Białowieża Forest
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Białowieża Forest is a large forest complex on the border between
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
and
Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
. It is one of the last and the largest remaining part of the immense
primeval forest An old-growth forest or primary forest is a forest that has developed over a long period of time without Disturbance (ecology), disturbance. Due to this, old-growth forests exhibit unique ecological features. The Food and Agriculture Organizati ...
that once stretched across the European Plain. The forest is home to more than 800 European bison, Europe's heaviest land animal. UNESCO's
Man and the Biosphere Programme Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) is an intergovernmental scientific program, launched in 1971 by UNESCO, that aims to establish a scientific basis for the 'improvement of relationships' between people and their environments. MAB engages w ...
designated the Polish Biosphere Reserve as ' in 1976, and the Belarusian Biosphere Reserve as ' in 1993. In 2015, the Belarusian Biosphere Reserve spanned , subdivided into transition, buffer and core zones. The forest has been designated a
UNESCO World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
and an EU Natura 2000
Special Area of Conservation A special area of conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and ap ...
. The World Heritage Committee, through its decision of June 2014, approved the extension of the UNESCO World Heritage site "Belovezhskaya Pushcha / Białowieża Forest, Belarus, Poland", which became "Białowieża Forest, Belarus, Poland". It straddles the border between
Podlachia Podlachia, also known by its Polish name Podlasie (; ; ), is a historical region in north-eastern Poland. Its largest city is Białystok, whereas the historical capital is Drohiczyn. Similarly to several other historical regions of Poland, e.g ...
historical region in Poland and Brest and Grodno Oblasts in Belarus, and is southeast of
Białystok Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the List of cities and towns in Poland, tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area. Biał ...
, Poland and north of Brest, Belarus. The Białowieża Forest World Heritage site covers a total area of . Since the border between the two countries runs through the forest, there is a border crossing available for hikers and cyclists.


Name

The Białowieża Forest takes its name from the Polish village of
Białowieża Białowieża is a village in Poland's Podlaskie Voivodeship, in the middle of the Białowieża Forest, to which it gave its name. The village is some east of Hajnówka and southeast of the province capital, Białystok. Location Białowieża i ...
, which is located in the middle of the forest and was probably one of the first human settlements in the area. ''Białowieża'' means "White Tower" in Polish. The name stems from the white wooden hunting-manor established in the village by
Władysław II Jagiełło Jogaila (; 1 June 1434), later Władysław II Jagiełło (),Other names include (; ) (see also Names and titles of Władysław II Jagiełło) was Grand Duke of Lithuania beginning in 1377 and starting in 1386, becoming King of Poland as well. ...
, the
Grand Duke of Lithuania This is a list of Lithuanian monarchs who ruled Lithuania from its inception until the fall of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1795. The Lithuanian monarch bore the title of Grand duke, Grand Duke, with the exception of Mindaugas, who was crown ...
and later
King of Poland Poland was ruled at various times either by dukes and princes (10th to 14th centuries) or by kings (11th to 18th centuries). During the latter period, a tradition of Royal elections in Poland, free election of monarchs made it a uniquely electab ...
who enjoyed hunting trips in the forest, which was then part of the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...
. The modern Belarusian name for the forest is ' (), although both the Belarusian authorities and UNESCO use the official Russian name ' () from before the 1991
dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...
."Belovezhskaya Pushcha/Białowieża Forest" at the UNESCO official webpage.
Retrieved 28 November 2012.

– Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.


Nature protection


Białowieża National Park, Poland

On the Polish side, part of the Białowieża Forest is protected as the Białowieża National Park (), with an area of about . There is also the Białowieża Glade (), with a complex of buildings once owned by the
tsar Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...
s of Russia during the
Partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partition (politics), partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place between 1772 and 1795, toward the end of the 18th century. They ended the existence of the state, resulting in the eli ...
. At present, a hotel and restaurant with a car park is located there. Guided tours into the strictly protected areas of the park can be arranged on foot, bike or by horse-drawn carriage. Approximately 120,000–150,000 tourists visit the Polish part of the forest annually (about 10,000 of them are from other countries). Among the attractions are
birdwatching Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device such as binoculars or a telescop ...
with local
ornithologists __NOTOC__ This is a list of ornithologists who have articles, in alphabetical order by surname. See also :Ornithologists. A * John Abbot – US * Clinton Gilbert Abbott – US * William Louis Abbott – US * Humayun Abdulali — India * Joseph ...
, the chance to observe rare birds, pygmy owl observations, watching bison in their natural environment, and sledge as well as carriage rides, with a bonfire. Expert nature guides can also be found in the nearby urban centres. Tours are possible all year round. The popular village of
Białowieża Białowieża is a village in Poland's Podlaskie Voivodeship, in the middle of the Białowieża Forest, to which it gave its name. The village is some east of Hajnówka and southeast of the province capital, Białystok. Location Białowieża i ...
lies within the forest. ' means "the white tower" in Old Polish.


