Rila Monastery Nature Park Management Plan - part - usaid

February 2004
Planned construction of a dam on the Iliyna River
The construction of a dam near the point of confluence of the Iliyna River into the
Rilska, which started back in the 1980s, has so far caused relatively limited damage,
mostly amounting to changes in the natural riverside vegetation, pollution with
construction debris and general deterioration of the landscape.
If built, the planned dam is likely to cause a whole range of negative impacts on the
natural and cultural-historical values of the Park. Above all, this would change the
natural state of the area including significant portions of the valley of the Iliyna River.
Submerged under water would be habitats and microhabitats of very high
conservation significance. Such an artificial body of water would certainly change the
parameters of microclimate in the area; it is to be expected that permanently increased
air humidity in the vicinity of the Monastery would have a damaging effect on
frescoes and other cultural artifacts. It is also possible that the inevitable changes in
subterranean water currents may accelerate the process of lateral sliding of the
Monastery compound.
Significance: very low, but potentially high
Unregulated access of motor vehicles
At present, motor vehicle access to the entire territory of RMNP is free, with the
exception of the area around Kalin Dam, where vehicles are allowed with special
permission only. As a result, vehicular traffic in the area is extremely intensive; the
largest concentrations of motor vehicles being recorded around the Monastery itself,
at Kirilova Polyana and Bachkova Cheshma localities and at the Tomb of St. John.
Vehicles proceed unchecked into the interior of the Park, notably along the road along
the Rilska River going southeast from Kirilova Polyana to Tiha Rila locality; on the
road along the Iliyna River to Mramorets (Mermera) locality and the by-roads
branching south from it towards Bukovo Bardo, the Radovichka River (and all the
way up to the ridge to Makedonia Chalet), up on the ridges along the southern Park
boundary (Dobro Pole, Tsarev Vrah, Rizvanitsa, etc.), as well as on the dirt roads in
the western portions of the Park territory. People enter by car, jeep and SUV, by
motorcycle, etc. Unregulated access of motor vehicles is, above all, a major nuisance
to the more sensitive animal species. This is a particularly serious threat to species
like bear, wolf and other predators, as well as to the large ungulates, predatory birds
and the hazelgrouse. Indirectly, unregulated vehicle access into the territory
encourages poaching.
The movement of motor vehicles, especially into herbaceous communities of the
alpine and sub-alpine zone, entails or accelerates erosion processes. The actual layout
of the roadway from Rila Monastery to Tiha Rila and the vehicle-access territory
along the banks of the Rilska River bisect the Rila Monastery Forest Reserve is in
such a way as to form an ‘anthropogenic corridor’ of high negative impact.
Significance: high
Rila Monastery Nature Park
Management Plan - Draft
2004 - 2013
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