Białowieża Forest

Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park (BE) / Białowieski Park Narodowy (PL)
Belarussian National Park Belavezhskaya Pushcha
IUCN category II (national park)
European bison in the natural habitat
Location	Hrodna and Brest administrative districts of Belarus, Podlaskie Voivodeship in Poland
Coordinates	52°40′N 23°50′E
Area	152.2 km²
Established	1932
Governing body	Ministry of the Environment of Belarus and Poland
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name: Belovezhskaya Pushcha / Białowieża Forest
Type:	Natural
Criteria:	vii
Designated:	1979 (3rd session)
Reference No.	33bis (confirm)
State Party:	Belarus Poland
Region:	Europe
Extensions:	1992

Białowieża Forest is an ancient woodland that straddles the border between two countries, Belarus and Poland. It is known as Bielavezhskaya Pushcha in Belarusian, and as Puszcza Białowieska in Polish. It is located 70 km (43 mi) north of Brest (Belarus) and 62 km (39 mi) southeast of Białystok (Poland). It is one of the last and largest remaining parts of the immense primaeval forest that once stretched across the European Plain.

The border between the two countries runs through the forest. There is a border crossing for hikers and cyclists within it. The forest is home to 800 European bisons (wisents), the continent's heaviest land animals. A security fence keeps the Belarusian and Polish bison herds physically and genetically separated.

This UNESCO World Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve is located within parts of the Brest Voblast (Kamianiec and Pruzhany districts) and Hrodna Voblast (Svislach district) in Belarus, and on the Polish side, near the town of Białowieża in the Podlaskie Voivodeship.

Belarusian section

On the Belarusian side, the Biosphere Reserve occupies 1,771 km² (684 sq mi); the core area covers 157 km² (61 sq mi); the buffer zone 714 km² (276 sq mi); and the transition zone 900 km² (350 sq mi); the National Park and World Heritage Site comprises 876 km² (338 sq mi). The Belavezhskaya Pushcha headquarters at Kamieniuki, Belarus include laboratory facilities and a zoo where European bison (reintroduced into the park in 1929), konik (a semi-wild horse), wild boar, moose, and other indigenous animals may be viewed in enclosures of their natural habitat. There is also a small museum, restaurant, snack bar and hotel facilities (built during the Soviet era and currently in a state of disrepair). Due to the lack of facilities and little tourist stream in the country, few foreign tourists visit the Belarussian part. A new attraction there is a New Year's museum with Ded Moroz (the East Slavic counterpart of Father Christmas).

Polish section

Białowieża National Park

On the Polish side, part of the Białowieża Forest is protected as the Białowieża National Park (Białowieski Park Narodowy), with general area of about 100 km² (39 sq mi). There is also the Białowieża Glade (Polana Białowieska), with a complex of buildings once owned by the tsars of Russia during the Partitions of Poland. At present, a hotel and restaurant with a parking lot is located there. Guided tours into the strictly controlled areas of the park can be arranged on foot or by horse-drawn carriage. Approximately 200,000 tourists visit the Polish part of the forest annually. Among the group-offers are the bird watching with local ornithologist, watching bison in their natural environment, and sledge and carriage rides with a bonfire. The popular village of Białowieża lies within the forest. Białowieża means the White Tower in Old Polish.

History

The entire area of northeastern Europe was originally covered by ancient woodland similar to that of the Białowieża Forest. Until about the 14th century, travel through the woodland was limited to river routes; roads and bridges appeared much later. Limited hunting rights were granted throughout the forest in the 14th century. In the 15th century the forest became a property of King Władysław II Jagiełło. A wooden manor in Białowieża became his refuge during a plague pandemic in 1426. The first recorded piece of legislation on the protection of the forest dates to 1538, when a document issued by Sigismund I the Old instituted the death penalty for poaching a bison. The King also built a new wooden hunting manor in a village of Białowieża, which became the namesake for the whole complex. Since Białowieża means the "white tower", the corresponding Puszcza Białowieska translates as the "forest of the white tower". The Tower of Kamyanyets on the Belarussian side, built of red brick, is also referred to as the White Tower (Belaya Vezha) even though it was never white, perhaps taking the name from the pushcha.

The forest was declared a hunting reserve in 1541 to protect bison. In 1557, the forest charter was issued, under which a special board was established to examine forest usage. In 1639 King Władysław IV Waza issued the "Białowieża royal forest decree" (Ordynacja Puszczy J.K. Mości leśnictwa Białowieskiego). The document freed all peasants living in the forest in exchange for their service as osocznicy, or royal foresters. They were also freed of taxes in exchange for taking care of the forest. The forest was divided onto 12 triangular areas (straże) with a centre in Białowieża.

Part of primaeval forest with dead 450 years old oak in in Białowieża National Park, Poland

Until the reign of Jan Kazimierz, the forest was mostly unpopulated. However, in the late 17th century, several small villages were established for development of local iron-ore deposits and tar production. The villages were populated with settlers from Masovia and Podlaskie and many of them still exist.

