Bug River. Hundreds of trees fell along the border. RDOŚ expressed concern. They are planning plantings

When we wrote about the case on December 10, Małgorzata Klemens, a nature photographer associated with the No for the Wall initiative, she commented that there weren't even words to describe it. – This is completely mindless and senseless devastation – she said.

And it was about the Bug River valley, in the Lublin Voivodeship, along the border with Belarustrees and bushes were cut down. All as part of the construction of an electronic barrier, i.e. a system which – as he says Border Guard – there will be approximately 1,800 camera poles, approximately 4,500 day-night and thermal cameras and special sensors.

The implementation deadline for this project is scheduled for April next year, and the value of the contract is over PLN 279 million.

Thanks to the barrier, the Border Guard will be able to monitor the border road 24 hours a day and prevent illegal migration. The barrier is being built in the Lublin Voivodeship along the entire length of the border with Belarus, i.e. 172 kilometers, while trees and bushes have been removed in an area 10 m from the river bank.

As Captain Dariusz Sienicki, spokesman for the Nadbużański Border Guard Unit, informed us, in accordance with Art. 10 of the Act on the Protection of the State Border, on land located within the border road, the Border Guard may build devices for the protection of the state border without the need for any acts of application of the law in the form of administrative decisions or contracts.

This means that the investment did not require any arrangements with the Regional Directorate for Environmental Protection. Nevertheless – as Capt. emphasized. Sienicki – although it was in no way binding on the investor, it was covered by the environmental supervision of the contractor who cooperated with RDOŚ.

– The scope of cooperation includes, among others: inspecting the work area and taking actions related to nature and environmental protection. This is important due to the scale of interference in the natural environment and the site of the works, as well as the need and type of actions taken to minimize the impact of the investment on the environment, in particular in areas covered by a legal form of nature protection – emphasized Captain Sienicki.

The press department of the Ministry of Interior and Administration, to which we sent questions, also wrote about the same thing.

Such arguments did not convince the tourist guide and nature lover Łukasz Synowiecki, who saw the scale of destruction, for example in the nature reserve Switzerland Podlaska in the Terespol commune and the Łęg Dębowy reserve near Janów Podlaski.

– Nobody questions the need to protect the border, but the way it is being done is terrifying. Even the oldest, huge oaks were cut down, the earth was torn up, the slopes were disturbed – he told us.

Dr. Hab. did not see the need to deforest the entire belt. Michał Żmihorski, director of the Institute of Mammal Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Białowieża.

– I have the impression that the decision was not well thought out. There was a lot of damage to nature, he noted.

Cezary Wierzchoń, spokesman for the Lublin Regional Directorate for Environmental Protection, informed us that after the Border Guard asked to present its position, the management issued environmental recommendations in July.

– They mentioned, among other things, that environmental supervision should be established over the works and that the works would be carried out outside the bird breeding season. And if the work is carried out in nature reserves – the cut wood should be left in these reserves – he said.

Now he informed us that on November 29, RDOŚ sent a letter to the Border Guard expressing “concern about the size and method of carrying out earthworks and the number of trees being cut down.”

This happened after RDOŚ employees, together with the Chotyłów Forest District, carried out field visits to the above-mentioned Szwajcaria Podlaska nature reserve. The spokesman informs us that work is currently to begin on defining the conditions and scope of nature compensation (including planting new trees – editor's note).

The press office of the Ministry of Climate and Environment, to which we sent questions, also tells us that work on the scope of compensation is ongoing.

Lieutenant Colonel Andrzej Juźwiak, spokesman for the Commander-in-Chief of the Border Guard, informs us that the observations from the RDOŚ letter of November 29 were passed on to the contractor, while the Border Guard already in July provided the ministry and the General Directorate for Environmental Protection with comprehensive explanations on how the investment was to be implemented.

“Therefore, all information about the investment has been made available to the relevant institutions that carry out work related to, among others, implementing broadly understood nature compensation, if necessary,” he writes in an e-mail.