Edited and shortened interviews, including an outline and topics. I tried to place the more important topics at the beginning. Guests:
• Ing. Pavel Zacharovský: expert forest manager of NAPANT, the forest association of Vyšná Boca, who represents the forest association members in TANAP and NAPANT, and specifically represents the media-scrutinized forest association of Bobrovec
• Ing. Milan Dolňan, President of the Slovak Chamber of Forestry
• lawyer JUDr. Jaroslav Magura
Two main topics:
Zoning of the Muránska Planina National Park
About the fraudulent practices of state nature protection authorities in financial compensation for the bark beetle calamity, where the state actively prevents private owners from protecting their forests from bark beetles. About how the Bobrovec forest association refused financial compensation in exchange for non-intervention. Reaction to media criticism.
00:00 Milan Dolňan’s introduction. Zacharovský: The reason why the zoning of national parks is being pushed through is that if the zoning fails, there is a risk that EU funds will have to be returned, or a fine even higher than the EU funds drawn will be imposed (it is also possible that various dubious conservation organizations that cooperated with the State Nature Protection and received EU funds will lose their money). The forest communities and landowners are absolutely not against zoning, but they disagree with the proposed zoning, and the Ministry of Environment does not want to discuss it with them. Steps have been taken to divide the forest communities. It will start with the Muránska planina and continue with all other national parks. The forest communities are for nature protection, not against it, they just want to have favorable conditions. The dialogue is failing. If politicians go against the will of the residents with the zoning, it will be a huge mistake. A national park is a long-term, extremely expensive project, but dubious conservation associations claim the opposite. While in Switzerland they have one national park and have rejected a second for financial reasons, in Slovakia we have nine. Expanding the no-intervention zone would also be a risk because there is a large representation of planted spruces that do not belong there, and there is a danger of a bark beetle outbreak: this also means that the proposed zoning does not meet the IUCN criteria for a national park.
05:54 Disinformation in the media that Boris Kollár is against zoning. Erik Baláž: “Let’s stop Boris.” The State Nature Protection (ŠOP) is spreading disinformation that the state owns 93% of the proposed zoning area, when in reality it is only 83% – (perhaps to increase pressure on private owners with whom it is more difficult to negotiate). Banning hunting can cause considerable damage: overpopulated game and damage to forests, predators can also threaten horses and sheep.
10:34 Why did the Bobrovec forest association refuse non-intervention, refuse compensation from the state, and instead want to harvest trees affected by bark beetles? Dušan Lukašík responds. The owner will lose the value of the land due to the bark beetle calamity, and then they want to buy the land from him for cheap. JUDr. Magura claims: they offered them ridiculous money for it. Zacharovský: even forest associations are for nature protection, they are not against protection. The bark beetle did not stay only in Tichá and Kôprová valleys. Dolňan on negotiating zoning in Javorová valley with the Ministry of Environment. Dolňan claims that environmentalists (civic associations) want a lot of money from EU funds for doing nothing.
22:30 It is claimed that in the Bavarian Forest and Šumava there is no intervention and everything is fine. Why shouldn’t we be inspired? In the Bavarian Forest, there are huge large-scale clearcuts, which we don’t even have in Slovakia. Even the Germans don’t have that much money to debark the trees and leave them there. The Germans sell wood from the national park and also have money from the sold wood. Zacharovský about NAPAN, where he himself works: they didn’t even allow us to debark a tree, they didn’t give permission for it. Negotiations with private owners in the Bavarian Forest.
31:18 private owners and fraud in compensation. Double standards and double approaches, if the value of forest land is calculated only on the basis of the value of wood mass and if it is the value of all ecological, social values of the forest (= water retention, CO2 binding, oxygen production, climate cooling). The Bobrovec Urbarium (= TANAP) was offered ridiculous money as compensation, so they rejected the offer.
The director of TANAP, Pavol Majko, came to the foresters in Bobrovec and, in connection with the zoning, asked them to mark with a red marker the areas where they were willing to tolerate a no-harvesting regime (=the highest 5th degree of protection). Majko was interested in the largest possible area of the territory, not in a professionally elaborated zoning. Dolňan: While in the past forests were subsidized, today they are not, foresters are financially robbed for the values they create. Forestry is deeply underfunded. Poor financial conditions for foresters. Statistics on how much forest grows and how much is cut down.
42:00 The calamity must be dealt with immediately, not by waiting for delays in administrative decisions, as dubious conservation associations are entering the proceedings. False conservationists have no feeling for nature.
47:06 Lukašik: Budaj, in connection with the zoning of the Muránska planina National Park, is cowardly running away from foresters and owners and refuses to meet with them. He has already refused a meeting twice and finally decided not to meet at all.
49:39 The Living Forest Civic Association. About the association and the protest forestry petition “Mor ho!”