After the Partitions of Poland, tsar Paul I turned all the foresters into serfs and handed them over to various Russian aristocrats and generals along with the parts of forest where they lived. Also, a large number of hunters were able to enter the forest, as all protection was abolished. Following this, the number of bisons fell from more than 500 to fewer than 200 in 15 years. However, in 1801, tsar Alexander I reintroduced the reserve and hired a small number of peasants to protect the animals, and by the 1830s there were 700 bison. However, most of the foresters (500 out of 502) took part in the November Uprising of 1830–1831, and their posts were abolished, leading to a breakdown of protection.

Alexander II visited the forest in 1860 and decided to re-establish the protection of bison. Following his orders, locals killed all predators: wolves, bears and lynx. Between 1888 and 1917, the Russian tsars owned all of primaeval forest, which became the royal hunting reserve. The tsars sent bisons as gifts to various European capitals, while at the same time populating the forest with deer, moose, and other animals imported from around the empire. The last major tsarist hunt took place in 1912.

Wisent hiding in Białowieża Forest

During World War I the forest suffered heavy losses. The German army seized the area in August 1915 and started to hunt the animals. During three years of German occupation, 200 kilometres of railway tracks were laid in the forest to support the local industry. Three lumber mills were built, in Hajnówka, Białowieża, and Gródek. Up to 25 September 1915, at least 200 bison were killed, and an order was issued forbidding hunting in the reserve. However, German soldiers, poachers, and Soviet marauders continued the slaughter until February 1919 when the area was captured by the Polish army. The last bison had been killed just a month earlier. Thousands of deer and wild boar had also been shot.

After the Polish–Soviet War in 1921, the core of Puszcza Białowieska was declared a National Reserve. In 1923, Professor Józef Paczoski, a pioneer of the science of phytosociology, became a scientific manager of the forest reserves in the Białowieża Forest. He carried out detailed studies of the structure of forest vegetation there.

In 1923 it was known that only 54 bison survived in zoos all around the world, none of them in Poland. In 1929, a small herd of four was bought by the Polish state from various zoos and from the Western Caucasus (where the bison was to become extinct just a few years; these animals were of the slightly different Caucasian subspecies). Most of the forest was declared a national park in 1932.

The reintroduction proved successful, and in 1939 there were 16 bisons in Białowieża National Park. Two of them, from the zoo in Pszczyna, were descendants of a pair from the forest given to the Duke of Pszczyna by Tsar Alexander II in 1865.

In 1939 the local inhabitants of Polish ethnicity were deported to remote areas of the Soviet Union and replaced by Soviet forest workers. In 1941 the forest was occupied by Germans and the Soviet inhabitants were also expelled. Hermann Göring planned to create the largest hunting reserve in the world there. After July 1941 the forest became a refuge for both Polish and Soviet partisans, and German authorities organized mass executions. A few graves of people who were killed by the Gestapo can still be seen in the forest. In July 1944 the area was liberated by the Red Army. Withdrawing Wehrmacht troops demolished the historic Białowieża hunting manor.

After the war, part of the forest was divided between Poland and the Belarusian SSR of the Soviet Union. The Soviet part was put under public administration while Poland reopened the Białowieża National Park in 1947.

Belovezhskaya Pushcha coat of arms on Pre-Stamped Envelope of the Belarus, 2009: 600th Anniversary of Belovezhskaya Pushcha reserve status

Belovezhskaya Pushcha was protected under Decision No. 657 of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union, 9 October 1944; Order No. 2252-P of the USSR Council of Ministers, 9 August 1957; and Decree No. 352 of the Byelorussian SSR Council of Ministers, 16 September 1991.

In 1990, the Belavezha Accords, the decision to dissolve the Soviet Union, were signed at a meeting in the Belarusian part of the reserve by the leaders of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.

The Reserve was added to the World Heritage List in 1992 and internationally recognised as a Biosphere Reserve under UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme in 1993 (the Polish part had been so designated in 1976).

Named oaks

The King of Nieznanowo oak

Emperor of the South oak

The forest contains a number of large, ancient pedunculate oaks (Quercus robur), some of which are individually named. Trunk circumferences are measured at breast height, 130 cm (51 in) above the ground.

• Great Mamamuszi. Circumference 690 cm (270 in) (2005), height 34 m (112 ft). One of the thickest oaks in the forest, with a beautiful column-like trunk. The tree's name stems from Molière's The Bourgeois Gentleman, in which the main protagonist (Mr Jourdain) was appointed the Mamamouchi by a Turkish ambassador. Since 1989 the tree's circumference grew by 10 cm (3.9 in). Of all the oaks in Belovezhskaya Pushcha with a circumference above 600 cm (240 in), it is in the best condition.

