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'Active forest protection' -ways of coping with an outbreak of the European spruce bark beetle through forest management.
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Article 2(2016): 1 Dispute over the future of the Białowieża Forest: myths and facts. A voice in the debate [English version of the article published in Polish as Wesołowski T. et al. 2016. Spór o przyszłość Puszczy Białowieskiej: mity i fakty. Głos w dyskusjiwww.forestbiology.org (2016), Article 1: 1-12.
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Citations
... _Bialo wieza ), which is located in the middle of the BF and functions as the gate community for the BNP. The village is visited by 120,000-200,000 tourists each year, many of whom come to observe birds, as the BF supports forest species absent from other parts of Europe (Wesołowski et al. 2015(Wesołowski et al. , 2016. The exceptional value of the BF is largely linked to its on-going natural processes and oldgrowth forest characteristics (https ://whc.unesc ...
... The volume of logged timber has been the subject of discussion among SFH managers and environmentalists for years (Wesołowski 2005;Niedziałkowski et al. 2014;Wesołowski et al. 2016). From 2005 to 2010, logging in the old-growth stands averaged 130,000 m 3 per annum but, from 2011 to 2016, reduced to 62,500 m 3 per annum (data from the Polish Ministry of the Environment). ...
Birdwatching is one of the fastest growing subsectors of ecotourism, and can contribute substantial income to the local economy in areas with high bird diversity. The Białowieża Forest (BF) is one of the most popular places to watch birds in Europe and is visited by thousands of birdwatchers every year. They are attracted by its particularly high diversity of bird species, many associated with the BF’s old-growth characteristics, including sizable populations of almost all European woodpeckers. These species are threatened by logging activities that are being undertaken on the assumption that forestry is important for the local economy. Our aim was to compare the revenue from birdwatchers with the revenue from other tourists visiting the BF to counter the economic justification for logging. Based on 165 responses to a structured questionnaire, our results show that one birdwatcher spends USD 64.6 per day on average, compared to USD 38.6 per day by other visitors to the BF. Birdwatchers also stay in the BF longer than other tourists (3.8 and 2.5 days on average, respectively). The total estimated local expenditure of approximately 14,000 birdwatchers in 2016 is almost USD 2.2 million. In contrast, since 2005, forest management and the sale of wood from the BF has led to economic losses each year, which we suggest would be further exacerbated by the impact of continued logging on birds and resultant inevitable decline in income from avitourism.
... Approximately one third of the area has never been logged. Due to its relative intactness, the natural forests in Białowieża retain natural composition of forest ecosystems, functions and processes as well as typical forest flora and fauna (Wesołowski et al., 2016). Inter alia, the Białowieża Forest supports the unique semi-wild population of the European bison (Bison bonasus), the species once extinct and then restored following an international conservationists' effort. ...
Transboundary nature protected areas constitute a considerable proportion of all the existing spatial
forms of biodiversity protection. One prominent example is the Białowiez˙ a Forest, shared by Poland and
Belarus. There is a considerable literature on allocation of funds to preserving nature shared by several
countries. Some of this literature assess the funding schemes and the impacts on biodiversity within the
EU. A particular challenge for the Białowiez˙ a Forest is that the larger part of it is outside the EU border.
There has been less research on the economic benefits that citizens attach to protected transboundary
land nature on the other side of the border. We are trying to fill the gap by finding out and comparing preferences
towards increased protection of domestic and foreign segments of the transboundary Białowiez˙ a
Forest, stated by samples of Polish and Belarusian citizens. The results of a discrete choice experiment
show an almost unilateral preference for nature conservation, passive protection of forest land, on the
domestic side. Whilst Polish respondents on average are willing to pay for an increased area under protection,
on their side of the border, most Belarusians seem to be satisfied with the status quo. Taken at
face value, there is even an apparent mutual disutility derived from the perspective of co-financing bilateral
passive protection programmes in the Białowiez˙ a Forest. By use of latent class analyses of responses,
a group of the Polish sample willing to contribute to the transboundary conservation is identified and
described, and compared against the non-cooperative groups on both sides of the border. The results
can to some extent be explained by a strict border division with a high fence, by differences in welfare
or by behavioural reasons. However, it cannot be ruled out that the affected populations simply do not
perceive the Białowiez˙ a Forest as a binational public good.
... Approximately one third of the area has never been logged. Due to its relative intactness, the natural forests in Białowieża retain natural composition of forest ecosystems, functions and processes as well as typical forest flora and fauna (Wesołowski et al., 2016). Inter alia, the Białowieża Forest supports the unique semi-wild population of the European bison (Bison bonasus), the species once extinct and then restored following an international conservationists' effort. ...
Transboundary nature protected areas constitute a considerable proportion of all the existing spatial forms of biodiversity protection. There is a considerable literature on allocation of funds to preserving nature shared by several countries, though less research on the economic benefits that citizens attach to protected transboundary land nature on the other side of the border. We are trying to find out and compare preferences towards increased protection of domestic and foreign segments of the Białowieża Forest, stated by samples of Polish and Belarusian citizens. Whilst Poles on average are willing to pay for an increased passive protection, on their side of the border, most Belarusians seem to be satisfied with the status quo. There is even an apparent mutual disutility derived from the perspective of co-financing bilateral passive protection programmes in the Białowieża Forest. The results can to some extent be explained by a strict border division, by differences in welfare or by behavioural reasons.
