Zheko and Yanez are no ordinary birds. They are birds – protectors. These are species - plants and animals on which the state of all other elements in the ecosystem depends on. Each grass, bush, fungus, beast and bird depends on them. Even the ecosystem itself. In other words – if Zheko and Yanez are ok, their wood will be ok too. If Zeko and Yanez breed their youngsters each year, and their babies – breed their babies – it means that everything in their forest happens with powers of the eternal natural laws. It also means the woods will be the same for our children and the children of our children. Apart of Zheko and Yanez, the forest has also hundreds of protectors – centuries- old spruces, the bear, the wolf, the white-backed and 3-fingered wood pecker, the marten.
Zheko and Yanez are not only protectors of the wood but also of the people around it, who utilize its resources. People receive from the forest the air they breathe, the water they drink, their game, the delicious fruits and the scented herbs, the heat for the fire-place and the materials for their houses. The woods protect them from the elements, stops the floods and landslides and the hurricanes. And when they look at it and see it healthy and strong, people are happy, secure and calm as they are at home. Century old traditions, respect to the power of the forests, admiration before its creation and respect to every creature converted the people part of it. They are so inseparable as Zheko and Yanez.
Today, by the force of our knowledge and millenniums of mutual life together with the nature, we know the power and the place of each living creature in it. We know that we can lose easily everything, even only by losing our respect and attention to the nature everything can collapse in a single moment.
Forests in which Zheko and Yanez wander still exist. And people continue to live together with them and to protect each other. But in many places, Zheko and Yanez have disappeared. People are also not there, because there is no reason to be there anymore.
Fortunately, Bulgaria is a civilized country, we benefit from the developments of the contemporary technologies, we develop as a society and people, and we successfully look ahead from the coming day and foresee the power and the meaning of Zheko and Yanez. As members of the EU we have accepted to execute its rules, because they are fruits of many years of traditions and commonly accepted values. Our country executes different obligations for environment protection. One of it is to develop the so called action plans. They are drawn up for different species of animals and plants in danger which face real perspective to get extinct forever. In Bulgaria there are hundreds of species like this.
Action plans are strategic documents that analyse the ecology and the biology of species, their habitats, their interconnections in the nature and with people, the threats that menace them and the measures we as society and each one of us should take in order Zheko and Yanez to remain in the forest and with them all the entire forestry world. Simply put, the actions plans are “Recipes for survival” and “Life Insurance” for the species. The state has developed legislative mechanisms to assign the development of the action plans to various organizations – scientific, universities, NGOs, civil associations, scholars, specialists, experts. Why exactly do we make such action plans? Well, because it’s interesting for us and we are capable for this work. We compete on equal grounds with other parties and when we present the best of ourselves- we take the task. Fortunately, as EU members, now we have the possibility to receive funds, but they are dedicated solely to Zheko and Yanez. They cannot be used for health services, for sick children, for kinder yards, for sport halls or highways. We can use them only for Zheko and Yanez. Otherwise, they will be used for Zheko and Yanez in the The Alps, The Pyrenees, at the Tatres. There, Zheko and Yanez have the same problems as they have in Rila, Pirin and the Rhodopes. There are also hundreds of scientists involved in their conservation, who have foreseen the importance of these birds and the high price of the success for their protection.
The elaboration of an action plan is long and difficult task. It comprises of hundreds of days and nights filed work, mainly in inaccessible and terrible conditions at night in the wild winter forests at the mountains far away from families, friends and modern facilities. In endless hours of data analyses, information, literature and scientific works. Hours of meetings with responsible institutions and people living in the regions and benefiting from the natural resources; in working out forecasts whatwe are going to lose in case we do not protect Zheko and Yanez and what and we must do to have them. This is the work of the ecologists. And it is not just a regular job. It is our dream, its fulfilment and devotion and more over – it’s a cause. We accept our task as a mission that goes far beyond the common notions for a profession and we are happy to call ourselves ecologists. Therefore you will not see us to drive lustrous cars, to take trips on luxury cruises and to have our holidays at five star resorts. We do not possess glamorous houses, the latest technological achievements and bank deposits. But we have something far more important for us – we have belief with our hearts that Zheko and Yanez will last forever in the forest. And we are honest with ourselves and in front of our children. And we are loyal to Zheko and Yanez. We consider it absolutely enough to feel us men of honour.
For the capercaillies and wood-peckers with love
