A national property
Nikolai Bambiza "We conserve through increasing"
Tatiana DOBYSH, "Belorusskaya Lesnaya Gazeta" (The Belarusian Forest Newspaper) newspaper, No 12, March 22, 2007
A lot is written and told about the view of Belovezhskaya Pushcha, one of the largest woodlands in Europe. "However, the fact that the forest has kept its primordial shape is, first of all, due to efforts of people" is what I thought during one of the visits to "Belovezhskaya Pushcha" National Park. But what do we know about the area? Today Grandfather Frost and Snow Maiden certainly are the most famous characters in the Pushcha. However, about one and a half thousand employees work in Belovezhskaya Pushcha as well. Everyone contributes to the goal of maintaining this oasis of untouched nature. We have decided to designate publications under the header "The Keepers", in which we will tell you, dear readers, about people from Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Nikolai BAMBIZA, general director of the State Nature Protection Institution "Belovezhskaya Pushcha" National Park is a main keeper of the Pushcha's forests and their heritage. And today he is our visitor.
Nikolai Nikolaevich, how can you introduce yourself to the readers?
First of all, I am a forester with a deep love for the nature of Belarus. I graduated Borisov Forestry School 42. It was a school in the true sense of the word. All teachers had good practical work experience and taught us sound knowledge and skills. They had been functioning as forestry officers, chief foresters and as directors of forest enterprises. Later I graduated at Polotsk Forest Technical School and at the Byelorussian Technological Institute. Life forced me to work as bookkeeper, as forest technician, as forestry officer's assistant and as forestry officer of the Starushkovskoe forest area in the Petrikovskiy forest enterprise. And in 1989 I won an election for the post of director of the Pripyatski Reserve. As you remember, people elected the leaders in those days for management positions. There were three competitors. I won. Exactly on Womens Day, on the 8th of March, mister G.A. Markovskiy, the Minister of Forestry at that time, issued an order for my appointment. At that moment a new stage in my life, connected with protected areas, began. It was difficult to start the work in the "Pripyatski". We faced a bid amount of problems after strong fires had damaged the area. Nevertheless, the National Park was developed into a real institution and the territory under protection of the park was enlarged from 50,000 hectares to 200,000 hectares. Since May 2001 I am heading the staff of the "Belovezhskaya Pushcha" National Park.
You are talking about "the keepers"? Yes, I agree. However, I want us to be creators. The entire work of our staff (its majority can rightfully be called true keepers) aims, therefore, only at carrying out creative activity. Regarding this we feel a very strong support from the state. This is because the richness of flora and fauna of Belovezhskaya Pushcha does not have analogues anywhere in the world. Our employees pay particular attention to study the structure and dynamics of forests, including unique old-aged forest stands, the bison population and the others big mammals, as well as to ornithological researches and problems of preservation of rare species.
The Pushcha is overpopulated by animals. How do you control the quantity of mammals?
Regulation can be carried out in two ways: by shooting animals and by catching them. Hunting is popular today both among native hunters and among foreigners. However, following an ethical principle, a true hunter should never shoot a female. We therefore catch females and move them to other hunting grounds and forest enterprises. We bring females over which will soon give birth to posterity. Thus, the number of animals increases in the herd at the new area of living of the transferred individuals. The technology to catch animals is a specific science, since animals get stressed when they are caught. Everything should be done to reduce the consequences of such action. The employees of the National Park went to Austria, where they gained experience on the matter and they acquired all aspects of this science in detail. Outside Belarus our deer acclimatized in the Game Ground "Alexandrovskoe" of the Rostov province in Russia and in the countries of former Yugoslavia, while the European bison settled well in the Oryol province in Russia as well as in other regions of Europe.
In the last years a very powerful outbreak of Spruce bark beetles occurred in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. What measures are taken to liquidate this invasion?
