european wilderness journal 03/2015

European Wilderness Journal € 7,50 Donation FeeNo. 3 | 2015

National Park Hohe Tauern

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European Wilderness Journal

Dear friends of the wild!During the “Conference on Wilderness and Large Natural Habitat Areas”

in 2009 a discussion of an official definition of “Wilderness” was started and finalized in 2012. The European Wilderness Quality Standard and Audit System was defined to state the various subjects and indicators of wilderness.

This is the official side of wilderness, the side we as the European Wilder-ness Society and numerous organisations and NGO’s, such as the Wilderness Working Group, the WWF and the WEI, work with or base our work on. But a definition is always just a summary and often a compromise of various different point of views.

The 500+ indicators and the minimum of 14 days of field work enabled us to compare three totally different wilderness habitat types against a common wilderness definition.

So even if there is our official European Wilderness Quality Standard and Audit System – What is wilderness for us? What do we, every single one of us, mean with the term wilderness? Is it a primeval forest, new emerging areas due to the glacier recession or an abandoned military area? Is it the occurrence of wolf, lynx, bear or eagle?

My personal definition of wilderness, while working for the European Wilderness Society, is based on this official scientific definition and quality standards but it is more than that: for me wilderness is where nature is truly master of itself. Where humans don’t play any role in nature’s cycles but where we are part of the bigger picture as we are part of nature – as equals. Humans are a part of nature and not master of it and wilderness reminds us of that. That might be frightening and challenging, but we should take the opportuni-ty to open our eyes and minds to learn from Mother Earth.

The future of wilderness in Europe

Thank you!Thank you for the increasing number of subscribers who are donating € 50,- to allow us to write, edit, print and distribute the European Wilderness Journal.

Letter to the editorsI am most impressed with the scope of work being under-

taken by the European Wilderness Society. I am following the Society’s efforts with Wilderness Verification, the Green In-frastructure plan and the importance of non-extractive values. Keep up the good work! – Dan Mulrooney

PEGNet ProjectThis is a project that exactly reflects one of the main priorities

as I see it for the protection of biodiverse life as we know it. The other would be targeted protection for species at immedi-ate risk, and their habitat. I’m currently studying environmental science with the OU ( because they don’t do an ecology degree), with the hope of becoming involved in useful projects in the future, so it would be great to be able to help in some way with enabling green corridors in Europe. One obvious species that would benefit is the Iberian Lynx, successfully brought back from near extinction, it’s future looks bleak without enabling them to migrate through green corridors. – Simon Barton

PEGNet ProjectI am a huge advocate for large scale wildlife projects and I

believe this is something in the past which had been missing from Europe. We have seen in America and Canada with the Y2Y project that large scale projects can raise the issue of wil-derness conservation in the public. The need for a large scale corridor is becoming more and more important with the in-crease in bears and wolves in Europe. After taking a real interest in the large scale corridors across North America and Africa the opportunity to become involved in a project in Europe would be something truly special for me. I honestly believe that with the increased land abandonment across Europe this vision is achievable. – Guy Bennet

I visited Kalkalpen NP in summer 2012. Natural forces shape park’s landscape and increase heterogeneity in very impressive ways. Places like Kalkalpen NP have very great value as refer-ence ecosystems. Such places could also wash our minds from bias of the “shifting baseline syndrome”. After all humans are not the only makers of heterogeneous landscapes. I believe this could be also a great lesson for a new generation of management practices in Natura2000 sites. Kalkalpen NP is a wonderful place in a wonderful Country! – Dario Botti

Verena Gruber, Trainee

3www.wilderness-society.org

„None of Nature‘s landscapes are ugly so long as they are wild.” John Muir, Our National Parks, (1901),

Chapter 1, page 4.

Wilderness ticker

European Wilderness Society ScholarshipThe European Wilderness Society has worked closely with numer-

ous national and regional authorities and NGOs in the Ukraine to assist in the protection of Europe´s last wilderness. As part of our engagement in the Ukraine, the European Wilderness Society awards two half scholarship worth € 6,450 for the postgraduate MS.c. Management of Protected Areas programme for one outstanding and wilderness oriented full-time first-year student from the Ukraine. The scholarships require a thesis focusing on wilderness related manage-ment, protection, communication, stakeholder or wildlife issues. The University of Klagenfurt, Austria, offers this international postgradu-ate MSc programme for dedicated individuals, who want to broaden and deepen their knowledge on protected areas management.

School Programme on large carnivores The European Wilderness Society, in particular our large carnivore

expert Gudrun Pflüger, visited several schools in Austria to inform them during a one day program about the large carnivores, especially the wolf, and their important roles in the ecosystems. The kids were able to touch a real wolf fur, compare wolf foot prints, cut out their own wolf masks and compete with several wildlife species in a long jump competition. An other highlight was a howling and marking exercise.

