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Clear-cutting in the protected area: How mighty forests are felled
Quote: "The paddles chuckle in the Raudna river. Woodpeckers drum. Somewhere an owl is calling. Mosquitoes buzz over the water, which reflects the bright summer sky. Soomaa Forest speaks many languages. When Indrek Vainu paddles silently through the wilderness of the Estonian National Park, he listens for an unknown noise in the semi-darkness of the forest.
Bears, wolves and lynxes still roam the national park. Something is moving in front of Vainus Kanu. It's a beaver. "This is her realm," says Vainu after the canoe has advanced almost silently into the forest. "You are the only one who should cut trees here.
For years, the forest activist has documented how large areas around the Soomaa National Park and in other parts of Estonia, even in protected areas, were cleared ."
If the beavers were the only ones who fell the trees in the Estonian forests, Indrek Vainu would hardly be known to anyone outside Soomaa today. Among the few locals, the dropout may be seen as an eccentric who lives withdrawn with his small family in a self-built hut.
But because he repeatedly grapples with the wood industry and politics, Vainu is now one of the most famous forest activists in the country and has been threatened several times. “People think I'm the most radical in Estonia,” he says, “I'm not. We just don't have time for politeness. "
Reforesting clear-cut areas is a farce
According to the European environmental organization FERN and Greenpeace , 1663 hectares in Natura 2000 areas and 5700 hectares of other forest areas with protection status were cleared in Estonia between 2008 and 2018, which corresponds to a total of almost the area of the Kellerwald-Edersee National Park or the Hainich National Park.
The newspaper “Postimees” gives 15,000 hectares for the size of the Natura 2000 forests cleared between 2001 and 2019 alone.
According to Estonian nature conservation organizations, the intensity of deforestation has increased over the past three years. The dispute between environmentalists and the wood industry has meanwhile grown into a real cultural battle. Recently there have been repeated demonstrations in the capital Tallinn .
Indrek Vainu himself came from Tallinn to paddle in Soomaa National Park fifteen years ago. At the time, the psychologist and business IT specialist was working for a leading bank and had big career plans. But Soomaa never let go of him.
He found out that the area where he was paddling was owned by a logging company. “I made them an offer and bought the land without further ado.” In 2017, the now self-employed finally gave up his IT company and withdrew completely into the forest.
Together with other activists, Vainu works to stop the deforestation. "The authorities state that everything happens under the existing conditions," says Vainu. "In fact, hardly anyone can check that and the industry takes advantage of that."
In addition, the arguments of politicians and the timber industry to reforest the clearing areas are a farce. "You can plant a tree, but not a forest," says Vainu, certainly not an ecosystem that has grown over decades or centuries. "
Funding and reminders from the EU
While advocates justify the deforestation with the extraction of climate-friendly biomass, for which EU funding is waving, environmentalists consider this climate policy to be extremely questionable. Behind the clearing, you see pure greed for profit and the destruction of the habitat of threatened species.
Vainu accuses Scandinavian and Estonian companies like Graanul Invest, one of the largest European pellet manufacturers, and corrupt politicians of manipulating data on clearing. Several lawsuits have been filed by nature conservation associations in recent years.
In June, the European Commission asked Estonia to comply with the EU Habitat Directives, particularly when it comes to logging in Natura 2000 areas.
"It goes on anyway," says Vainu. Forests are being felled every day in protected areas, even if Marku Lamp, Deputy Secretary General of the Ministry of the Environment, denies the illegality. Vainu accuses him of promoting the interests of the pellet industry against all objections.
The activist uses his background in the IT industry to collect his own data on the deforestation and to network nature conservationists. "The Ministry of Environment's claim that Estonian laws protect our forests well is not true," says Vainu.
The latest analyzes show that areas covered by the Nature Conservation Act have almost 10,000 logging permits with a total area of more than 8,000 hectares. Often there were no prescribed environmental impact assessments. “Our struggle continues,” says Vainu.
Brown bears need protected forests
In Alutaguse in northeast Estonia, Bert Rähni walks through a sparse aspen forest. “The flying squirrels love such places,” says the nature travel organizer. The rodents glide with their spreading flight membrane up to 35 meters from tree to tree. Rähni offers tours to observe the animals. "They have become very rare lately," he says. The clearing of old forests is particularly hard on the species. It is considered to be critically endangered.
Rähni has discovered a fresh bear track in the mud. There are more than 800 brown bears in Estonia. Nowhere else in Europe is there a denser population. The animals attracted many tourists before the pandemic. More than 30 tour operators and tourism companies had already written an open letter to the Ministry of the Environment in 2017.
"The ever-increasing deforestation contradicts the international image of Estonia as a country of untouched nature and protected forests," it says.
Tourists are looking for untouched nature
The situation has already become a threat for Rähni's small company NaTourEst. Especially for bear watching, he offers overnight stays in a hut in a clearing. The hiking path there leads through a dense coniferous forest. At some point he is facing a clear cut area. Chopped off tree stumps show that chainsaws were at work here not so long ago.
“It was a shock,” he says, looking at the gaping gap in the forest. “The clearing could continue almost as far as our bear hut because this is not a protected area.” But the bears still come regularly to Rähni's clearing. When the mighty animals suddenly appear on the summer nights of Alutaguse, everyone in the observation hut holds their breath.
In the meantime, Rähni has set up two more huts in another part of Alutaguse and bought 86 hectares of land. “But we only use two hectares for our activities,” he says, “the rest is left to itself.” He hopes that the Estonian forest will continue to be home to brown bears, grouse and flying squirrels. "Without them, no tourists come," he says, "they are the real value of the forest."