A package of measures for forest restoration has been planned. We consider priority to natural regeneration. However, the Pushcha is not able to overcome the catastrophe by itself resulting more frequent natural cataclysms. Therefore, there are sites where planting trees is planned. We have local planting material which is grown in the Pushcha. We have yet restored 600 hectares of forests last years by means of planting trees. This year we plan to plant trees over an area of 500 hectares. We fence young plantations in a grid in order to prevent penetration of these areas by deer and by bison. They like to eat young tree verdure. Still deer are sometimes able to get into a fenced area. They are very clever animals.
How long does the young forest grow within fences?
For fifteen years. Then the grid is removed. Natural processes will be further shape the forest.
Nikolai Nikolaevich, over the last years Belovezhskaya Pushcha seems to become more and more a major tourist attraction and a national symbol. Victories in many competitions, such as the 2006 Brand Gold Medal which was awarded for the nomination in the category "Heritage" are lifting the image of "Belovezhskaya Pushcha" up.
Yes, the name "Belovezhskaya Pushcha" is written in gold letters as an object of the world heritage. Therefore I consider our "regal" brand quite deserved. However, there is a price for names all over the world and every brand should bring true financial benefit. We actively develop tourism. I emphasize that we are doing it better and better and we preserve our heritage for future generations.
What are the prospects of development of tourism in the area of Belovezhskaya Pushcha?
From our point of view we should develop two categories of tourism, being hunting and regular tourism. Currently it is possible to stay for one or two days in the Pushcha. We want to prolong the term of stay of tourists to three or four days. There are opportunities to reach this development, since the entire area of Belovezhskaya Pushcha is a storehouse of history. We should open this treasure for people.
A number of tourist routes designed for driving cars, for walking, for cycling and to move around by horse drawn cart have been developed and are now accessible for visitors of the Park. An advanced tourist infrastructure exists. It includes hotel rooms. This summer one more hotel with 50 rooms, a pool, saunas and sport-health-improving halls will be opened in the village of Kamenyuki. It means that tourists will then be offered possibilities to improve their health and to drink tea from grasses from the Pushcha. We plan on opening new routes crossing historical places. For example these are the routes from Belovezhskaya Pushcha to the town of Pruzhany, the town of Oranchitsy and the town of Kobrin along the "Imperial High Road", from Belovezhskaya Pushcha to the Brest fortress and to the ancient town of Berestie, and from Belovezhskaya Pushcha to the town of Zhirovichi. Actually the last route will be taken in use on March 25 when the first tourist-pilgrims will visit the Zhirovichi monastery, sacred orthodox place. The excursion on the so-called "Royal High Road", which leads from Belovezhskaya Pushcha to the town of Trakai, should become very interesting. Over this road Lithuanian kings once came back home after hunting in the Pushcha. What would oppose letting Belarusian visit Lithuania and letting Lithuanians visit Belarus over this route? The Lithuanian state fully supports the initiative. This topic is of specific interest as in 2009 Lithuania will celebrate its 1000th year of existence since the state was founded, while we will celebrate the 600th birthday of protection of the Pushcha. We await acceptance of a governmental program on this date. According to this program, hotels will be constructed around the borders of Belovezhskaya Pushcha, and coaching inns and many other objects serving tourism will be build as well. So, welcome to Belovezhskaya Pushcha!
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The BP-21 Century editor's note
This article was published in the state newspaper "The Belarusian Forest Newspaper" and, needless to state why, it is written in the style of modern Belarusian state propagation. This implies that certain positive points of the topic are actually overemphasized and are exaggerated while some negative aspects are ignored or are embellished. Please, read more detail about "successes" and "achievements" of this "keeper" of Belovezhskaya Pushcha and see photos in the section "Photo-fact. The chronicle of destruction of the Bialowieza relic forest, 2001 - 2005". As a result, Nikolai Bambiza enters the history of modern nature protection in Belarus as a main enemy and as a destructor of the wild protected nature of Belovezhskaya Pushcha, whose destructive activities in scale might only be comparable to those brought under German occupation during the first world war.
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