Belovezhskaya Pushcha - XXI Century | Book1 | Belovezhskaya Pushcha State National Park

BELOVEZHSKAYA PUSHCHA STATE NATIONAL PARK AS A STRICTLY PROTECTED NATURAL AREA OF BELARUS

Heorhi A. Kazulka,
Belovezhskaya Pushcha
National Park,
Kamenyuki,
Belarus

HISTORY OF THE BELOVEZHSKAYA PUSHCHA

The Belovezhskaya Pushcha is the largest remnant of the vast lowland mixed primeval forests that have existed in Europe since prehistoric times. Over centuries they have been felled, and the Belovezhsky Region is virtually the only location where they remain relatively intact on a large scale. The Belovezhskaya Pushcha is one of the most recognised nature reserves in Europe. In 1992, UNESCO made the Belovezhskaya Pushcha a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The following year, the Belovezhskaya Pushcha State National Park was given the status of a Biosphere Reserve and, in 1997, it was awarded a Council of Europe Diploma for achievements in the field of nature protection.

The Belovezhskaya Pushcha is the oldest nature reserve in Europe. It has been a protected area since the late XIV-early XV centuries, when King Jagiello declared the Pushcha a protected territory, having reserved hunting rights for himself and his brother Vitold. Preservation of the Pushcha was favoured due to the presence of the European Bison. The desire to keep this species in Europe prompted, first Lithuanian princes, then Polish kings and, still later, Russian tsars, to protect this forest with zeal and determination, against human depredation.

The first reference to the Pushcha ("Pushchansky") Region as an old primeval forest dates from the Ipatievskaya Chronicles of 983 (Kochanovsky, Korochkina 1976). The Kievskiie Chronicles indicate that the territories of the present-day Pushcha were once populated by the Yatviagi Tribe. Their main occupation was hunting and fishing. In the XII century Vladimir Monomakh stayed in the Pushcha for prolonged periods and, in 1276, Prince Vladimir Volynsky built the fortified town of Kamenetz.

From the late XIII to the early XV century, the Pushcha was ruled by the Great Lithuanian Principality and thereafter, in 1386 when Lithuania and Poland united, Belovezhskaya Pushcha became a Polish possession. In 1795, the Belovezhskaya Pushcha became part of Russia, and, as an asset of the tsar's family, it was retained, as before, as a hunting ground for the nobility.

THE BELOVEZHSKAYA PUSHCHA IN THE XX CENTURY

Figure 34. Chief Forester Smoktunovitch
at an entrance gate to the
Belovezshkaya Pushcha (OdB)

Following the end of World War I, the Pushcha changed "ownership" and became a part of Poland. In 1921, a plot of 4,594 ha near its administrative centre, the Belovezha (Bialowieza) Settlement, was classified as Reserwat Forestry, with 1,061 ha put under full protection (the remainder of the Pushcha was guarded, but partially). In 1924, the forest was given a higher rank of a Nadlesnictwo (Exceptional Forestry), and since 1929 its entire territory (4,695 ha) has been fully protected. The next step occurred in 1932, when the National Park in Bialowieza (4,693 ha) acquired a regime of strict protection for the wildlife and wilderness at place of the Nadlesnictwo. Around the same time, a programme was initiated to restore a free-grazing population of Bison (1929), a nursery for the Tarpan-like horse (1936) was established, and restoration of the Red Deer, Wild Boar, and Roe-deer populations commenced.

In 1939, the Belovezhskaya Pushcha formed part of the Belarussian Soviet Socialist Republic, and the Belovezhskaya Pushcha State Nature Reserve was established in its territory. After the end of World War II, part of the Nature Reserve (55,000 ha), together with its historical centre, the Belovezha Settlement, the territory of the former National Park and the bison nursery, were allocated to Poland. Belarus still owned 74,500 ha in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha, but this area was virtually void of any base for research and administrative activities. A new bison breeding centre was built, and Polish colleagues supplied five Bison from their stock.

In August 1957, the Belovezhskaya Pushcha Nature Reserve was reorganized into a State Protected Game Ground under the same name, the main tasks being to maintain wild animals and to provide hunting pleasure for V.I.Ps. The regime of protection and secrecy prohibited access to outside visitors. However, in the long run, there was a positive side to this, it has helped preserve the territory as an integrated nature complex. The State National Park (SNP) of Belovezhskaya Pushcha, the first in the Republic of Belarus, was proclaimed on the basis, and within the boundaries, of the former Protected Game Ground by Enactment No. 352 of the Republic of Belarus Council of Ministers on September 16, 1991.