Annual reportThe European Wilderness Society is the only Pan-European, wilderness

and environmental advocacy organisation whose mission is to identify, des-ignate, manage and promote European wilderness. These past months have been a big success. We developed the European Wilderness Quality Standard and Audit System, launched various online communication tools and organ-ized the first European Wilderness Academy Days in Mittersill. Our most im-portant activities and objectives are highlighted in our annual report. Avail-able either as a download on our website or in printed form from our office.

National Park Hohe Tauern wilderness verificationFrom 28th of July till 6th of August two verifiers of the European Wilder-

ness Society, Verena Gruber and Vlado Vancura, visited the Hohe Tau-ern National Park in Salzburg for the first field wilderness assessment of the proposed wilderness area around the Großvenediger. Starting from Mittersill, all four valleys of the proposed wilderness have been explored: the Krimmler Achen-Valley, the Ober- and the Untersulzbach-valley and the Habach-valley. Those field trips have been accompanied by the park’s Direc-tor Wolfgang Urban or the Deputy Director Ferdinand Lainer who made it possible to discuss most of the EWS – criteria and indicators on site.

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Wilderness Academy Days 2015

Author: Verena Gruber

Research colleagues, wilderness managers and fellow wilderness advocates, you are all more than welcome to participate in this year´s European Wilderness

Academy Days

The 2nd European Wilderness Aca- demy Days will be held in the

National Park Gesäuse from September 30th to October 2nd this year. Europe´s most pro-found wilderness advocates will again con-vene in Austria to discuss the latest develope-ments on wilderness in Europe.

The word “Gesäuse” stands for „wild water and steep rock“ and you will have the chance to experience this unique and wild landscape in the heart of Austria during our field trips on the second day of our conference.

You can choose between three different

field trips to the new emerging wild areas in

the National Park that will give you some in-teresting insights into the real effect of climate change. Speakers from all over Europe will present interesting topics such as wilderness restoration and connectivity, trans-boundary wilderness, the link between wilderness and sustainable tourism and how to engage the next generation in wilderness protection. Ses-sions about Natura2000 management, wilder-ness and green infrastructure as well as about wild rivers and wetlands will bring you new insights to those topics.

A presentation about the journey of Ivo the bear will round off our evenings. Vlado Van-cura, Director of Wilderness Development,

will present the results of the three Europe-an Wilderness Quality Standards Audits this year in three completely different habitats from primeval beech forests, to glacial land-scapes to alpine mixed forests.

If you have an interesting topic you would like to present at the Wilderness Academy Days please do not hesitate to contact us immediately.

For all details concerning programme, registration and accommodation please visit the Website

www.wilderness.academy


See and meet us at the following eventsSeptemberWildniskonferenz 2015 Stiftung Naturlandschaften Brandenburg 09.-10.09.2015, Potsdam, Germany

Wagnis Wildnis Nationalpark Hohe Tauern 17.-18.09.2015, Mittersill, Austria

Wildnis im Dialog 14.-17.09.2015, Insel Vilm, Germany

European Wilderness Academy Days 30.09.-02.10.2015, Nationalpark Gesäuse, Austria

OctoberEuroparc Annual Conference26.-27.10.2015, Regensburg, Germany

Wildnistagung23.10.2015, Biosphärenpark Rhön, Germany,

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Romanian Carpathian mountains are well known for their wild nature treasures, the

biggest population of large carnivores, as well as the breathtaking land-scapes. The tourists looking for wilderness will be pleasantly surprised to meet during their hiking traditional wooden house spread among green peaks and shepherds grazing their sheep and goats in the tradi-tional way, same as hundreds of years before, using nature friendly tech-niques, in close relation with wilderness. They are the descendants of the Vlachs, the Romanized populations of Central and Eastern Europe, named Vallachs by foreign people. The name of “Vlachs” appears for the first time in 976 in Greek chronicler John Skiliţes writings.

Basically Vlachs are present today throughout Europe but main-ly in the Carpathian area of Romania, Hungary, Serbia, Ukraine, Slovakia, Czech Republic (there is even a “Vlach autonomous region”) and Poland, a proof for the continuity of Vlachs civilization along the Carpathians.

Vallachian civilization show striking similarities across the Carpathi-ans in terms of ethnography, folklore and rural economy and it has a common part of the vocabulary, kept both in dialectal archaism and in the mountain toponymy.

Unfortunately these traditional shepherds are rarer, due to the modern life style getting even to the high peaks of the mountains and the vallachian culture values are going to be forgotten unless highlighted and valued for the next generations.

