Last remaining primeval forest in Europe under attack
August 12th, 2010 by Jim JustAmazingly, there’s one remaining, more or less intact stand of primeval forest left in Europe: the Bialowieza forest, which straddles the border between Poland and Belarus.
Not surprisingly, that remnant 580-square-mile stand is under threat. Only 17% of the forest is protected as national park. The rest is subject to selective logging, which proponents excuse as “good for the forest”.
The Bialowieza forest hosts a number of endangered species, including the European woodland bison, which lives nowhere else in the wild. The forest also provides habitat to wolves, boar, tarpan (a species of wild horse), badgers, moose, lynx, eagles and woodpeckers.
Greenpeace Poland is working to halt logging in the Bialowieza forest until new forest management plans are drawn up which would limit logging to the minimum required for local residents and ban it during the bird nesting season. Wish them luck.