A wide route will cross the Bieszczady Mountains? There is opposition from the national park management

• The management of the Bieszczady National Park issued a negative opinion on the environmental impact report - both in the original version and after amendments.
• He believes that the investment will impact nature in a lasting and irreversible way, increasing the degree of fragmentation of space and permanently changing the unique landscape.
• Unlike the investor, i.e. the Podkarpackie Provincial Roads Authority, and the mayors who support the investment, he does not see the need to expand the road at all.

The case was reported by “Gazeta Wyborcza”. It obtained a letter that the Bieszczady National Park sent to the Minister of Climate and Environment, Paulina Hennig-Kloska . In it, BdPN employees expressed negative opinions about the plans for a large-scale expansion of the road through the heart of the Bieszczady Mountains, including through the park itself.

This concerns an approximately 16-kilometer section of provincial road no. 897 from Wetlina to Ustrzyki Górne as part of an investment prepared by the Podkarpackie Provincial Roads Authority . The application was to be sent to the park by the mayor of the Lutowiska commune , because it is in this commune that the reconstruction was to be carried out, among other places, and to a lesser extent in the area of ​​the neighboring Cisna commune .

"Gazeta Wyborcza" wrote that as part of the preparations for the investment, an environmental impact assessment report was developed, which is one of the key documents in the process of applying for a building permit.

Although – as BdPN emphasised – its employees took an active part in consultations, submitted comments and sent letters in order to protect natural values, the effects of work on the report are far from their expectations.

They believe that the authors of the report did not sufficiently assess the impact of the investment on plants and animals, plant communities and natural habitats. They also criticized the insufficient reliability of the conducted inventory - indicated "Gazeta Wyborcza".

The opinion noted that the area of ​​the habitat subject to negative impacts or complete destruction totals over 18 hectares , including 267 sites of protected vascular plants . This will also have a negative impact on animal life - to such an extent that some species, especially those with high habitat requirements, will not be able to compensate for the construction of the road.

It is not known exactly how many trees would have to be cut down. Stanisław Kucharzyk, deputy director of the park, was quoted by "Gazeta Wyborcza" as saying that only over 400 individual trees were counted in open areas. In the case of compact forest areas and large woodlots, only an area of ​​22.28 ha was given. He also claims that it will be necessary to bring about 230 thousand tons of soil and rock material to the park to shape new embankments.

According to the newspaper, there were many more comments and the authors of the report were obliged to supplement the report, which they did, but once again the park spoke critically about the matter.

BdPN employees believe that the investment will have a lasting and irreversible impact on nature, changing the unique landscape. They do not see the need to expand the road, indicating that its renovation would be sufficient, including securing the verges for pedestrians, because the route does not serve a transit function.

"This road is not important for the movement of local residents, who, when travelling from Ustrzyki Górne and Wołosate, use the section towards Lutowiska and then Ustrzyki Dolne , while from Wetlina they go to Cisna and then to the county seat in Lesko . It is primarily of primary tourist and scenic importance," director Kucharzyk pointed out in "Gazeta Wyborcza".