Their ability to maintain their lands in a natural state and preserve their traditional way of living should be encouraged. They could also be partners in generating income to improve their life conditions and their children’s education.

Community and wilderness - Vallachian styleDue to the character of their interesting way of economy, the Vallachs

were predestined to a traveling, roving, and semi-nomadic life. From time to time, in order to survive and make a living, they had to move from one place to another because there were many of them and the original mountain region could not support them.

Those men have that particular form of intelligence which we con-sider today interesting and even intriguing; brave and from one piece as they seem, they are still authentic and true to their own nature connected to the surrounding nature. Their style has grown from the inside, and it is an expression of their history and living into the moun-tains wilderness.

Only because the Vallachs lived so high in the mountains, far away from economical and cultural centers, they were allowed to maintain their authentic way of life along with an ancient way of production. It was first of all an unusual way of breeding sheep and goats which were grazed for the whole summer in the mountains, where at the same location milk, wool, and other products were worked up.

In the beginning, they did not have villages with permanent build-ings. Instead, they constructed a “salas/coliba” for a family and many of these huts for a group of families around a “vatra” or fire pit as the central place of meeting, socializing and making decisions.

Sheep and traditional Vallachian shepherding, now slowly dies, “colibas” are abandoned, trails are blocked and springs are clogging, invasive species grow on the lands, less shepherds and donkeys with saddlebags can be seen. Seasonal stables become ruins, many deserted hamlets and entire villages have only few old inhabitants. In many places gaudy reproductions have replaced the icons on glass on the Vallachian houses walls and you can count on fingers the people who know how to make a “tulnic” (traditional musical instrument), a “cerga” (sheep wool blanket) or a mill operated with water.

“Vallachian Vatra” holiday village

Author: Constantin Serban and Adela Talpes

An innovative green tourism project to preserve unique Carpathian culture and wilderness


“Vallachian Vatra” holiday village projectTo avoid irreversible losing this cultural treasure of the Carpathian

heritage, Green-tourism Ecological Association a national environmen-tal NGO focused on tourism from Romania started the “Vallachian Vatra” Project, having the motto: “Return to the roots, a Carpathian people message from the past, found in the present.”

The project “Vallachian Vatra” (Vatra Valaha) aims to build a tra-ditional holiday village to express on bio-eco-ethno-logical principles the picturesque and functionality of traditional architecture specific to Vallachians peasant spread across Europe and also the characteristic hospitality of areas currently occupied in the present by the descendants of the Vallachs.

The “Vallachian Vatra” village is a green tourism model that gathers around an ancient fire pit/“vatra” all these principles and who aims to facilitate access to authentic traditional Vallachian culture of all those who want to know and live the healthy lifestyles, the millenary tradi-tions, customs and hospitality of the Vlachs.

The rural development through this green tourism project proves the applicability of a green business scheme development in the social and cultural tourism and it is the first pilot project in Romania which, be-sides bio / eco and cultural component (based on secular history and agrarian traditions of Vallachian shepherds) it has a social component based on helping 7 families in poor economic condition on the princi-ple ”provide rod instead of fish.” In the specific rural Vlachs settlements you can always find clean air and clear water springs that come from the Carpathian Mountains. They were for centuries the keepers of the Vallachian material and spiritual heritage, which have taken over and integrated elements of local culture, created, invented and permanently adapted to historical socio-economic conditions.

The pleasure to visit at least some of these rural settlements in hours is impossible today in real conditions of modern society. This can be achieved only by visiting a single centralized site designed as a living museum containing seven of the most representative traditional hous-es from each Carpathian country, each of them with accommodation facilities and a specific Vallachian craft shop.

The “Vallachian Vatra” project is planned to be implemented in a holistic and comprehensive way, combining the promotion of the vallachian life style with conservation programs, health, and education activities that serve the community, the Carpathian nature and the wild-life that are so important to all of us.

The first step is the construction of Manor House (building with administrative, meetings and accommodation role) which is going to start next year in the spring, using European funds. For the rest of the village, the association is looking for partners, investors and volunteers. If you want to become their supporter, whatever small, your donation will be of great help.

The project initiators hope the success of Vallahian Vatra as a holiday village, offering genuine and sustainable tourism, can make it a repli-cable model to address the needs of other communities in Central and Eastern Europe.

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In the heart of Austria lies an island of wilderness. A piece of land where for

the purpose of wilderness conservation more than 100 kilometres of forest roads have ei-ther already stopped being used, abandoned or actively restored. It is a land where not only the park management, researchers and experts can monitor and learn what natural dynamism really means but also where visi-tors are able to see and explore what sponta-neous natural processes without any human intervention or control means to ecosystems.

