State gives away parts of Pirin National Park and Vitosha Nature Park

Environmental activists are organizing a protest in Sofia on November 11, Wednesday, at 18.30 at “Popa”. They are asking: Is the Council of Ministers paying someone back for their election support?

What is happening in Pirin National Park?

MoEW has announced in a press release today that old-growth forest is going to be cut down in Pirin National Park in order to have a new 6-person chairlift built in Bansko ski zone to replace the existing 3-person chairlift from Shiligarnika to Todorka peak.

At least 57 white firs and spruces, aged 80-100 years, are going to be cut. The new chairlift is neither in the concession contract of the company, nor in the territorial development plan or the environmental assessment of the ski zone from 2001.

The permission for the replacement of the chairlift was given by Stanislav Atanasov from the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MFR), Environment Minister in the Oresharski cabinet. It has been appealed in court, but even if it is suspended as unlawful, the trees will be felled. This will be yet another example of how laws in Bulgaria are not observed.

“For the Nature in Bulgaria” Coalition calls for investigation av the permission given by Environment Minister Ivelina Vasileva, which allows logging in Pirin National Park. The explanations announced by MoEW are extremely ridiculous and absurd – “timber from the trees will be used for restoration of tourist routes and trails in the park as well as to repair the path to Baykusheva Mura, the oldest living tree in Bulgaria, which is over 1300 years old.”

What is happening in Vitosha Nature Park?

“For the Nature in Bulgaria” Coalition has found out that a number of illegal activities have been going on in the area near “Aleko” hut. There is neither a plan nor any construction permit for these activities. They are also violating the current management plan of the park:
- unlawful digging in Vitosha Nature Park (outside the ski slopes) in order to install an artificial snowfall system (without the necessary permit); tree saplings have been destroyed during plowing near “Vitoshko lale” ski slope, which is a crime under the criminal code.
- unlawful removing of “moraine” formations and leveling outside the ski slopes (possibly to extend the slopes)
- pits on the slopes
- logging and tree clearing for new roads
- construction of fire lookout towers, which are not properly placed and are simply an ugly way of money utilization

Despite the 300 public statements sent in regard to the draft management plan for Vitosha Nature Park, most of them against the new plan, the draft was submitted for consideration in MoEW. One of the employees of MAF, who was in charge of protected areas such as Vitosha Nature Park, had been fired after a smear campaign in a newspaper associated with Delyan Peevski, MP from MFR.

Photos of the plowing in Vitosha Nature Park:
http://forthenature.org/news/3473

Photos of the construction works carried out by Marengo Trading in Pirin National Park : http://forthenature.org/gallery/434