• The King of Nieznanowo. Circumference 620 cm (240 in), height 38 m (125 ft). This tree has one of the most columnar trunks among the oaks in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, interestingly set in the ground. The first branches arise at the height of 18 m. It has been gradually dying since 1998. As of 2005, only two small branches still have leaves. Since the mid-1960s its trunk circumference has grown by about 45 cm (18 in).

• Emperor of the South. Circumference 610 cm (240 in), height 40 m (130 ft). The tree shows no clear signs of dying.

• Emperor of the North. Circumference 605 cm (238 in), height 37 m (121 ft). The tree has a very regular trunk and shows no clear signs of dying.

• Southern Cross. Circumference 630 cm (250 in), height 36 m (118 ft). At the base of the trunk it has a considerable lesion in the bark on the eastern side. From the mid-1960s its circumference has grown by 65 cm (26 in). The name stems from the shape of its crown, whose main branches evoke a cross (see photo of the crown).

• The Guardian of Zwierzyniec. Circumference 658 cm (259 in), height 37 m (121 ft). This is one of the thickest oaks in the forest. The tree is largely bent down westwards, which most probably has contributed to the large circumference of the trunk at its base. All the branches are live, indicating that the tree is in good condition.

• Barrel Oak. Circumference 740 cm (290 in), height over 30 m (98 ft). This tree is named for its barrel-shaped trunk, and is the oak which reaches the greatest trunk circumference among the Białowieża oaks. The tree is dead and largely devoid of bark, and is estimated to be around 450 years old.

• Dominator Oak. Circumference 680 cm (270 in), height over 36 m (118 ft). One of the thickest oaks of the Belovezhskaya Pushcha, the tree has been dead since 1992 and its trunk is now largely devoid of bark. For many years it dominated the Puszcza Belovezhskaya Pushcha as far as size is concerned. Its age is estimated at 450 years.

• The Jagiełło Oak. Circumference (when growing) 550 cm (220 in), height 39 m (128 ft). It blew down in 1974, but is probably the most famous of the trees in the forest. It is said that King Władysław II Jagiełło rested beneath it before the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, although in fact the tree is believed to have been only 450 years old when it blew down.

• Tsar Oak (Polish) (Polish: Dąb Car) of Poland. Circumference 640 cm (250 in), height 41 m (135 ft). The tree's volume has been estimated at 75 m³ (2,600 cu ft). It died in 1984, and for over 20 years it has been standing dead on the edge of the valley of Leśna Prawa river. Today the trunk is totally devoid of bark and some of the branches have broken off and lie at the base of the trunk.

• Tsar Oak (Belarusian) (Cyrillic: Царь-Дуб) of Belarus. Oldest Belarusian oak, standing 46m tall, having a diameter in excess of 2m, and being over 800 years of age. It stands 2 km from Staroye Romatovo (Brest Region). It has been a national monument since 1963.

Logging

Polish environmentalists say that logging is threatening the flora and fauna in the forest, including species of rare birds. Poland's state forestry board is saying that it is being done for protection and for ecological reasons.

Cultural references

The forest is the subject of a Russian ballad, "Belovezhskaya Pushcha", composed in 1975 by Aleksandra Pakhmutova, with lyrics by Nikolai Dobronravov, performed by Belarusian folk band Pesniary. It is also mentioned throughout Alan Weisman's environmental book The World Without Us (2007), which imagines what Earth would be like without people by looking at actual places that have been abandoned or left alone.

Part of the woodland known as Lipiczansky Forest (Las Lipiczański in Polish) is mentioned in the Oscar-nominated WWII movie Defiance (2008). It was adjacent to the town of Zdzięcioł in the occupied eastern part of the Republic of Poland (now Dziatłava, Belarus) during the Holocaust, the World War II site of the Zdzięcioł Ghetto established by Nazi Germany. In the film, Jewish brothers in Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe escape into the Belarussian forests, where they join Russian resistance fighters and endeavor to build a village in order to protect themselves and about 1,000 Jewish non-combatants. The film was directed by Edward Zwick, starring Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, and Jamie Bell.

See also

• Tourism in Poland
• List of national parks of Poland
• List of national parks of Belarus
• List of old growth forests
• Virgin Komi Forests, the largest forest in Europe
• Western Caucasus, the largest bison (wisent) habitat

External links

• The UNESCO official site
• Belovezhskaya Pushcha dedicated conservation/environmental website
• Białowieża National Park
• Białowieża photo essay
• Białowieża photographs
• Oaks in Bialovieza (English)
• Trees of Białowieża National Park
• Primal Nature Alert: Help Save Białowieża Forest
• Białowieża photographs
• BBC radio documentary about the forest (2002)
• Bialowieza Forest – Official Nominee New 7 Wonders of Nature
• State nature protection Establishment National Park «Belovezhskaya pushcha»
• Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park on the official website of Belarus
• Photos of the Białowieża Forest by Klaus Nigge
• Dearest Białowieża Forest (Photos of the Białowieża Forest for iPhone & iPad)
• "Wisent online" from Browsk Forest District in Białowieża National Park, Poland