Wilderness and biodiversityIt is a piece of land where for more than 15

years management focuses on wilderness res-toration and the reintroduction of lynx. They also were pioneers in permitting bark beetle to thrive without intervention. It is a land where researchers explore surprising biodi-

versity e.g. a recent inventory confirmed the presence of 1500 species of butterflies. Fur-ther on a long systematic research revealed that there are also 35 species of beetle which are fully depended on the dead wood. These beetles - wilderness relict species – desperate-ly need dead wood to exist.

The Kalkalpen Wilderness is thus an evi-dence that wilderness can be protected also in Central Europe. It is also proof that wilder-ness protects European biodiversity.

The Kalkalpen Wilderness is an excellent example that wilderness is not only to be found in remote parts of our planet or in the far north or at the top of high mountains. It is an area with more than 10,000 ha of wil-derness located right in the middle of Europe.

Because of the quality, the Kalkalpen Wilderness was the subject of a detailed wilderness audit with more than 500 indica-tors carried out by a team of European Wil-derness Society verifiers in June 2015.

Wilderness site assessment

The European Wilderness Society wilder-ness experts spent 14 days in the Kalkalpen Wilderness. Besides a few days in the office to collect all needed information and to discuss difficult issues such as wildlife management or temporary fragmentation of wilderness zone, the team spent most of the days in re-mote parts of the park. The team was guided and supported by local park wilderness ex-perts including the director of Kalkalpen Na-tionalpark – Mr. Erich Mayrhofer and many other members of his staff. During the audit, besides the longterm wilderness vision, the

Wilderness assessmentCase study Kalkalpen NP, Austria

Author: Vlado Vančura


team discussed park history and zonation, the size of the wilderness zone and management, biodiversity and wilderness restoration and sustainable tourism aspects. The interaction with the highly skilled park staff and rang-ers provided additional information such as the wildlife management during the winter months or about the strategy of dealing with bark beetle in the wilderness and manage-ment zone. The wilderness assessement also included a visit to the highest valley of the Kalkalpen Wilderness which was used as an Alpine grazing area in the past. Spontaneous succession processes was subject of the eval-uation together with an assessment of the small pasture - islands within the core zone that are still used by local people for cattle grazing such as the Feichtauhütte (1360m) as well as the lower situated Blumaueralm (762m). The team observed and evaluated also the impact of natural events such as av-alanches on forest ecosystems. Combining EWQA Wilderness Diploma and UNES-CO’s World Heritage List Kalkalpen Wilder-ness includes also several fragments of the old growth beech forests (5.250 ha), now inscribed to the UNESCO tentative candi-dates list of UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Kalkalpen Wilderness thus contributes to the protection of Primeval Beech Forests in Europe, together with other Wilderness candidates Zacharovanij Kraj NP, Ukraine, currently also in a process of EWQA assess-ment this year.

Berlin

Bruxelles

Vienna

Bratislava

Liptovský Hrádok

Uzhhorod

Lisboa

Madrid

Paris

London

Roma

BudapestGyörTamsweg

Bucaresti

Sofia

Tirana

Kiev

Warszawa

Dublin

Bern

Ljubljana

Minsk

Moskva

Tallinn

Helsinki

Riga

Vilnius

Stockholm

Oslo

Ankara

Baku

Tbilisi

Yerevan

Desertas Islands NP, PortugalGarajonay NP, Spain

Vatnajökull NPIceland

Druillat

Bonn

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Team in Action


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In the early 80s of the last century, the Iberian Peninsula only had two free roaming bear populations. One of them inhabited the

Pyrenees Mountains wandering between France and Spain. The other population survived in the Cantabrian Mountains in the heavily settled area of north central Spain. Each population had no more than 40 bears and they were the last individuals of a species that had for many cen-turies inhabited a large part of Spain and Portugal. It was during this time in the 1980s when the concerns for the survival of not only bears but other large carnivores, such as wolves and lynx began. With such small populations of bears, it seemed that their extinction was inevita-ble. Thirty years later and despite occupying a large natural area, that is exactly what happened in the Pyrenees and only with reintroductions of bears from Slovenia does this area have a very small population.

However, the bears in the Cantabrian Mountains, where scientists believed that they would become extinct, they have persisted despite a less natural area. Its population has expanded to a much larger area of Asturias, perhaps about 200 specimens living in complete freedom occupying an area of about 10,000 square kilometres. Although the fu-ture is worrying for this population, each year, there are new cubs and breeding females are boosting the numbers.

The challenges of coexistingBears have reached this population level with serious genetic prob-

lems and continued persecution. In the mountains of Asturias, the bear is protected, but poaching persists and the bear is a coveted target. In addition, the bears supposedly cause damage to agriculture, smash crops and kill domestic cattle. They are considered the enemies of man.