Figure 35. The primeval forest is
characterized by much dead wood (OdB)

SNP Belovezhskaya Pushcha is located on the western borders of the Republic of Belarus, within the Grodno and Brest regions, its approximate geographical coordinates are 52?29' North, 25?21' East. Its west to east width is 8 - 34 km, and that from north to south some 54 km. The area of the National Park, until quite recently, was 87,600 ha, of which 77,800 ha (88.8 percent) were forested, and 9,800 ha (11.2 percent) unforested.

Now, with the incorporation of a number of ecologically unique and valuable territories (including Dikoie Marshes), its total area has risen to 96 198 ha (as of 01.01.2000). The Administrative Centre of SNP Belovezhskaya Pushcha is located in the Kamenyuki Settlement, Kamenetz District - about 60 km north of Brest and 20 km from the District centre of Kamenetz.

The watershed between the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea is in the immediate vicinity of the Belovezhskaya Pushcha border. At the centre of the Pushcha, in the hamlet of Viskuli, an attractive palace was erected in 1957 as a residence for the leaders of the former USSR, which is now in the possession of the Belarus Government. There, the well-known "Belovezhskoe Accords" were signed in December 1991, concerning the disaffiliation of independent republics from the Soviet Union and the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which turned Viskuli into a worldwide known location.

NATURAL VALUES OF THE BELOVEZHSKAYA PUSHCHA

Figure 36. Dead tree stump,
a place for new life (CO)

The Belovezhskaya Pushcha features all the main components of forest flora and fauna, and all the basic types of forest communities, that are possible in this geographical region. Located at the boundary of two geobotanic zones (the Eurasian Coniferous Forest and the European Deciduous Forest), the Belovezhskaya Pushcha is a so-called "node of concentration" of biodiversity, and far exceeds all the neighbouring territories in numbers of plants and animals that grow and dwell on its territory. Based on incomplete inventory evidence, the Belarusian part of the Belovezhskaya Pushcha hosts 958 vascular, seed and spore plants, approximately 260 species of mosses and bryophytes, more than 290 lichen species, and 570 fungi species.

The Belovezhskaya Pushcha forest has retained its dense primeval stands, and is inhabited by communities of plants and animals that have been preserved in a relatively intact and undisturbed state. However, quite a number of species have irrevocably disappeared in other places as forest areas have been felled. The average age of the Belovezhskaya Pushcha forests is over 100 years; several patches are 200-250 years old. More than a thousand giant trees are registered in the Pushcha: 600-year old oaks, 350-year old ash trees and pines, and 250-year old spruce trees are all growing. Coniferous forests predominate in the Belovezhskaya, accounting for 68.8% (58.0% pine stands, 10.8% spruce stands). Broad-leaved forests make up 5.8% (4.6% oak woods and 1.2% ash stands); and derivative broad-leaved forests occupy 1.1% (hornbeam 1%, maple and lime stands 0.1%). Derivative small-leaved forests make up 5.6% (4.9% common birch woods, and 0.7% aspen stands). Native deciduous swampy forest types occupy 18.7% (15.6% European alder stands, and 3.1% white birch stands). Mossy and grassy mires and meadows are also present.

The Fauna List of Belovezhskaya Pushcha contains 59 species of mammals, 227 bird species, 7 reptile species, 11 amphibian species, 24 fish species and more than 11,000 invertebrate species. The Pushcha has also retained unique associations of invertebrates, inhabitants of dead and rotten wood, Polyporus fungi, in bogs and fens.

In terms of large herbivorous animals, European Bison (Bison bonasus), Wild Boar (Sus scrofa), Red Deer (Cervus elaphus), Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus) and European Elk (Alces alces) can all be found; and from the Carnivora family, the Wolf (Canis lupus), Fox (Vulpes vulpes), Lynx (Felis lynx), Badger (Meles meles), Pine marten (Martes martes), Otter (Lutra lutra) and Beaver (Castor fiber). The avifauna of the Belovezhskaya Pushcha is very rich and inhabitats many rare and threatened species of primeval forests and natural bogs and marshes: Black Stork (Ciconia nigra), Crane (Grus grus), Lesser Spotted Eagle (Aquila pomarina), White-tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla), Shorttoed Eagle (Circaetus gallicus), Pygmy Owl (Glaucidium passerinum), Tengmalm's Owl (Aegolius funereus), Eagle Owl (Bubo bubo), White-backed woodpecker (Dendrocopos leucotos), Three-toed Woodpecker (Picoides tridactylus) and Nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes). Besides these, some rare bird species are still breeding which have become extinct in the Polish part of the Bialowieza Forest such as Black Grouse (Tetrao tetrix), Capercaille (Tetrao urogallus), Spotted Eagle (Aquila clanga), Great Grey Owl (Strix nebulosa), Roller (Coracias garrulus) and Aquatic Warbler (Acrocephalus paludicola).