Belavezhskaya Pushcha National Park, Belarus

On the Belarusian side, the forest is protected as the Belavezhskaya Pushcha National Park with an area of . The core, strictly protected, area covers 38%, the zone of regulated use 26,1%, and the touristic zone and economic zone combined 36%; the National Park and World Heritage Site comprises . The headquarters at Kamieniuki include laboratory facilities and a zoo where European bison (reintroduced into the park in 1929), konik (a semi-wild horse),
wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a Suidae, suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The speci ...
, Eurasian elk and other indigenous animals may be viewed in enclosures of their natural habitat. A new attraction there is a New Year's museum with '' Ded Moroz'' (the East Slavic counterpart of Father Christmas).


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 Grand Duke Jogaila. A wooden manor in Białowieża became his refuge during a plague
pandemic A pandemic ( ) is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has a sudden increase in cases and spreads across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. Widespread endemic (epi ...
in 1426. The first recorded piece of legislation on the protection of the forest dates to 1538, when a document issued by Sigismund I instituted the death penalty for
poaching Poaching is the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set against the huntin ...
a bison.Zdzisław Pucek
''European Bison (Bison Bonasus): Current State of the Species''.
Council of Europe, 2004. .
The King also built a new wooden hunting manor in a village of Białowieża, which became the namesake for the whole complex. Since ' means the "white tower", the corresponding ' translates as the "forest of the white tower". The Tower of Kamyenyets on the Belarusian side, built of red brick, is also referred to as the White Tower (') even though it was never white, perhaps taking the name from the '.The story of the White Tower of Kamyanyets.
Belavezhskaya 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 Vladislaus IV issued the "Białowieża royal forest decree" ('). The document freed all serfs living in the forest in exchange for their service as ', or royal foresters. They were also freed of taxes in exchange for taking care of the forest. The forest was divided into 12 triangular areas (') with a centre in Białowieża. Until the reign of King John II Casimir, 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 The Partitions of Poland were three partition (politics), partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place between 1772 and 1795, toward the end of the 18th century. They ended the existence of the state, resulting in the eli ...
, Tsar Paul I turned all the foresters into
serfs Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed dur ...
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 bison 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 foresters 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 The November Uprising (1830–31) (), also known as the Polish–Russian War 1830–31 or the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in Russian Partition, the heartland of Partitions of Poland, partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. ...
of 1830–31, and their posts were abolished, leading to a breakdown of protection. Tsar Alexander II visited the forest in 1860 and decided to re-establish the protection of bison. Following his orders, locals killed all predators:
wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though gr ...
, bears and
lynx A lynx ( ; : lynx or lynxes) is any of the four wikt:extant, extant species (the Canada lynx, Iberian lynx, Eurasian lynx and the bobcat) within the medium-sized wild Felidae, cat genus ''Lynx''. The name originated in Middle Engl ...
. Between 1888 and 1917, the Russian tsars owned all of primaeval forest, which became the royal hunting reserve. The tsars sent bison as gifts to various European capitals, while at the same time populating the forest with
deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...
, elk and other animals imported from around the empire. The last Russian royalty visit was by Czar Nicholas II in 1912.


