earlier either, have been moved to «shadow» finally. Let's remember only that among 1185 employees of the park only 19 workers are the stuff of the scientific department. Among them there is no professor and there are only two Philosophy Doctors. Instead of implementation of nature protection measures, foresters were involved in cutting forest carried out all the year round.
The bark beetle
It is a beetle of dark brown colour; with a length about 5 millimeters (see more detailed). In natural conditions it is the forest doctor: it occupies only trees weakened by age and suffered due to changing the hydrological regime and weather conditions. It speed up death of trees. Healthy spruce trees successfully kill bark beetles flooding them by pitch in holes which they have bored. Sick trees are not able to do it. Larvae of bark beetles eat the bark of the «native» tree. Life of many other organisms is closely connected to this bug. Dead spruce tree, for example, can stand up to hundred years. It will become a dwelling for woodpeckers and owls. Fallen tree is a home for different species of insects and plants for some tens years. Then when the rests of a spruce tree rot through, this place is covered by the new forest.