Belovezhskaya Pushcha - XXI Century | Book1

THERE IS ONLY ONE FOREST

Onno de Bruijn,
Society for the Preservation of Nature in the Netherlands,
(Vereniging Natuurmonumenten),
's-Graveland,
The Netherlands

For the first time in the Puszcza Bialowieska

In September 1976, I visited the Bialowieza Forest for the first time together with a fellow student. We were eager to see the last remnant of the European primeval lowland forest. On our arrival in Bialowieza, the famous old forest was showing itself in beautiful autumn colours. In those days, foreigners from western countries were not common there. We received a hearty welcome from the local authorities and were housed in the Bialowieza Geobotanical Station of Prof. J.B. Falinski at the edge of the village. Dr. Cz. Okolow personally showed us his museum with its huge bird collection. We obtained permission to enter the Bialowieza National Park for a full week by bike; a privilege which is nowadays almost unobtainable.

Figure 3. Traditional wooden
house (PB)

For many days I crisscrossed the Primeval Forest on my own. In the old lime-oak woods in the southern part, many Middle Spotted Woodpeckers (Dendrocopos medius) were observed. Furthermore, I saw a pair of White-backed Woodpeckers (D. leucotos) pecking at dead branches of a centuries-old oak tree. The latter woodpecker species was especially interesting as it has become very rare in lowland forests due to its need for many old dying and dead trees. In the small Orlowka River a Hasel Hen (Bonasa bonasia) was bathing in subdued sunlight. In the lonely boreal spruce forests in the northern part of the National Park, I encountered the peculiar Three-toed Woodpecker (Picoides tridactylus) for the first time. The Bialowieza Forest houses its largest population in the Middle-European lowland plain.

On other days we visited various parts of the Puszcza outside the National Park. We walked through the "wooden villages" of Budy, Teremiski and Poigorzelce, and admired the skilful handcrafted work as well as the richness of flowers in the hayfields along the Narevka.

Figure 4. The author together with a local
forester on an ecological survey
in the northern part of the
Belovezhskaya Pushcha

We talked with local farmers and learned about their problems of economic survival within the, still existing, traditional farming systems. Not far from Teremiski, on a beautiful evening, we encountered, for the first time, European Bison (Bison bonasus) in the wild; they were as ghosts.

TWO MAPS OF ONE FOREST

Later I returned on several occasions to this unique area. Being especially interested in owls, I eventually succeeded, with help from the local guides of the North-Podlasian Bird Protection Society (PTOP), in spotting the tiny Pygmy Owl (Glaucidium passerinum) in old mixed tree stands in the nature reserve along the road to Hajnowka. We lured this dwarf to reveal itself by imitating its mating call. On a long night-trip by bike we heard, at midnight, a Tengmalm's Owl (Aegolius funereus) calling for more than an hour in total darkness, in a century-old pine stand near the Jagiellonska Droga forest road. Earlier that evening we had met a herd of 40 Bison!

Figure 5. White Stork colony
at Babinets (NC)

On one occasion, the PTOP members showed me an interesting nature-based map of the Puszcza Bialowieska, which they had issued. Besides the different forests types, a lot of interesting information about natural and cultural aspects was gathered on this map. In this way, they hoped to raise the public interest in the unique values of this area. Members of the board of the PTOP told me of an arduous new project, which they hoped to realise together with the Belarussian Bird Protection Society (APB). This project aimed to try to realise a similar map of the much larger Belarussian part of the forest: the Belovezhskaya Pushcha. For us this was unknown territory and such a map would be very welcome in order to learn about its character and ecological values. I promised to try to raise money in the Netherlands for this project. Eventually, the organisation for which I work, the Society for the Preservation of Nature in the Netherlands ("Natuurmonumenten"), provided the financial resources to issue the map and it appeared in April 1998. For the first time it was possible to view the Bialowieza Forest as a whole.

