Rila Monastery Nature Park Management Plan - part - usaid

February 2004
2.2 Anthropogenic threats
Logging
In the early 20 th century, significant portions of the forests in what is today Rila
Monastery Nature Park were subjected to intensive commercial logging. This has
resulted in lowering the average age of forest specimens and reducing in size the
areas within the present-day Park once covered with centuries-old beech and ancient
coniferous forests (especially around Kirilova Polyana, the slopes north of the Iliyna
River, the eastern portions of the Kalin section, a.o.). Moreover, mechanical damage
to nearby trees as a result of commercial logging in the past, or of timber poaching at
present, has affected areas of alder, and to a certain extent, beech and Scots pine
forests, causing at places disruptions of the natural state of ecosystems and general
deterioration of the forest health.
Unregulated logging causes fragmentation and deterioration of the health and quality
of individual habitats and microhabitats within the Park, changes in the hydrological
dynamics of rivers and natural illumination patterns of whole areas; disruption of the
topsoil and dead-leaf cover of the forest floor, thus triggering accelerated erosion. The
inevitable side effects of logging also affect nearby territories through noise, the
movement of motor vehicles and heavy equipment, human presence and other forms
of disturbance to wildlife. The wholesale felling of old forests, the cutting down of
ancient rotting or hollow trees, and the removal of fallen tree trunks deprives of
natural habitation almost all groups of animals, especially bats, woodpeckers,
weasels, salamanders, wild cats and the three species of dormice. Unsuitable forestry
practices and/or overlogging reduce biodiversity as a whole, degrading the aesthetic
value of the landscape by eliminating or reducing its key advantages: naturalness,
typicality, representational value and ecosystem stability.
It should be noted that during the second half of the 20 th century the intensity of
logging decreased considerably as a result of applying the principles of sustainable
forestry and the inclusion of the territory of today’s RMNP into a protected area. The
actual damage and the overall negative impact of the so-called Balabanov Concession
in the past may never be known in full; there is no doubt, however, that the present
state of the Park’s forests (albeit considerably healthier than in other parts of the
country) is but a shadow of the one-time rich and complex forest ecosystems that had
remained intact until the beginning of the 20 th century, and is now long lost, possibly
forever. Therefore, any future timber use should only be done following extensive
considerations of whether or not it would destroy the last remaining tracts of allnatural
forests in the region.
Significance: high
Illegal hunting
Illegal hunting, or game poaching, has been practiced in the territory of RMNP for
many decades, but has intensified since 1990. The placement of this territory under
protected area status has done little to change the actual state of affairs. Subject to
Rila Monastery Nature Park
Management Plan - Draft
2004 - 2013
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