... Approximately one third of the area has never been logged. Due to its relative intactness, the natural forests in Białowieża retain natural composition of forest ecosystems, functions and processes as well as typical forest flora and fauna (Wesołowski et al., 2016). Inter alia, the Białowieża Forest supports the unique semi-wild population of the European bison (Bison bonasus), the species once extinct and then restored following an international conservationists' effort. ...
... They contend that such intensive logging would be effective only if it removed at least 80% of the trees attacked by the spruce bark beetle in the entire forest complex. This, however, is simply not feasible in the Białowieża Forest, because of its high conservation status (Fahse & Heurich 2011;Chylarecki & Selva 2016;Wesołowski et al. 2016). Scientists also draw attention to the fact that the densities of many woodland bird species are far lower in the managed parts of the Forest, from which dead spruce trees have been removed in the fight against the spruce bark beetle, than in the Forest itself (National Park, Nature Reserves), where protection is all-embracing and no logging takes place (Wesołowski et al. 2016). ...
... This, however, is simply not feasible in the Białowieża Forest, because of its high conservation status (Fahse & Heurich 2011;Chylarecki & Selva 2016;Wesołowski et al. 2016). Scientists also draw attention to the fact that the densities of many woodland bird species are far lower in the managed parts of the Forest, from which dead spruce trees have been removed in the fight against the spruce bark beetle, than in the Forest itself (National Park, Nature Reserves), where protection is all-embracing and no logging takes place (Wesołowski et al. 2016). Sadly, but perhaps unsurprisingly, these arguments have fallen on deaf ears. ...
... In the opinion of scientists, the area of the naturally most valuable stands of more than 100-yearold trees would decrease by about 20%. The removal over a period of ten years of several thousand old trees would bring about a deteri oration in the living conditions of all specialised organisms living in the interior of old woodlands in the Białowieża Forest (Wesołowski et al. 2016). ...
https://britishbirds.co.uk/article/bialowieza-forest-new-threat/
This article examines how the ideological and material aspects of ‘purity’ play out in the environmental conflict in the Białowieża Forest that took place in Poland in 2017. I consider how ‘purity’ informs not only environmental politics but also organizes biopolitical regimes that normalize the hegemonic understanding of nation, identity, and gender. In the context of environmental change and species extinction, I pick up on Foucault’s reflection on purity and its decisive role in biopolitical societies, as it divides lives into those worth preserving and those without a future. Against such divisions, I search for ways to imagine and enact ways of surviving together: I look at the Białowieża Forest as a human-nonhuman ecology in which nature’s lively impurity inspires the affinities running between environmental actions and feminist struggles for more just futures.
Białowieża Primeval Forest (BPF) entered the long nineteenth century having recently lost its royal forest status in 1795. By the end of the period, it was once again deprived but this time of its status as an imperial hunting reserve. Nevertheless, in the meantime, the human-forest relationship evolved and countless scientific and literary publications and works of art devoted to BPF were produced. These were evidence of BPF’s rise to prominence as a symbol of the diversity, longevity and persistence of nature. Together with the European bison (regarded as a curiosity and sought-after addition to any natural history museum, university collection, zoological garden or private hunting park), the Forest grew to become a reference point in many scientific debates. BPF survived sufficiently long for its pristine character to be appreciated by key naturalists and environmental activists. A scientific discussion on the “naturalness” of forests began in eighteenth-century France with the definition of terms “natural”, “pristine” and “primeval” but as merely hypothetical states. Then the nineteenth century brought the gradual realization that in the European lowlands such a place actually survived. In this chapter, we show how knowledge of the nineteenth-century history of BPF is relevant for current conservation. Indeed, the debates about the future management of BPF, its protected status, and the limits of acceptable human intervention in forest ecosystems, demand better understanding of historic processes.
Studies of past forest use traditions are crucial in both understanding the present state of the oldest European forests, and in guiding decisions on future forest conservation and management. Current management of Poland’s Białowieża Forest (BF), one of the best-preserved forests of the European lowlands, is heavily influenced by anecdotal knowledge on forest history. Therefore, it is important to gain knowledge of the forest’s past in order to answer questions about its historical administration, utilisation, and associated anthropogenic changes. Such understanding can then inform future management. This study, based on surveys in Belarussian and Russian archives and a preliminary field survey in ten forest compartments of Białowieża National Park, focuses on culturally-modified trees (CMTs), which in this case are by-products of different forms of traditional forest use. Information about the formation of the CMTs can then be used to provide insight into former forest usage. Two types of CMTs were discovered to be still present in the contemporary BF. One type found in two forms was of 1) pine trees scorched and chopped in the bottom part of the trunk and 2) pine trees with carved beehives. A second type based on written accounts, and therefore known to be present in the past (what we call a ‘ghost CMT’), was of 3) lime-trees with strips of bark peeled from the trunk. Written accounts cover the period of transition between the traditional forest management (BF as a Polish royal hunting ground, until the end of the eighteenth century) and modern, “scientific” forestry (in most European countries introduced in the second half of the nineteenth century). These accounts document that both types of CMTs and the traditional forest uses responsible for their creation were considered harmful to “rational forestry” by the nineteenth-century forest administration. Thus the practices which created CMTs were banned and the trees gradually removed from the forest. Indeed, these activities drew the attention of forest administrators for several decades, and in our view delayed the introduction of new, timber-oriented, forest management in the BF.
