Dokonania i udział Lasów Państwowych w ochronie przyrody

Autorzy

• Andrzej Grzywacz Katedra Ochrony Lasu, Szkoła Główna Gospodarstwa Wiejskiego w Warszawie
  ul. Nowoursynowska 159, bl. 34,
  02-776 Warszawa
  e-mail: andrzej_grzywacz@sggw.edu.pl

Abstrakt

This paper presents the achievements of the State Forests in various forms of nature conservation throughout their 100-year history, from 1924 to 2024. It shows how the ideological and legal foundations of nature conservation have changed and evolved, as well as the trends, objectives, forms, locations and practical methods used to address conservation needs and tasks.
In species conservation, the list of plant, animal, and fungal species subject to strict and partial protection in Poland has expanded on an exceptionally large scale; this now covers a total of 1,816 organism taxa, of which approximately 70% are associated with forest ecosystems and lands. Alongside the oldest form of nature conservation – the protection of ancient and exceptionally large trees designated as natural monuments – new forms were established under the Nature Conservation Act (1991): ecological sites, documentation sites, and nature and landscape complexes. The quantitative development of individual forms of nature conservation and their share in areas managed by the State Forests is presented. A significant increase in the number and area of nature reserves is shown, from the yew reserve in Wierzchlas established in 1827 to the current total of 131,000 ha within State Forest lands, which accounts for 74% of the total area of all such reserves in the country. The presentation covers the development of national parks, starting with Białowieża National Park (1932), up to the current 23 parks with a total area of 315,000 hectares, as well as the proportion of forested land within their boundaries and the role of the State Forests in their establishment – both historically and today. The development of new forms of area-based nature conservation is discussed: landscape parks, protected landscape areas, and the European Natura 2000 ecological network. For several years, the implementation of the proposals and guidelines contained in European Union documents – the European Green Deal and the Nature Restoration Law – has been underway in forests; the problems and difficulties associated with their implementation in Polish forestry are discussed.
Issues related to public forest education on nature conservation conducted by the State Forest employees are highlighted, as well as the relationship between nature conservation and forest management and protection, and the financing of statutory and nonstatutory (large-scale) nature conservation. It is noted that, in total, nature conservation tasks on forest lands administered across an area of 7.4 million hectares are constantly increasing and account for an estimated 70% of the country’s overall nature conservation efforts. The State Forests spend an estimated 1.5 billion PLN on the tasks for which they are responsible in carrying out nature conservation. Due to the growing needs and expectations of society, nature conservation in forests is becoming an increasingly demanding, knowledge-intensive, difficult, and costly task for forestry services.

Słowa kluczowe

• ochrona obszarowa
• ochrona indywidualnych obiektów
• finansowanie ochrony przyrody
• area-based conservation
• conservation of individual sites
• nature conservation funding
• ochrona gatunkowa
• edukacja przyrodniczo-leśna
• species protection
• forest education