20th-century wartime damage and restoration

During
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
the forest suffered the greatest losses to the forest in history. German troops, part of the 12th Army commanded by General Max von Gallwitz, entered Bialowieza and the forest on August 17, 1915. In order to use the forest for military purposes, the Bialowieza Military Forestry Administration (Militärforstverwaltung Bialowies) was established, headed by Major Georg Escherich. The German occupation of the area lasted until December 1918. During this time, the Forest went through a period of large-scale robbery: of the Forest's estimated abundance of 32 million m³ of timber, 5 million m³ were cut down. During three years of German occupation, of railway tracks were laid in the forest to support the local industry. Three lumber mills were built, in Hajnówka,
Białowieża Białowieża is a village in Poland's Podlaskie Voivodeship, in the middle of the Białowieża Forest, to which it gave its name. The village is some east of Hajnówka and southeast of the province capital, Białystok. Location Białowieża i ...
and Gródek. The German army also started to hunt the animals. 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 The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a Suidae, suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The speci ...
had also been shot. After the
Polish–Soviet War The Polish–Soviet War (14 February 1919 – 18 March 1921) was fought primarily between the Second Polish Republic and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, following World War I and the Russian Revolution. After the collapse ...
in 1921, the core of the forest 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 European 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 The Western Caucasus is a western region of the North Caucasus in Southern Russia, extending from the Black Sea to Mount Elbrus. World Heritage Site The Western Caucasus includes a natural UNESCO World Heritage Site (named Western Caucasus), ...
(where the bison was to become extinct just a few years later). These animals were of the slightly different Caucasian subspecies ('' Bison bonasus caucasicus''). To protect them, in 1932 most of the forest was declared a national park. The reintroduction proved successful, and by 1939 there were 16 bison 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 The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
and replaced by Soviet forest workers. In 1941 the forest was occupied by Germans and the Russian Soviet inhabitants were also expelled.
Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...
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 Soviet partisans were members of Resistance during World War II, resistance movements that fought a Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla war against Axis powers, Axis forces during World War II in the Soviet Union, the previously Territories of Poland an ...
and Nazi authorities organised mass executions. A few graves of people who were killed by the
Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...
can still be seen in the forest. (Hermann Göring directed anti-partisan operations by Luftwaffe security battalions in the Białowieża Forest between 1942 and 1944 that resulted in the murder of thousands of Jews and Polish civilians.) In July 1944 the area was overtaken by the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
. Withdrawing
Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...
troops demolished the historic Białowieża hunting manor. After the war, the forest's territory was divided between Poland and the Belarusian SSR of the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. The chairman of the Polish Committee of National Liberation, Edward Ochab, wrote in his memoirs regarding the negotiations about the demarcation of the border in the area of Białowieża Forest. According to his view, the Soviet officials repeated many times that they were not interested in enlarging their vast state, but only in sorting out the issue of Belarusian and Ukrainian nationalities in the borderland area ( Kresy). Ochab emphasized to his Soviet negotiators that the problem didn't exist in Białowieża Forest and that the forest had a special historical place in the Polish national memory as a place where guerilla fights took place during the uprising against the tsarist regime. In addition, Poland had its forests decimated by the Germans during the occupation of Poland and finally, the forest was Poland's raw material basin for the timber industry in Hajnówka. According to Ochab's memories, when Stalin fiercely insisted on the need to "close the case", Ochab requested a break for consultations in the nearby room. He told his associates from the PKWN that he would resign from his position as the chairman of that body, as he could not find enough spiritual strength and inner conviction to promote Polish–Soviet friendship. The conversation was interrupted and the delegation was escorted to the premises in the seat Union of Polish Patriots and waited for news from the Soviet government. After a half an hour or so, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov called and informed Ochab by phone that Stalin had agreed to transfer half of the forest to Poland including the village of
Białowieża Białowieża is a village in Poland's Podlaskie Voivodeship, in the middle of the Białowieża Forest, to which it gave its name. The village is some east of Hajnówka and southeast of the province capital, Białystok. Location Białowieża i ...
and congratulated him. According to Ochab, he was unhappy with the decision as he was counting on the entire Białowieża Forest. The Soviet part was put under public administration while Poland reopened the Białowieża National Park in 1947. ' 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 December 1991, 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 Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
, Russia and Belarus.


Composition and ecology

Since the forest contains the last remnants of old-growth forests in the North European Plain, it has been the subject of intensive research into the history, succession stages, and community composition of individual tree species and assemblages.


Named oaks

The forest contains a number of large, ancient pedunculate oaks (''
Quercus robur ''Quercus robur'', the pedunculate oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. It is a large tree, native plant, native to most of Europe and western Asia, and is widely cultivated in other temperate regions. It ...
''), some of which are individually named. Trunk circumferences are measured at breast height, above the ground. * Great Mamamuszi. Circumference (2005), height . One of the thickest oaks in the forest, with a beautiful column-like trunk. The tree's name comes from
Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world liter ...
'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 . Of all the oaks in Białowieża Forest with a circumference above , it is in the best condition. * The King of Nieznanowo. Circumference , height . This tree has one of the most columnar trunks among the oaks in Białowieża Forest. The first branches arise at the height of 18 m. It has been gradually dying since 1998. , only two small branches still have leaves. Since the mid-1960s its trunk circumference has grown by about . * Emperor of the South. Circumference , height . The tree shows no clear signs of dying. * Emperor of the North. Circumference , height . The tree has a very regular trunk and shows no clear signs of dying. * Southern Cross. Circumference , height . 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 . The name comes from the shape of its crown, whose main branches evoke a cross. * The Guardian of Zwierzyniec. Circumference , height . 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 , height over . 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 , height over . One of the thickest oaks of the Białowieża, the tree has been dead since 1992 and its trunk is now largely devoid of bark. For many years it dominated the Białowieża Forest as far as size is concerned. Its age is estimated at 450 years. * The Jagiełło Oak. Circumference (when growing) , height . 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 Jogaila (; 1 June 1434), later Władysław II Jagiełło (),Other names include (; ) (see also Names and titles of Władysław II Jagiełło) was Grand Duke of Lithuania beginning in 1377 and starting in 1386, becoming King of Poland as well. ...
rested beneath it before the
Battle of Grunwald The Battle of Grunwald was fought on 15 July 1410 during the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War. The alliance of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, led respectively by King Władysław II Jagiełło (Jogaila), a ...
(Bitwa Pod Grunwaldem) in 1410, although the tree is believed to have been only 450 years old when it blew down. * Tsar Oak (Polish) () of Poland. Circumference , height . The tree's volume has been estimated at . 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. * Patriarch Oak (). One of the oldest oaks in the Belarusian National Park, standing tall, having a diameter in excess of , and being over 550 years of age. It stands from the estate of Ded Moroz.