Figure 6. The wonderful Great Grey
Owl (Strix nebulosa) -
is one of the rarities of the
Belovezhskaya Pushcha (NC)

The Belovezhskaya Pushcha looked even more impressive than I had expected, with its extensive wet forests stands with small natural rivers, and with vast marshes at its eastern edges housing a large population of the world-wide threatened Aquatic Warbler (Acrocephalus paludicola), as the text on the map explained. Even Eagle Owls (Bubo bubo) and the still rarer Great Grey Owl (Strix nebulosa) could live in the Belarussian part of the forest. What a challenge to try to find these rarities of the Middle-European lowland forest and to learn about their habitats and the way these were protected and managed by the authorities of the State National Park "Belovezhskaya Pushcha"!

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE BELOVEZHSKAYA PUSHCHA

In May 1998, I visited the Belovezhskaya Pushcha for the first time using a small Dutch travel organisation, Ecotourist Services. We were housed in "Hotel 3" in the Kamenyuki Administration and Visitors Centre. Outside in the Pushcha we were guided by the State National Park's ornithologist. Although we only spent a short time in the area, we observed a pair of White-tailed Eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla), Lesser Spotted Eagles (Aquila pomarina) and a Black Stork (Ciconia nigra) near the two lakes in the Pierevoloka river valley, and a Short-toed Eagle (Circaetus gallicus) soaring above a beautiful mesotrophic marsh full of singing Aquatic Warblers (Acrocephalus paludicola) at the edge of the Dikoie Bog. The Pushcha seemed to be even more impressive than I had imagined, and I longed to return to this wonderful area.

Next year I visited the Belovezhskaya Pushcha again, this time alone. After some discussions, I received full support of the General Director (Mr Zhukov) and Deputy Director of Science (Mr Kazulka) to explore the area. This included special permission to visit all parts of the Pushcha (most of them belonging to the special State Border Zone) by day or by night. To realise this effectively, I obtained help from the same guide as the previous year. Never before in my life, had I met such a forest dweller. He seemed to know literally every corner of the enormous Pushcha. Over two weeks, we explored many remote parts of the forest. We visited the Arlowa and Dikoie Bogs and a number of strict forest reserves. We heard several Tengmalm's Owls but no Pygmy Owls. We went up to the northern part of the forest where strangers hardly ever go, and heard, on a frosty morning at five o'clock, the strange noises of three male Capercaillie displaying in a small pine bog deep in the Pushcha.

CAPERCAILLIES AND BLACK GROUSES

During my spring trips in 1999 and 2000, I carried out surveys on the current status of the Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) and the Black Grouse (Tetrao tetrix) in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Alongside field observations, I quizzed foresters, forest workers and the Park's ornithologist, Nikolai Cherkas, regarding the occurrence of these birds in the Pushcha both in the past and in more recent times. Both gallinaceous species are becoming very rare all over the whole Middle-European lowland and of great conservation interest. In the Polish part of the Bialowieza Forest, they have become virtually extinct in the 1980s and 1990s.

Figure 7. Twin giant trees (NC)

Around 1975, over 100 displaying Capercaillie males were recorded in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha, distributed over at least 20 displaying areas ("leks"). By 1990, this number had fallen to 40-50 males on 12 leks (each with 2-6 males). In 1999-2000, only 19-21 displaying males were left scattered over 8 leks (each with only 1-4 males). According to my sources, this dramatic decline could be attributed to several negative factors: (1) the drying out and overgrowing of pine forest bogs, causing a decrease in the spring feeding plant Eriophorum vaginatum; (2) overgrazing of other feeding plants (particularly the wintergreen bilberry species Vaccinium myrtillus and V. vitis-idea) in Capercaillie haunts as a result of the excessive density of Red Deer (Cervus elaphus); (3) predation on the nests and adult birds by a carnivorous mammal invading from Russia, the Racoon Dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides). To these reasons can be added that Capercaillies are shy; therefore every human impact on their last display grounds has to be avoided, including disturbance by "ornitourists" (photographers, hunters, bird watchers).

