NATURE PROTECTION IN THE POLISH PART OF THE BIALOWIEZA FOREST
Czeslaw Okolow, Bialowieza National Park, Bialowieza, Poland
CURRENT STATUS AND NATURAL VALUES
In the Polish part of the Bialowieza Forest (62,500 ha) the most important protected area is the Bialowieza National Park with an area of 10,502 ha (of which 4,747 ha are under strict protection). It is the oldest national park in Poland, started in 1921, and fulfils all the criteria for protected area category II (National Park) status according to the standards of the IUCN. The Bialowieza National Park also has the status of a World Biosphere reserve (since 1977) and a World Heritage Site (since 1979). Around the park, a buffer zone of 3,224 ha contains only forested area belonging to the forest superintendencies of Browsk and Bialowieza. There are also buffer zones located around the borders with the villages of Bialowieza, Pogorzelce and Masiewo, from where there could be potential threats. Since 1992, a strictly protected area of the park, together with a similar sector of the Belarussian State National Park "Belovezhskaya Pushcha" (4,500 ha), has created a Polish-Belarussian cross-border World Heritage Site. In 1997 the BNP, as the first national park in Poland, was distinguished with a European Diploma.
The remaining areas of the Bialowieza Forest form, since 1994, the Promotional Forest Complex "Bialowieza Forest". The task of such complexes is to engage in ecologically-based forestry management. This implies management to preserve the natural biodiversity of ecosystems. There are 20 nature reserves (covering 3,430 ha) of which two are under strict protection (Siemianowka and to an extent Michnowka).
Figure 14. Wooden gate at the
entrance to the Bialowieza
National Park
Within the Polish part of the Bialowieza Forest, 100 plant communities are occurring. Of these, 40 are known from the BNP including 20 forest communities. The most characteristic forest forms in Bialowieza are deciduous forests and mixed coniferous forests of the subboreal type. The flora of the Bialowieza Forest includes 1040 species of vascular plants, more than 3000 species of fungi (including 500 mushroom species), 375 species of lichens and 200 of mosses. Apart from the European Bison (Bison bonasus), the fauna of the Bialowieza Forest include Red Deer (Cervus elaphus), Roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), Elk (Alces alces), Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) and rarer species such as Beaver (Castor fiber), Wolf (Canis lupus) and Lynx (Felis lynx). More than 175 species of breeding bird species have been recorded, including 14 species of raptors, 8 species of owls and 9 species of woodpeckers. Birds specific to primeval forests and habitats unchanged by man are numerous. These include Black Stork (Ciconia nigra), Crane (Grus grus), Lesser Spotted Eagle (Aquila pomarina), Booted Eagle (Hieraaetus pennatus), White-backed Woodpecker (Dendrocopos leucotos), Three-toed Woodpecker (Picoides tridactylus), Eagle Owl (Bubo bubo), Pygmy Owl (Glaucidium passerinum), Tengmalm's Owl (Aegolius funereus), Hoopoe (Upupa epops), Collared and Red-breasted Flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis and F. parva) and Nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes).
Figure 15. Small brook in
primeval forest (PB)
THREATS
The most serious threats to the nature of the Bialowieza Forest come from the fragmenting of the remaining natural old growth stands in the Promotional Forest Complex "Bialowieza Forest" over an area of 3,600 ha. This threatens hundreds of plants and animal species that are relics of primeval forests. As a result of forest management, even under the regulations in force in the Promotional Forest Complex, these stands are being progressively transformed. Instead of stands with complicated spatial structures, multiple species of varying ages adapted to local conditions, stands are formed with simplified structures offering a reduced diversity of flora and fauna.
Figure 16. Tengmalm's Owl
(Aegolius funereus) -
is one of the characteristic
taiga bird species (PvG)
Another threat comes from the disturbance of hydrological conditions as a result of land reclamation and hydro-technical regulatory works carried out in the Bialowieza Forest and in its surroundings. Effects of such activity may become apparent many years after their realisation.
Figure 17. The Raccoon Dog,
an invading animal from Russia (RK)
Other threats come from the abandonment of numerous traditional activities, mainly at the expense of extensive farming and cattle breeding methods formerly in use. This process leads to a decrease in landscape diversity through the removal of meadows along the riverbeds and a reduction in the area of settlement clearings. One effect is a decrease in the feeding grounds of large ungulates such as the European Bison. These processes are followed by the eventual extinction of several rare species of plants and animals including the Corncrake (Crex crex), a bird species threatened world-wide, and some invertebrates including certain butterflies. For the same reasons (in this case as a result of the artificial afforestation of the Lesna-Prawa river valley) a tertiary relic-species, the False Ringlet (Coenonympha oedippus), has disappeared.
PROPOSED ACTIVITIES
Independently from any decision to enlarge the Bialowieza National Park to include all the Polish area of the Bialowieza Forest, it is necessary to take several measures for the protection of existing natural values in the Bialowieza Forest.
These measures include:
- Initiating systematic activity to maintain open areas such as meadows through regular mowing. On the basis of surveys and territory mapping, it is necessary to decide which fragments of river valleys should be left for natural development and regeneration of forests, and where one should intervene. Problems that must be solved include: the frequency and time of mowing, utilisation of the mowed plant material, appropriate equipment, and the management of mowed areas for eco-tourism (possibility of ungulate and bird observation, creation of viewpoints, construction of observation towers, creation and localisation of tourist trails). Apart from river valleys, it appears useful to keep other clearings open such as former timber storage places alongside narrow gauge forest railways and, as an example, the Worobiowa Clearing.
- Undertaking appropriate conservation and maintenance, in a historically responsible way, in such areas as the Palace Park and the Directorate Park in Bialowieza village. It is important to maintain current tree stands, to replace those lost, and to reconstruct transformed fragments. In parallel with the above, work on the reconstruction and conservation of historical buildings and other constructions should be undertaken.
- It needs efforts from both countries, Poland and Belarus, to establish a cross-border biosphere reservation. In reality there are two separate biosphere reserves: Bialowieza National Park and the State National Park "Belovezhskaya Pushcha" with a joint border of over 9 km. To meet the requirements of UNESCO, the creation of a cross-border biosphere reserve needs the agreement of both the affected National UNESCO Committees. This will involve the preparation of a joint application signed by both chairmen. So far, and since 1992, the Bialowieza Forest is the only Polish-Belarussian transboundary World Heritage Site.