Massive illegal logging has been taking place on the territory of the Plai forestry of the Brusturyansky superforestry of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” in Zakarpattia both last year and this year.
This was stated by activists of the Free Svydovets initiative group after inspecting old-growth forests on the slopes of Mount Urya.
They recorded violations in Quarter 24 (cut 47) and Quarter 23 (cut 43 and 44). Natural spruce forests 100 to 200 years old were cut down.
Photo: t.me/natureprotectionukraine.
Environmentalists classify these logging operations as illegal, as no logging tickets have been issued for these areas since the creation of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine”.
"Some of the stumps had stamps on them, which may indicate that these illegal logging operations were detected and recorded by foresters. However, most of the stumps do not have such marks. Moreover, the foresters dissuaded our activists from going into these forests by scaring them with bears," Free Svydovets said.
Photo: t.me/natureprotectionukraine.
The activists are sure that local foresters were aware of the logging. The only possible road leads to them, so it is simply impossible to take out huge logs unnoticed.
Photo: t.me/natureprotectionukraine.
Free Svydovets reminded that this is not the first time that large-scale illegal logging has been detected in the vicinity of Svydovets. Last fall, a similar situation was recorded in the Yasinya branch of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine”. Therefore, activists called on law enforcement agencies to urgently stop illegal logging and bring the perpetrators to justice.
Photo: t.me/natureprotectionukraine.
What foresters say
The State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” recently reported cheerfully: “No violations have been recorded in the Brusturyansky supra-forestry of the State Enterprise ”Forests of Ukraine“ for more than a year!” The message with this title was published on the official website of the state enterprise on May 26. It tells us that the results of the inspections conducted by the Security Department of the enterprise were purely positive.
"After the former manager and his accomplices were fired from the farm, there are no questions yet. The criminals were identified and the materials were handed over to law enforcement agencies by the enterprise itself!“ the state enterprise ”Forests of Ukraine" enthusiastically reports.
However, the facts revealed by the activists put a big question mark over the veracity of this information.
The former director of the Kostopil Forestry branch of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” has recently been suspected of illegal enrichment of more than UAH 44 million. Also, at the end of last year, EcoPolitics reported that officials of the Yasinya Forestry and Svalyava Forestry branches of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” were sabotaging the recording of illegal logging in the Carpathians. They did not allow environmental inspectors to conduct unscheduled inspections on the territory of their forestry enterprises.