The number of Black Grouse has also decreased seriously during recent decades. Around 1980, their population in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha was estimated as 75-100 males distributed in at least 5 groups ("sub-populations"). By 1990, their numbers had dropped to 40-50 males over 4 areas. In 1999-2000, there were only 20-25 males left in 3 areas. Some sub-populations of the Black Grouse were much more affected than others; their leks and feeding places were in areas with intensive farming (allied with reclamation and drainage operations in the grouse's habitat). In 1999-2000, we still managed to observe 10-12 displaying males on a lek in the southern edge of the Pushcha. According to the local forester, their numbers had remained stable or even slightly increased over the previous 20 years. Their leks and feeding grounds were for the greater part in small-scale agricultural land, which was still farmed traditionally. Alas, the farmers are leaving this area. (NB In the figures above, the Black Grouse population of the Dikoie Bogs has been omitted because of the lack of historical data. This population has recently been estimated at about 70 "pairs").

The only way to achieve natural re-settlement of Capercaillie and Black Grouse in the Polish part of the Bialowieza Forest is to take the appropriate conservation actions in the remaining source areas of both species in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha. These actions should be combined with habitat management measures in suitable places in both the Polish and the Belarussian parts of the Puszcza. Only in this way, will there be a chance of natural and sustainable survival of Capercaillie and Black Grouse in the Bialowieza Forest.

EAGLE OWLS AND GREAT GREY OWLS

One day in April 1999, I was dropped off for a walk in the reclaimed meadows of the Diky Nikor, belonging to a large collective farm ("kolkhoz"). In a corner of this monotonous farmland area, one authentic village with six wooden farms was left intact. A colony of White Storks (Ciconia ciconia) was breeding in huge poplars around the village. I counted 12 occupied nests in five of the poplars. One large nest seemed to be unoccupied. Observing it carefully, I saw two ear tufts blowing in the wind and - to my enormous surprise - two big orange eyes staring over the edge of the nest at me: it was an Eagle Owl (Bubo bubo) breeding in a stork's nest within 3-4 metres of two occupied White Stork nests! Later, it proved to be the first Eagle Owl nest ever found in the Pushcha. During night survey trips, we heard several other Eagle Owls calling in other places, on one occasion even two males calling against each other. In total maybe 10-14 pairs of Bubo bubo could be breeding in the Belarussian part of the Bialowieza Forest. Most of them haunt lonesome, inaccessible wet alder woods. In the Polish area of the forest, Eagle Owls are rarer; two pairs are supposedly breeding in the Lesna valley.

After several unsuccessful night trips in 1999, on a mid-April evening at ten o'clock, we heard the unmistakable mating song of the Great Grey Owl (Strix nebulosa) in the southern part of the Pushcha. We found fresh pellets in a magnificent boreal spruce forest, and viewed its nest in an oak tree in an adjacent alder swamp. Alas, the birds had not yet occupied it at that time. A few days later, after my return to the Netherlands, I received the message that the owls had occupied this nest. In 2000, this nest was again occupied by breeding Great Grey Owls. In 2001, however, we established that the territory had been taken over by a pair of Eagle Owls who bred at the foot of the very same tree and raised at least one young. During a field trip with Dutch ecotourists in May 2001, we observed a superb Great Grey Owl sitting with prey in a tree at the southern edge of the Dikoie Bog. The Great Grey Owl is one of the rarities of the Belovezhskaya Pushcha; according to data of my informants perhaps 4-8 pairs could be living there in the damp forests bordering vast marshes where they hunt. This huge owl species ("the phantom of the northern forest") does not breed in the Polish part of the Bialowieza Forest, reaching the southern limit of its range in Belarus.

During my trips in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha, I was heartily welcomed by the forest people in their homes: from the chief forester, Evgenij Smoktunovich, living near the northern village of Rudnja (where three rivers meet), to simple forest workers living in small villages deep in the huge Pushcha. I had a very good time, not only with the birds, but also with the people. With some of them, I had interesting talks about life in the Pushcha, and the problems of conserving the values, which still exist there. The same applied to the discussions with the managers and scientific workers from the State National Park Administration in Kamenyuki. They told me about the current management plans and conservation projects for the Belovezhskaya Pushcha and the problems (often financial ones) in realising them.