Logging

Some 84% of the of Polish forest is outside the national park; almost half of all the wood in the forest is dead – 10 times more than in managed forests – with half the 12,000 species depend on decaying logs, including the
near-threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qu ...
beetle '' Cucujus cinnaberinus''. Traditional forest management would remove the dead wood, as a fire risk. In 2011, Zdzisław Szkiruć, director of the Białowieża National Park, said that cutting and replanting allows for re-establishment of the forest in 50 years, rather than the 300–400 years that nature would require; environmentalist Janusz Korbel argued that the unique nature of the primeval forest demands a lighter style of management. Andrzej Kraszewski, Poland's Environment Minister from February 2010 to November 2011, sought to increase protection over the whole forest, starting with a more modest expansion, against opposition from the local community and the Forestry Service. Environmentalists say that logging is threatening the flora and fauna in the forest, including species of rare birds, such as the white-backed woodpecker, who lost 30% of their population in forestry-managed areas in the 1990s and 2000s. Poland's state forestry board claims the logging is for protection and for ecological reasons, protecting against the European spruce bark beetle. In 2012, the amount of wood that can be extracted by foresters annually was briefly reduced from about to , approximately 20,000,000 board feet, most which is sold locally, mainly as firewood. On 25 March 2016, Jan Szyszko, Poland's Environment Minister, former forester and forestry academic, announced that he would approve a tripling of logging in the forest, from the 2012–21 limit of – almost exhausted at the time – to , offering the excuse of "combatting an infestation of the bark beetle". Robert Cyglicki, head of
Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...
Polska, argued that logging to fight the bark beetle would "bring more damage than benefits", gathering more than 120,000 signatures to petition Prime Minister Beata Szydło to reverse Szyszko's move. Greenpeace also said the logging could trigger the EU to launch punitive procedures against Poland for violating its Natura 2000 programme, though Szyszko claims that the logging plans would not apply to strictly protected areas, and claims that, rather than being 8,000 years old, as scientists claim, parts of the forest had been created by an "enterprising hand of man" on lands that centuries ago included fields of wheat and
millet Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most millets belong to the tribe Paniceae. Millets are important crops in the Semi-arid climate, ...
. Large-scale logging started in 2017. 190,000 cubic metres of wood (160,000 to 180,000 trees) was felled, the largest volume of logging since 1988. The Polish government has ignored pleas from UNESCO to stop logging the
old-growth An old-growth forest or primary forest is a forest that has developed over a long period of time without Disturbance (ecology), disturbance. Due to this, old-growth forests exhibit unique ecological features. The Food and Agriculture Organizati ...
parts of the forest, as well as a court order of the
European Court of Justice The European Court of Justice (ECJ), officially the Court of Justice (), is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Union, it is tasked with interpreting ...
to halt the logging activities. The final verdict fell on 17 April 2018, ruling that
EU law European Union law is a system of Supranational union, supranational Law, laws operating within the 27 member states of the European Union (EU). It has grown over time since the 1952 founding of the European Coal and Steel Community, to promote ...
has been infringed.