One of the biggest problems is that bear territory is also human ter-ritory. The Cantabrian Mountains have a high concentration of towns and villages. Several hundred thousand people share and live together with wild animals, including bears which seemed to justify their extinc-tion. Even scientists and specialist also believed it was not possible for bears to live where there are people.

Thirty years of work by FAPAS (Fondo para la Protection de los An-imales Salvajes) has shown that it is possible. Today the bears live in areas where there are thousands of people. They approach villages and everything seems normal, there are no problems. Conservation work has shown that the bears have survived because of the human activity in these areas taking advantage of obtaining additional food resources. Moreover, the harsh terrain of these mountains, deep valleys and vast forests, many of them had been planted by man, offers a safe haven for bears, though living in the vicinity of a village. The protein source that human activity makes available to bears in the form of carcasses of dead pets that have died of natural causes or have been abandoned in the mountains, has been one of the guarantees of their survival.

Management of living with wild animalsIt was necessary to study and discover the special ecology of the bears

who have adapted to living together in the same territory as humans for hundreds of years. This special population of bears is without aggres-sion and with a high rate of fertility. It has only been necessary to focus on combating poaching, which in the past was very intense and still exists today. The other focus was for society to be concerned and to un-derstand that large carnivores such as bears are a sign of social identity of the territory. Asturias, is proud to have bears in the mountains and now killing bears is a crime and socially unacceptable.

However, despite these successes, new problems arise which must have a political solution. The European Union has banned that corps-es of animals are left in nature, which is generating an unprecedented crisis in territories with wild animals such as carrion, bears, wolves, vultures relying on carcasses as a source of protein. They have lost an

Bears can coexist with people

Author: Roberto Hartasánchez, President FAPAS – www.fapas.esTranslated by: Karin Eckhard

Lessons from northern Spain


important source of food that was presen mestic livestock have mul-tiplied, creating a social opposition to its presence. The Regional Ad-ministration authorized the killing of 60 wolves each year without any scientific studies to support this decision.

The political struggle uses these arguments of wildlife damage to their advantage and starts to explain that the problem is too many bears or wolves. After thirty years of work, we could lose everything that we have already achieved if we do not react now. But there are few voices calling for the reverse of the ruling by the EU, domestic animals that have died of natural causes or been abandoned should be left in nature.

The Cantabrian Mountains are something special, a wild world of bears and wolves in the midst of a modern society, an unprecedent-ed natural heritage in western Europe that we have conserved through wisdom and experience. If we do nothing, the region will go the way of the Pyrenees, essential devoid of bears and wolves.

Berlin

Bruxelles

Vienna

Bratislava

Liptovský Hrádok

Uzhhorod

Lisboa

Madrid

Paris

London

Roma

BudapestGyörTamsweg

Bucaresti

Sofia

Tirana

Kiev

Warszawa

Dublin

Bern

Ljubljana

Minsk

Moskva

Tallinn

Helsinki

Riga

Vilnius

Stockholm

Oslo

Ankara

Baku

Tbilisi

Yerevan

Desertas Islands NP, PortugalGarajonay NP, Spain

Vatnajökull NPIceland

Druillat

Bonn

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Šumava – the (much larger) Czech counterpart of the Bayerischer Wald National Park – represents

the largest continuous forested area in Central Europe and is one of the most crucial biodiversity sites. To quote IUCN, this national park is “part of the largest, best conserved and most species rich forested area in Central Europe”. It is a vital habitat to some endangered species, including capercaillie, black grouse, lynx, elk and Ural owl. Its peat bogs and waterlogged forests are a wetland of international importance un-der the Ramsar Convention.

Šumava National Park was declared in March 1991 in the central region of the mountain range running along the borders with Germany and Austria. At that time, mayors of the involved municipalities de-manded a national park of European importance in accordance with IUCN requirements. The National park extends over an area of 690 square kilometres. Forests form almost 84 % of the area, with meadows and pastures accounting for 7 %. About 1,000 square kilometres of Šu-mava Protected Landscape Area serve as the national park’s buffer zone and protecting some natural features of the region that lie outside the Park. The entire territory including the Protected Landscape Area was registered as a UNESCO biosphere reserve.

The National Park is a mosaic of the remains of primeval forest,

peat-bogs and peat meadows, successions of areas with vegetation after former villages, glacial lakes, watercourses and forests more or less changed by humans. There are a few small villages inside this natu-ral complex. The overwhelming majority of settlements ceased to exist after a forcible transfer of the German minority after the Second World War and after closing part of the territory behind the so-called Iron Curtain by the former Communist regime. After the designation of the national park in 1991 there was a unique opportunity to renovate the undisturbed natural processes on a relatively large area in Central Europe, to observe interactions among various ecosystems and to create there a vital space for demanding species such as the lynx and potentially also for wolf and bear. Šumava NP is therefore one of the best opportunities for wilderness restoration in Europe.