TRANSBOUNDARY CO-OPERATION

Deeply impressed by the uniqueness of the natural and cultural heritage of the Bialowieza Forest, the idea flourished of making a new Dutch contribution to the conservation of the Puszcza as a whole. This area may well be the most important nature reserve in Europe. It is unique because of the natural character and the extensiveness of its forests, and because of the completeness of its ecosystems with vital populations of rare and threatened animals.

But, how to get further support for this? Some things were clear. The Puszcza had to be seen as one ecological unity, despite the political border, which now divides the area into two. It is important to raise the international awareness of, and hence forthcoming financial support for, the uniqueness of its natural and cultural values, on a European or even a world-wide scale. This support could, for instance, be financed by the European Union or the World Bank (Global Environmental Facility). To get broad support and to work effectively, as we learned by consulting experts, it seems essential to meet a number of basic conditions. The most promising chances are for transboundary projects in which governmental and non-governmental organisations work together. Projects have to be presented within an overall framework. The best framework appeared to be an integrated transboundary management plan aimed at sustainable ecological and economic development on both the Polish and Belarussian sides.

Figure 8. Primeval Forest in the snow (OdB)

The next stage was to consult key figures, from both the National Parks and private conservation organisations in Poland and Belarus, to determine the interest in building up such a transboundary conservation project. In April 2000, Mr Czeslaw Okolow (Director of the Bialowieza National Park), Mr Heorhi Kazulka (Deputy Director of the State National Park "Belovezhskaya Pushcha"), Mr Przemyslaw Bielicki (Chairman of the PTOP), Mr Alexander Vintchevsky (Director of the APB) and myself met in Kamenyuki to discuss such an operation. We all agreed that the ideas mentioned above made sense. The will was expressed to develop such cross-border co-operation further. At our next meeting, in May 2000 (this time in Bialowieza), we discussed how to proceed.

A "THREE-STEP" PLAN

In our concept, we would develop a "three-step plan" to strengthen the international co-operation and to progress the process of considering and managing the Bialowieza Forest as one complex.

1. The first step ("kick-off") would be to organise a cross-border conference in which the situation as regards nature conservation, forestry, agriculture, water management, cultural history, and ecotourism could be discussed by specialists from both Poland and Belarus. A conference declaration and published conference proceedings would be important outputs.

2. The second step would be to produce an integrated transboundary development plan for the whole Puszcza including cultural, ecological, and socio-economic aspects. It should integrate existing plans of the Polish and the Belarussian partners as well as developing new ideas.

3. In such an integrated development plan, definite pilot projects would be identified in the fields of water management, forest and bog conservation, ecological agriculture, ecotourism and conservation of important cultural values. The involvement of the local population would be essential.

We stated our belief that international support will be essential to realise these steps due to the current financial situation in Eastern European countries.

FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW

While preparing the first step, in April 2000, I had new opportunities to study the various parts of the Belovezhskaya Pushcha and its ecosystems. During the 6th and the 7th of April, in less than twelve hours, the temperature fell from +17 °C to -8 °C and heavy rain turned into a snowstorm. At that very moment, I was on a planned three-day trip to explore the northern and eastern parts of the Belovezhskaya Pushcha. I would be housed in forest lodges and was assured of the help of all the local foresters. Using the unexpected opportunity, I asked them to assist me in searching and identifying animal footprints in the snow. It became an unforgettable experience.