Many species of relict plants and animals can also be found in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha, ones that have become extinct in the European continent over time as civilization evolved. 65 rare and vanishing species of higher plants, 4 moss species, 16 lichens, 7 fungi, as well as 11 species of mammals, 52 species of birds, 38 insect species, 2 reptiles, 1 amphibian species and 6 species of fish are all registered and listed in the Red Data Book of the Republic of Belarus. In addition, one of the largest populations of European Bison in the world inhabits the forest (250 - 300 animals).

ZONING OF THE BELOVEZHSKAYA PUSHCHA

The Zoning scheme of the
National Park Belovezhskaya
Pushcha

The territory of Belovezhskaya Pushcha is subdivided into 4 functional zones with different protection regimes:
1. Wilderness Protection Zone -15,677 ha (16.3%). These are the areas of intact wild nature. The purpose of the Zone is to serve as a reservation for genetic resources (a gene pool) of plants and animals, as a reference natural area, to create conditions for natural development of ecosystems and their components. This Zone primarily contains indigenous old-growth coniferous and deciduous forests. No economic or other activity is permitted in this territory, except for scientific research and protection.
2. Regulated Nature Zone - 65,175 ha (67.8%). This Zone serves as a site for study, preservation and restoration of ecosystems characteristic of the Belovezhskaya Pushcha, and for reproduction and rational use of natural resources. All the activities within this Zone should provide optimal conditions for sustainable development of natural ecosystems, with implementation of scientifically-orientated nature conservation arrangements. Ecotourism under the control of the National Park guides is allowed.
3. Regulated Recreational Use Area - 10,732 ha (11.1%). The purpose of this area is to encourage tourism and recreation, to implement cultural, leisure, and health-improving measures, as well as to study the impact of recreational pressure upon ecosystems. Nature conservation and economic activity should be aimed at preservation and, to a certain extent, reconditioning of forest landscapes and water bodies for recreational and educational purposes. Admittance is either free or guided.
4. Economic Activity Zone - 4,614 ha (4.8%). This area is designated for locating and operating the administrative, productive and recreational staff and facilities, to host and serve tourists, for residential purposes and economic activity of the local population. Access unrestricted.

In addition, a Support (or Buffer) Zone is established encircling the Pushcha, of some 90,000 ha. These lands are in users' possession, but a number of limitations on economic activity are imposed. This Zone is designated to mitigate against possible damage caused to nature complexes and sites of the National Park by economic activities on adjacent lands.

A substantial increase in the total area of the National Park by the addition of ecologically valuable and important lands has been the most significant factor in the recent years. Primarily, this has added the hydrological sanctuary Dikoie Bog (a swampy area of European importance of some 7,539 ha) and the Shershevskoie Forestry, Pruzhany District (14,845 ha). The latter area is the base of the Shershevskoie Forestry and Game Ground. Its main objective is intensive hunt management for obtaining trophies.

OVERALL MANAGEMENT VISION

Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park is a large nature-protective, economic, and research complex under the jurisdiction of the President's Affairs Administration of the Republic of Belarus. The main objectives of the National Park are:

Preservation of standard and unique natural complexes and nature sites in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha;
Scientific research related to the development and implementation of scientifically-orientated techniques and methods for biodiversity conservation;
The study of natural objects and complexes;
The development and introduction into practice of sound methods of nature protection and management;
The promotion of tourism;
Organization of ecological education and training;
Preservation of cultural heritage (items of ethnography, history, palaeontology, etc,);
Recreational activity; and
Running a complex husbandry, based on traditional forms, as well as on advanced ideas in the field of nature management.

Figure 37. Magnificent blue building,
a feeding house for bison
in Belovezhskaya Pushcha (AB)

Problems of forest and fauna protection and guarding, and forest and game management are the main trends in the activities of the forestry's Forest and Hunting Game Department; research and monitoring are the main activities of the Scientific (Research) Department, while publicity on nature-protection and awareness creation comes under the Nature Museum.

FACILITIES

There is a Library and a House of Culture. Also functioning are an Automatic Meteorological Station and a Chemical Laboratory. A GIS (Geographic Information System) is in the process of preparation.

The Belovezhskaya Pushcha is one of the largest tourist centres of the Republic of Belarus, with a comfortable base for hosting visitors. Besides the Nature Museum and fenced wild animals enclosures, there are comfortable hotels, a restaurant, bathhouse with saunas, grounds for sport activities, specially equipped tourist trails and routes.

The Belovezhskaya Pushcha hosts conferences and symposiums, including those of high international rank. To meet the needs of the population living in the National Park territory, and to gain finance, Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park has a woodworking plant, a handicraft and art shop, a taxidermy shop, and other business enterprises.

Biodiversity conservation in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha is a complex problem. The solution should be based on the Belovezhskaya Pushcha Ecological Region Concept, which aims to develop a system to restore the ecological balance in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha and create favourable social and cultural environments in the adjacent territories.