Conflicting interestsHowever, Šumava NP is under heavy pressure from logging and

development interests. Crucially, they promote large scale clear-cut logging under the disguise of preventing the spread of bark beetles. The dispute about the national park will determine more than the future of

Šumava. The topic has already become the focal point in a wider debate about recognition of wilderness protection as a relevant government policy, with high level political interventions.

In 1995, the first zone (core zone) of Šumava NP was reduced from 22% to only 13% and fragmented into 135 isolated parts. The resulting small size of individual fragments does not however allow the main na-tional park goal to be attained – the undisturbed protection of natural ecosystem processes.

The National Park Administration responded to the 1995 - 1998 in-crease in spruce bark beetle population by cutting down trees in a large scale outside of fragmented first zones. This cutting opened the forest canopy to wind, creating plenty of open forest stand walls. Subsequent windbreaks falled down much more trees than were originally affected by bark beetle itself. Large clear-cut areas arose in the National Park. This occurred especially in the high elevations along the border with Bayerischer Wald National Park (above 1,300 metres), but also in other places.

In 1999 the National Park administration and the Czech Ministry of Environment allowed spruce trees infested by bark beetles to be cut also in first zones of Šumava NP. Fortunately the bark beetle outbreak

Author: Jaromir Blahá

Complicated wilderness story of Šumava National Park

The never ending fight for wilderness


ended but the natural development of habitats for the future was not protected even in pri-meval forests. This led to extensive protests among scientists and NGOs. Hnutí DUHA – Friends of the Earth Czech Republic or-ganized a peaceful blockade of tree felling in the so called “Trojmezenský prales” – the oldest and most conserved remnant of mon-tane spruce old growth forest in the Czech Republic, where over 1000 trees were marked to be cut down. The blockade lasted for two months and succeeded in stopping the tree logging in the primeval forest. This achieve-ment opened a public debate which addressed not only the problem of the bark beetle, but the general topic of the mission of national parks, as well. Under the threat of further pro-tests the Ministry of Environment took part in discussions with scientists and ecological NGOs. The proceedings led to the invitation of an IUCN expert mission by the Ministry in order to obtain an attitude and recommenda-tion of a suitable course.

Politically influenced managementThe IUCN/WCPA expert mission visited

Šumava National Park in autumn 2002, after a changeover in the Ministry lead. In 2003 IUCN handed over a report, recommend-ing (among others) the uniting of the frag-mented first zones into a few compact units, increasing their area to 30-40% of the park extent within 3-5 years and keeping a basical-ly non-intervention regime. Environmental minister decided to act in accordance with the IUCN recommendation.

In 2003 the felling of trees infested by the

bark beetle in the first zones was stopped. In 2005 the NP Šumava administration put forth a new Park strategy based on the fun-damental vision: “The Šumava National Park protects a unique mountain scenery in a ter-ritory of attractive cultural character, facili-tating an undisturbed development of its area and opening it for exploration. It would like to be a place of encounter between the visi-tors and the natural beauty of wilderness.” But the municipalities refused this new strategy. Similarly, they refused the proposal for a new zonation which would unite the inappropriate fragmentation.

Following the hurricane Kyrill in 2007, which completely devastated the stands af-fected by earlier felling of bark beetle infected trees, the Ministry decided to leave especial-ly montane forests (in first as well in second zones) free of tree logging on an area of over 30% of the territory of Šumava National Park. Following the new outbreak of bark beetle these forests turned into a fascinating wilder-ness.

But after a next change of the Government it came to a turnaround again. The new Min-ister recalled the Park director and established Mr. Stráský, who refused to take over the al-ready prepared European diploma, dissolved the scientific section of the National Park Council and commenced tree felling in are-as left over to wilderness in the past. Logging did not stop neither after appeals from dozens of prominent Czech scientists nor repeated warnings from NGOs, pointing out that the

Park headquarters is violating the Czech Na-ture Protection Law and other European di-rectives (Habitat Directive, Birds Directive). After this, conservationists, joined by part of the public, began a non-violent blockade of tree logging in the area of “Ptačí potok” (Bird creek) at Modrava moor. During several weeks the participants faced crude actions of special police squads called into action by the Park director. This led to even stronger pub-lic protests and a demonstrations before the Ministry of Environment, getting the Minis-ter to stop the felling.

Several months later Czech courts had acted and in 2013 have confirmed that pro-testers, including many members of Hnutí DUHA/Friends of the Earth Czech Republic, who blocked loggers in Šumava National Park in 2011 acted peacefully, legitimately and in complete accordance with the law. Police in-tervention, however, and the tree-felling itself, have both been deemed illegal.