Figure 9. Wolf prints (OdB)

The snowy forest looked marvellous. Besides numerous prints of small mammals and common ungulates such as Red Deer (Cervus elaphus), Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus) and Wild Boar (Sus scrofa), we found the prints of the following animals: 5 Foxes (Vulpes vulpes), 1 Pine Marten (Martes martes), 1 Badger (Meles meles), 3 Otters (Lutra lutra; one actually seen swimming in a small lake), 2 American Minks (Mustela vison), many European Bison (Bison bonasus; a herd of 38 observed including 11 bulls and 6 calves), 6 Elks (Alces alces; three observed in a swamp), 5 Beavers (Castor fiber), 7 Wolves (Canis lupus; one actually seen crossing a forest road) and 2 Lynx (Felis lynx)! For me, as a professional ecologist and nature conservationist, it was a very valuable experience to "see and feel" the presence of all these animals in the forest. Many of them have become extinct in the Netherlands, but it is proposed to reintroduce a number of them into the Dutch countryside in the future. Here I "saw" them in their natural habitats and could study their habits and use of habitat thanks to my skilled guides in the large forest. Most of all I have learned from the Parks' zoologist, Alexei Bunevitch, thanks to his fabulous talent and long-year expertise in reading the tracks of the forest animals.

THE CROSS-BORDER CONFERENCE AT KAMENYUKI/BIALOWIEZA (27TH-29TH JUNE 2000))

Back home, I again received financial support from my employer ("Natuurmonumenten"), this time for the first step of our plan, the cross-border conference. Although we normally work on a national basis, the board of Natuurmonumenten judged the proposed conference to be so valuable that they agreed to finance a three-day event, including the costs of publishing the proceedings. For all of us working in nature conservation in Western Europe, "Bialowieza Forest" has a magic sound as an outstanding reference area of natural ecosystems (especially forests, natural rivers, and bog and fen systems) which in our countries have totally, or for the greater part, been lost either long ago or in more recent centuries.

In Belarus, the conference was organised by Mr H. Kazulka (State National Park "Belovezhskaya Pushcha") and Mr A. Vintchevsky (APB), in Poland by Mr Cz. Okolow (Bialowieza National Park) and Mr R. Kalski (PTOP). Park managers and leading scientists were invited to contribute to the conference, which was planned from 27th - 29th June 2000. The first day (with lectures on the situation in the Belarussian part of the forest) was planned for Kamenyuki. The second day was to be used for excursions on both sides of the border. The third day (with lectures on the situation in the Polish part of the forest) was planned for Bialowieza. Specialists from the following fields were invited: park management, nature conservation, forestry, agriculture, water management, bog conservation, cultural heritage, and ecotourism. All the speakers had been asked to talk about the current local situation in their field, and about problems they recognised regarding nature conservation and sustainable management. Furthermore, they were asked to identify possible pilot-projects for their topic, which could be realised within a few years.

All the invitees accepted. The conference proved to be a great success, attended by approximately 40 selected people (managers, scientists, and representatives of authorities). A conference declaration, the so-called "Bialowieza-Kamenyuki Appeal 2000", was agreed by the conference participants by acclamation. Following the conference, all the speakers have prepared a summary of their contribution for this conference volume. This is a very important document because of the participation in it of all the invited key figures in the region, from both the Polish and the Belarussian territories. It has high scientific and conservation values, not only for Poland and Belarus, but for all conservationists sharing a broad view in other European countries.

A PERSONAL NOTE

I have been visiting the Bialowieza Forest for many years. The forest and its inhabitants have a place deep in my heart. I enjoy both sides of the border. I like the Polish side because of its extensive old deciduous forests and its use of land for small-scale agriculture in the forest clearings and in the areas adjoining the Puszcza. I like the Belarussian side because of its lonesome wilderness and its beautiful marshes. However, in fact, I love the area as a whole for its unique cohesion: there is only one forest!

There are differences between the Belarussian and the Polish political systems and cultures, but there are important features which both territories share:

From historical, landscape and ecological standpoints, the Belovezhskaya Pushcha and the Puszcza Bialowieska form one cohesive forest complex, belonging together and sharing the same water catchment system.
On both sides of the present border, people are living and working who love the Bialowieza Forest, who are fully involved in keeping this unique ecosystem intact, and in developing it in a sensitive and sustainable way in order to hand over this heritage to future generations. Because of the common factors, it is important to work together. Not only for the nations involved, but also for the international community. The uniqueness and the beauty of the Bialowieza Forest fully deserve this. It is a natural and cultural heritage for us all.

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