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We’ve heard the politicians and the eco-activists’ views on the Šumava
– but what do the scientists say? And by the way, how do cells read DNA?
That’s what we’ll be trying to get our heads around this month on
Science Journal.
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Politicians wade into bark-beetle fray
A continuing standoff between ecological activists and loggers in the
Šumava National Park is continuing to heat up. For more than a fortnight
now activists have been chaining themselves to trees slated for felling –
stressing that logging commissioned by the park in protected areas is
illegal. Under existing regulations, they have argued, trees in the nature
reserve must be allowed to decay naturally. The park management has
countered by saying that only felling will prevent further locations from
being devastated by the bark-beetle. The dispute has now divided senior
politicians, some of whom are calling for immediate talks to try and
resolve the dispute. More
Environmental activists losing ground at Šumava National Park
The number of environmental activists holding a blockade in the Modrava
region of Šumava National Park to prevent felling of bark-beetle infested
trees swelled on Tuesday morning in reaction to Monday’s forced
evacuation by police. However logging continues and the protesters have
been losing ground, both literally and legally as a regional court and the
Czech Environment Inspection Office found nothing amiss with the
management’s policy. More
Šumava activists stay put as park warns of fines and damages
Environmental activists are into their fifth day blocking loggers’ access
to planned cutting in the Šumava National Park. While there has been no
altercation as yet between the environmentalists from Hnutí Duha and the
park management, the latter is firm on cutting right now to stem the local
bark beetle infestation. The director of the park says that for every tree
it cuts it may be saving eight others, and that another 30,000 trees are
otherwise in danger. As far as the environmentalists are concerned though,
the management has no permit to cut in the primary protected zone, where
they have positioned themselves, and are in direct breach of the law. As
police and the environmental inspection investigate who is in the right,
the number of protesters in the forest is swelling, as I was told by
Mojmír Vlašín of Hnutí Duha, one of the half-dozen activists who
started the protest last Friday. More
Mycologist Jan Borovička on mushrooms and where to find them
With mushroom season in full swing, our guest in this edition of One on One
is Jan Borovička, a leading member of the Czech Mycological Society, who
combines a very Czech hobby of mushroom picking with his profession of
geochemist at the Czech Academy of Sciences. How has the internet changed
mushroom picking? Why are mushrooms safe to eat even after Chernobyl and
Fukushima? And, most importantly, where are the best spots to find them?
These are some of issues we discussed with Jan Borovička, who says this
year’s mushroom-picking season did not start out that great. More
Environment minister scales back controversial plans in battle against bark beetle
The Environment Minister Tomáš Chalupa has changed plans by the head of
Šumava National Park on how to battle the bark beetle, issuing a decision
on Thursday that will still allow the manual felling of trees in the
park’s most environmentally-sensitive and protected areas but will ban
the use of heavy machinery or chemicals. Proposed intervention to fight
devastation by the bark beetle in the national park had been at the
forefront of a highly public battle between the park’s director, Jan
Stráský, and former colleagues, scientists and specialists who formed a
shadow council to express opposing views. More
Environmentalists up in arms over plans for Šumava National Park
The Šumava National Park – a protected nature reserve in southern
Bohemia –is at the centre of a row between scientists, environmental
activists and the park’s new management. The park’s new director,
former prime minister Jan Stráský, is proposing a radical remedy for the
parks bark-beetle infestation problem –a combination of logging and
effective insecticides. Critics are up in arms saying the proposed strategy
would do irreversible harm to the valuable ecosystems and biotopes in the
nature reserve and lower the non-intervention areas in the park from the
present 33 to 22 percent, which goes against the general principles of
nature reserve protection. Environmental activist Vojtěch Kotecký says
the new management is about to throw the baby out with the bathwater. More
The yellowhammer voted Bird of the Year
It’s official: the yellowhammer has been voted Bird of the Year by the
Czech Ornithological Society. The sparrow sized bunting is with us all year
round –but its numbers are dwindling. With a bright yellow head and belly
it is hard to miss –and moreover makes itself heard with a song that is
known as “a little bit of bread and no cheese” in English and “jak to
sluníčko pěkně svítí” in Czech meaning “see how brightly the sun
shines”. Ornithologists also claim they discern two dialects in the
yellowhammer’s call. To find out more about the bird of the year I spoke
to one of our leading ornithologists Petr Voříšek.
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A bear-faced lie: Czech environmentalists fall for a prank
Czech environmentalists were celebrating last week after they discovered
bear tracks in a rail underpass in the north-east of the country. The
tracks were deemed proof that the recently-built underpass, designed to
allow animals to safely cross the railway line, was actually working. But
it soon turned out that the bear track was faked, and that
environmentalists had fallen for a prank. More
Šumava National Park director steps down amidst concerns about its future
The Czech government wants to implement a radical change of direction in
the management of the Šumava National Park in southern Bohemia. On Monday,
the director of the country’s largest nature reserve, František
Krejčí, stepped down – as he put it – in order to facilitate
negotiations between the authorities and the local communities on the
planned changes. But Czech environmentalists are concerned the director’s
resignation will open the way for firms who want to increase logging in the
park. More
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