In May 2012, preceding the expected vis-it of European Committee representatives, the Environmental Minister suspended Mr. Straský as director of the Park and designated the deputy director, responsible for the ille-gal felling, instead. The upstart director then prepared a new proposal of the management plan, including the downgrade of Sumava NP from IUCN category II to category IV. Along with the Minister they together prepared and put forth a special bill for NP Šumava, legaliz-ing tree felling in areas formerly left to natural development and weakening the protection

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of the NP landscape against building development. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the World Commis-sion on Protected Areas (WCPA) warned the past government about a similar proposal that “by accepting the management proposed in the bill, Šumava will not be eligible to retain the IUCN category II status (national park)”.

The issue is of significance not only for the future of nature protec-tion in the Czech Republic, but also beyond -- not least in relation to the review of EU nature conservation legislation which is expected to take place in the next couple of years.

Re-designation of the Park, which is also one of the key Natura 2000 sites in Central Europe, would be extremely dangerous as a major prec-edent because of the domino effect. A blatant breaching of Natura 2000 rules in a site of crucial importance, one which has been under protec-tion of both national and EU legislation, would set a dangerous example for other governments. In view of this domino effect this action poses a challenge to the protective status of national parks everywhere.

The Environmental Minister and the MPs of the Environmental Comitee of the Czech Parliament obtained a petition letter from 72 di-rectors of European nature preservation institutions (see http://www.sumava-kurovec.cz/include/Dopis%2072%20reditelu.pdf)

Thanks to the 2013 fall of the Government, and the subsequent dis-solution of the Parliament, the MPs were not able to discuss the bill.

The new Environmental Minister confirmed the interest of manag-ing the NP Šumava as an internationally distinguished National Park of IUCN Category II, suspended the director and posted a director, which committed himself to observing the nature conservation laws, stopping all projects which would injure the nature of Šumava. Min-ister approved a temporary three-year management plan, reducing the non-intervention area to 23%, though, with an additional 5% where action against the bark beetle is allowed only exceptionally and where practically no intervention took place in this year.

Therefore a group of senators started to push forward a new draft

of a special law on Šumava NP again, based on the worst from all the previous ones. The draft was disastrous: it envisaged no true wilderness zones in the national park and would pave the way for major new de-velopment projects such as ski resorts and new building construction, i.e. new hotels, family-hotels, apartment-hotels and similar facilities on 2/3 of the NP Šumava area. Furthermore, the bill proposed to decrease protection of forests in the National Park to a lower degree than is usual in current commercial forests in the rest of the country. This group of senators succeeded in gaining support for their proposal among the Senate of the Czech Republic and passed it as a Senate legis-lation proposal to the Czech Parliament.

Hnuti DUHA steps inHnutí DUHA – FoE CR started a huge campaign to mobilise the pub-

lic, building on excellent popularity of the national park and a general public support for the protection of wilderness. Development interests have got strong political backing – but they are also deeply unpopular, and many politicians recognise that.

This is why the strategy was based on encouraging thousands of peo-ple to write to their members of parliament (MPs). Hnuti DUHA – FoE CR already started to develop a network of young people committed to Šumava, who are also ready to visit politicians personally. Tourists in the national park, who are worried about the damage they witness in the existing clear-cut sites, formed another key target group.

Hnuti DUHA – FoE CR mobilised the public also through a peti-tion and several concerts for Šumava wilderness with the help of Czech musical groups well known among young people. Dozens of volunteers collected signatures under the petition available on information stalls in Šumava, in cities and during music festivals as well. Hnuti DUHA – FoE CR addressed both the public and MPs using the slogan “a piece of wilderness is in every heart”.

People from Hnuti DUHA – FoE CR spent much of time meeting with key MPs persuading them to refuse the draft. Also, they organised additional activities to convince them, like excursions to the national


park so that MP´s could directly see what the felling in contrary to wilderness protection is about, a successful approach in the past.

Hnuti DUHA – FoE CR prepared own legislation proposals and together with sci-entists from the Czech Academy of Science also a zoning proposal suggesting 50% of Šumava NP as core zone – wilderness area (http://www.ejes.cz/index.php/ejes/article/view/119/56) and proposed strict rules to prevent inappropriate building development and future damages due to mismanagement.

The Šumava wilderness campaignThanks to cooperation with Wild Europe

an economic study to assess three various sce-narios of NP Šumava evolution was applied. The study “An Outline of Economic Impacts of Management Options for Šumava National Park” was carried out by a reputable British company EFTEC, concluding that the expan-sion of the wilderness to 50% of Park area is economically advantageous as well (see EFTEC study: http://www.sumava-kurovec.cz/include/Economic_Assessment_of_Su-mava_National_Park,_eftec,_Final_Report.pdf). So, during parliamentary debates, Hnuti DUHA – FoE CR suggested own proposal as a solution which is both ecologically and eco-nomically advantaged.

