Europe’s ancient forest under threat from humans

Frankfurt / DPA

Russian tsars and Polish princes once hunted in the forest of Bialowieza, which stretches over a huge area now divided by the Poland-Belarus border.
This primeval forest, prized for the variety of its wildlife, came to the attention of nature conservationists in the 20th century.
In 1979 the national park on the Polish side of the border was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site, and in 1992 the listing was extended to include the park on the Belarusian side.
But all is not well in Bialowieza, one of the largest undisturbed forest ecosystems remaining in Europe, home to the largest population of European bison, and where visitors can also spot wolves, red deer and lynx.
Germany’s Frankfurt Zoological Society (ZGF) is currently working on a project on the Belarusian side to restore marshland and, in the long-term, raise the water table.
“We want to make the forest more natural again – and that includes restoration of wetlands,” says project leader Michael Brombacher.
With its moss-covered trees and dead wood home to all kinds of fungi and insects, Bialowieza does at first appear completely untouched.
But humans have left their mark. There are roads and a huge network of drainage ditches and rivers which have been redirected.
“Water flows very quickly out of the forest, it’s not buffered by fens as was previously the case,” says Brombacher.
“They acted like a sponge and kept the water in the forest – now it flows out straight away,” he says.
The water table has sunk and the forest, which still seems so primeval, will unlikely look as it does now in a couple of decades if various species of tree don’t reproduce.
In December, 75 kilometres of drainage ditches in a 1,100-hectare area of the Dziki Nikar fen were closed off with 112 dams, to allow the water to collect again.
Over the next five to ten years, ZGF plans to monitor the effects of the restoration regularly.
“We expect certain species of bird to return,” says Brombacher. “Great snipes and corncrakes are among the rarer species that should have good breeding chances again.”
But there are potential problems on both sides of the border.
While Belarus doubled its core park area to 60,000 hectares in 2014, dried up marshlands outside of the park cannot be included in efforts to regenerate the forest.
And because of Russian sanctions on dairy products from the EU, all available land in Belarus is being used for dairy production.
Even more devastating are the effects of deforestation begun last year on the Polish side, not in areas designated as national park but nevertheless within Bialowieza’s ecosystem.
Polish conservationists have been sharp in their criticism of the conservative government over the tree felling, which has been justified partly because of bark beetle infestations.
Brombacher agrees, saying, the beetles are “not a huge problem” for the ecosystem. “The forest will deal with it by itself, it will regenerate by itself.”
Furthermore, when trees die they also become homes to other species, such as beetles and fungi, he says.
The forest on the Polish side of the border has also dried up due to rivers being redirected and the drop in the water table.
“But chainsaws aren’t the answer,” says Brombacher. “You have to let
nature be.” What’s needed is long-term thinking with regard to a tree’s lifetime, he adds. “We’re talking about
centuries.”