In popular culture

* The forest is the subject of a Belarusian ballad ', composed in 1975 by Aleksandra Pakhmutova, with lyrics by Nikolai Dobronravov, performed by Belarusian folk band Pesniary."Belovezhskaya Pushcha"
, from the official website of Aleksandra Pakhmutova, with copyrighted lyrics and a MIDI sample.
* Białowieża Forest is mentioned throughout Alan Weisman's book '' The World Without Us'' (2007), which investigates places that have been abandoned or left alone and imagines what they would be like if Earth's human population suddenly disappeared. * British historian
Simon Schama Sir Simon Michael Schama ( ; born 13 February 1945) is an English historian and television presenter. He specialises in art history, Dutch history, Jewish history, and French history. He is a professor of history and art history at Columbia Uni ...
devotes several chapters of his book ''Landscape and Memory'' (1995) to the Białowieża Forest. * In late 2017, Wojtek Voiteque Kowalik, a senior
copy editor Copy editing (also known as copyediting and manuscript editing) is the process of revising written material (" copy") to improve quality and readability, as well as ensuring that a text is free of errors in grammar, style, and accuracy. ''The Ch ...
at the Polish advertising firm Ogilvy, decided to work with Greenpeace Poland to spread awareness of the Białowieża Forest and the logging threatening it. Kowalik decided to use the game ''
Minecraft ''Minecraft'' is a 2011 sandbox game developed and published by the Swedish video game developer Mojang Studios. Originally created by Markus Persson, Markus "Notch" Persson using the Java (programming language), Java programming language, the ...
'', as he wanted to capitalize on its playerbase of 87 million. Kowalik reasoned ''Minecraft'' was a form of social media, drawing parallels between the YouTube and Twitch communities dedicated to the game and the video arcades of his youth. Kowalik contacted Danish company GeoBoxers, who had previously recreated all of
Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
in ''Minecraft'' in 1:1 scale, and convinced them to do the same for Białowieża Forest. In return Ogilvy and Greenpeace provided reference material for Geoboxers in the form of a 3D topographical map of the forest made from hundreds of images and maps of Białowieża Forest that took six weeks to complete. * The action of a role-playing video game '' Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Heart of the Forest'' developed by Different Tales and released on 13 October 2020 (for MS Windows, Linux and Mac OS) takes place in Białowieża Forest. The player takes the role of Maia Boroditch, an American woman of Polish descent, who has recurring nightmares about a forest and wolves, and travels to Białowieża in Poland to learn about her family history and discovers secrets of the primeval Białowieża Forest. * The forest is mentioned in Upton Sinclair's seminal novel ''
The Jungle ''The Jungle'' is a novel by American author and muckraking-journalist Upton Sinclair, known for his efforts to expose corruption in government and business in the early 20th century. In 1904, Sinclair spent seven weeks gathering information ...
'' (1906). It is the birthplace of protagonist Jurgis Rudkus. * The forest is a key focus in the 2021 nonfiction book ''Into the Forest: A Holocaust Story of Survival, Triumph, and Love'' by Rebecca Frankel. The book describes the experience of a Jewish family that fled into the forest during the Nazi occupation in 1942. * The forest is the setting of author-translator Jennifer Croft's 2024 novel ''The Extinction of Irena Rey.''


See also

* Tourism in Poland * List of national parks of Belarus * List of national parks of Poland * List of old-growth forests * Perućica, a primeval forest in Europe (
Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...
) *
Virgin Komi Forests The Virgin Komi Forests (, ) is a natural UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Northern Ural Mountains of the Komi Republic, Russia. At 32,800 km2 it is the largest virgin forest in Europe. Geography and ecology The Virgin Komi Forests, locat ...
, the largest forest in Europe *
Western Caucasus The Western Caucasus is a western region of the North Caucasus in Southern Russia, extending from the Black Sea to Mount Elbrus. World Heritage Site The Western Caucasus includes a natural UNESCO World Heritage Site (named Western Caucasus), ...
, the largest bison (wisent) habitat *
Hercynian Forest The Hercynian Forest was an ancient and dense forest that stretched across Western Central Europe, from North French Scarplands, Northeastern France to the Carpathian Mountains, including most of Southern Germany, though its boundaries are a mat ...
, an ancient forest that stretched across Western Central Europe, mentioned by
Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...
in '' De Bello Gallico''


Notes


References


External links


The UNESCO official site

Białowieża National Park

Oaks from Bialowieza
(archived 6 May 2008)
Trees of Białowieża National Park

BBC radio documentary about the forest (2002)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bialowieza Forest Biosphere reserves of Belarus Biosphere reserves of Poland Forests of Belarus Forests of Poland Old-growth forests National parks of Belarus National parks of Poland Geography of Brest region Geography of Grodno region Geography of Podlaskie Voivodeship Transboundary protected areas Natura 2000 in Poland Parks in Podlaskie Voivodeship Protected areas established in 1932 1932 establishments in Poland Tourist attractions in Brest region World Heritage Sites in Belarus World Heritage Sites in Poland Central European mixed forests da:Białowieska nationalpark