The campaign organized by Hnutí DUHA - Friends of the Earth Czech Republic turned out to be very successful. Over 43 000 people, including well known artists (many of them from Czech National Theatre), musicians and writers signed the petition „For a good law on the Šumava National Park“. Addition-

ally, MP´s obtained over one thousand of personal mails mainly from visitors of the National Park. Renowned Czech musical bands and several musicians directly sup-ported the Šumava wilderness campaign during three “concerts for Šumava wilder-ness” taking place in Prague and in Southern Bohemia. Hnutí DUHA – FoE CR revealed with the help of media real estate specula-tions and connections between politicians and businessmen profiting from the bill. The Czech Parliament decisively voted down the Senate´s bill in October.

But this is not an end to the debate. The Ministry of Environment is preparing its own novelization of the Nature Protection Act, which should be valid for all Czech national parks generally. Consequently a new zonation will be prepared for NP Šumava. The munic-ipalities succeeded in suing the provisional three-year management plan and the court

obliged the Ministry to withdraw it. However, this judgement is not final yet.

The outcome of the described twenty years of controversy about NP Šumava is above all a significant shift in public opinion. Before twenty years, most people agreed with actions against the bark beetle and environmental-ists were considered fools trying to protect a feared forest pest. The term “wilderness” had a pejorative touch and was not very popular. Today, “wilderness” is a demanded tourist destination, as well as a label, often misused for marketing purposes. But as the debate, even in academic circles frequently shows the content of the terms “wilderness” and “inter-vention-free” is not clear to many. Thus, the next suitable step would be an introduction of the definition of wilderness developed by Wild Europe and the certification of the European Wilderness Society and its model application in NP Šumava.

18


Picturing Wildlife Fotos by Bart van Engeldorp Gastelaars

The Kalkalpen Wilderness, Austria


Did you always wanted to learn (again) how to light a fire with-out matches? To pick the right plants and turn them into

an eatable and enjoyable dish? Or to build a shelter out in the woods to stay dry and safe for a night? All this sounds like nature camps for young people, but wilderness trainings exists for adults too, in different forms all over Europe.

Strictly protected areas are essential places to safeguard our European Natural Heritage and also a source of increasingly valuable biological and ecological information for scientists and the public, to whom wil-derness offers wide educational opportunities and a strong emotional experience.

So there is a lot to learn from protected areas, and the interest amongst adults for on-going training programs on wild flora, fauna and natural habitats and also on how to behave in and how to experience wild places is high. Some protected areas have started to fill the gap of offer and demand, and propose training courses.

The European Wilderness Society and three partner NGOs have pooled their experiences in adult training and recently started an EU

project that aims to bring fundamental changes in the public attitude towards wilderness by educating them about the various benefits of wilderness and its importance. Project partners will look into ex-isting wilderness education practices, encourage the exchange of best-practices amongst countries and protected areas, and field test innovated curricula of education programs.

The outcome of the 2-year Erasmus-funded EU project will be a best-practice module on wilderness education methods for adults, as well as guides for professionals and private interest groups resuming the existing training offers.

Through the project, all partners aim to strengthen adult key compe-tencies, increase the public interest for and understanding of wilderness and thus help nature protection. In the sincere hope to link our ties to nature again, and why not through a self-made meal prepared in a high-ly enjoyable natural surrounding?

Some of the findings will be presented at the European Academy Days 2015 in the National Park Gesäuse.

Wilderness curriculum for aspiring nature conversation

managers

Author: Katrin Schikorr & Anni Henning

The European Wilderness Society, Hnutí DUHA – Friends of the Earth Czech Republic, Mountain Wilderness and WOLF Forest Protection Movement have launched a new EU project to enhance adult training opportunities and methods about wilderness and protected area issues.

Šumava National Park

© 2015 European Wilderness Society, ZVR: 305471009 | Dechant Franz Fuchs Str. 5; 5580 Tamsweg; Austria | Phone: +43 (0)676 913 88 04 | Email: [email protected] |www.wilderness-society.org | Photo Credits: EWS, Max Rossberg, Gudrun Pflüger, Karin Eckhard, Vlado Vančura, Verena Gruber, fotolia.de., NP Gesäuße, Schloss Röthelstein, Sumac Training,

Bart van Engeldorp Gastelaars, Jaromir Blahá, Jim O’Donnell. Kathrin Schikorr | Design: www.diemedienwerkstatt.info, 5580 Tamsweg, Austria | Printed in Austria | All rights, errors and changes are reserved.