Rila Monastery Nature Park Management Plan - part - usaid

February 2004
2.5 The Sustainable Forestry Zone
Background and rationale
This zone is established to experiment with a contemporary forest management model
that ensures income generation and benefits to the owner without threatening the
tourism industry or the significant biological diversity of the Park. This goal comes
from the necessity to modify the existing Forest Inventory Project 2000, for its
implementation in an experimental area in the Park until the sustainable forest
management methods and practices for multi-functional forest management are
successfully proved in the practice.
In the forest plots designated for partial use, there are no significant concentrations of
species of high conservation significance. Should any concentrations of such species
be encountered, methods of forest use would then be applied to mitigate the possible
impact on them. The zone aims for the application of contemporary approaches in
forest use as well as for possibilities for forest certification in the zone and area of the
park as a whole. An additional opportunity is to achieve the requirements for
including the park as a representative facility in the “Forest restoration and
sustainable management” project of MoAF and The World Bank and the GEF-
financed part of the project “Conservation of the biodiversity application in the forest
management.”
Purpose of the Sustainable Forestry Zone
The purpose of the zone is to allow for the development and implementation of
sustainable forest use. Although efforts in this direction have been put in place in
Bulgaria, there has been no practical experience to date for their efficient
implementation. The zone is designed to preserve and increase the protective and
other beneficial functions of the forest. The long-term plan of the zone is to develop
as a tourist attraction and an object of study for demonstrating leading sustainable and
nature-friendly forest management techniques, which would generate additional
income for the owner. When the model is implemented and Park goals are
successfully achieved, the forest management and use experience could also be
applied to other parts of the park.
Description, physical and geographic characteristics
The zone covers the southwest part of the park with elevation between 800m
– 2200m. The total area of the zone is 1,676.7 ha and according to SF “Rilski
Manastir” Forest Inventory 2000 it includes wholly or in part the following sections:
# 77 (part), 78 (part), 79 (part), 80, 81, 82, 83 (part), 84 (part), 85 (part), 96 (part), 87
(part), 88 (part), 89, 90 & 91.
The zone includes steep to very steep slopes with north exposure covered with mixed
broad-leaf forest in the lower belt near Rilska River. From 1600-1700m up are
located mixed coniferous and pure coniferous spruce, fir, Scots pine and Macedonian
pine forests. The middle age of the forests in this zone is 99 years, as it is for the
forests in the entire park. The boundaries are as follows:
Rila Monastery Nature Park
Management Plan-Draft
2004 - 2013
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