Could the protest by the Polish Foresters’ Association (ZLP in the Republic of Poland) be a battle between economists and environmentalists? No. If we said that foresters and environmentalists have common goals and that both sides care about the well-being of Poland’s forests, no one would be willing to believe it anymore. Yet it is a fact. What is needed is simply dialogue—constructive, substantive dialogue based on scientific foundations rather than emotions.
“I represent a trade union that has 12,500 members throughout Poland, more than 10,000 of whom work for the State Forests National Forest Holding,” says forester Piotr Żygadło, deputy chairman of the Lower Silesian Region of the ZLP in the Republic of Poland. “The moratorium announced by the Ministry of Climate and Environment on January 8, 2024, restricted tree felling in our region only around Wrocław, but the excluded area covers 10,600 hectares, roughly the size of a single forest district. This decision caused a number of problems with the implementation of contracts for timber and services, and in some cases also threatened existing young plantations, because all work in these areas was suspended,” the forester lists the consequences of the ill-considered moratorium.
Foresters understand the changing expectations of society and the resulting need to modify forest management, but they believe this should happen as a process rather than as a result of official bans.
“Poland has a well-developed timber industry that generates revenue for the state, and if we do not provide it with timber—a natural, renewable raw material—these producers will simply move their machinery to other countries. We will be left with a larger hole in the budget and old, crumbling, diseased forests, of course in the somewhat distant future,” the forester adds.
Foresters and environmentalists share common goals: biodiversity and a healthy, productive ecosystem from which resources can be obtained while reconciling the forest’s multifunctionality with timber harvesting.
“In 2013, the State Forests were recognized by UNESCO for their care of forests. Their merits were acknowledged ‘in managing and promoting sustainable forest management, the diversity of forms of nature created in the forests they manage, and the large-scale environmental education they conduct,’” Piotr Żygadło explains. “Less than 10 years have passed, and suddenly everyone claims that foresters manage forests badly? Apart from harvesting timber, the State Forests carry out many other activities related to the broadly understood protection of forests and nature. To cut down a forest in the future, it must first be planted and tended, and sometimes transformed to make it better adapted to climate change. Forest protection is also necessary—for example, against bark beetles—as is the protection of plant and animal species,” Piotr Żygadło adds.
The union members realize that today’s hate speech, which they encounter every day, is a consequence of the arrogance and ignorance of the previous leaders of the State Forests from Sovereign Poland.
“We would like it to be understood that the field Forest Service knew little about the previous authorities’ wrongdoing, and whenever it obtained any credible information, it shared it with opposition portals such as WP, ONET and TVN,” says Piotr Żygadło. “I have worked for the State Forests for 35 years. I have never stolen anything or enriched myself at anyone else’s expense. I cared for my forest district according to the best of my knowledge and have nothing to reproach myself for, yet every day someone in the media calls me a thief. It is sad,” the forester says.
This was the message conveyed by statements from officials of the Ministry of Climate and Environment, which legally supervises the State Forests. It is enough to quote the words addressed to foresters by Undersecretary of State Mikołaj Dorożała:
“When you go into the forest and see felled trees, think that they could still be standing if it were not for the hundreds of thousands of złotys that this organized group, operating like a criminal group, decided to embezzle.”
Excerpt from a statement at a press conference of the Ministry of Climate and Environment concerning the results of an inspection at the Regional Directorate of State Forests in Białystok
Rallies across Poland
On Friday, July 12, the Polish Foresters’ Association in the Republic of Poland is organizing a two-hour peaceful rally outside all provincial government offices in Poland, combined with the presentation of a petition to representatives of the state authorities.
The forestry union members are protesting against the actions of the Ministry of Climate and Environment, which they believe threaten the stability of a proven system, are being carried out ad hoc without the necessary analyses, and involve only a pretended dialogue with society.
“We hoped that after October 15 there would be positive changes and that it would finally be possible to talk using substantive arguments. We would listen to the forestry science community and together begin working for the good of our forests, toward their sustainability in the era of climate change, gradually modifying management methods to meet different social expectations. The most important word in that last sentence is ‘gradually,’ because forests and nature do not like experiments,” adds the deputy chairman of the Lower Silesian Region of the ZLP in the Republic of Poland.