Kolašin: Cutting down trees for the cable car and ski slopes

For the purpose of building the K8 cable car and ski slopes of various categories, a total of about 1600 cubic meters of wood was removed from about 3.200 hectares at the state Ski Center Kolašin 38.

These are data from the Kolasin Secretariat for Environmental Protection.

As secretary Mile Glavičanin told "Vijesta", there is no information on how much forest was cut down during the construction of the infrastructure at the private Ski Center Kolašin 1450.

According to him, the situation at that ski resort is "visually worse, especially around the K7 cable car that will connect all the ski resorts".

Logging for the construction of the infrastructure of the state Ski Center, he reminds, took place according to the Special Purpose Spatial Plan (PPPN) of Bjelasica and Komovi, which also provided a detailed elaboration of the ski area. Those localities in Kolašin are the ski centers Kolašin 1450, Kolašin 1600 and Adventure Park "Komovi".

"At the ski center Kolašin 1600, about 294 cubic meters were cut from an area of ​​2,66 hectares for the construction of the K8 cable car and 2.950 cubic meters from an area of ​​35,5 hectares for the construction of ski tracks of different categories, in a length of 10.323 meters. I don't have any data for the Kolašin 1450 ski center, but the situation is visually worse, especially around the K7 cable car, which connects the two ski centers, which can be characterized as oversizing and an oversight by the planners," claims Glavičanin.

However, he says that it is a good thing that, compared to some in the region, the construction of the Kolašin ski slopes is not taking place in the national park. This happened, says the Secretary for Environmental Protection, at Kopaonik in Serbia and Pirin in Bulgaria.

Glavičanin explains that during the clearing of the trails for the Kolašin ski resorts, the protected species of mountain pine, mountain maple and molica are not endangered. It is also good, he claims, that the erosive potential on the slopes of Bjelasica is low, compared to some other ski resorts.

"The width of the trails is standard, from 30 to 60 meters, sometimes they go through natural glades. The erosion potential is also low compared to some other ski resorts, and technical and biotechnical anti-erosion protection measures are applied. It is important to emphasize that these measures should be implemented during the construction of the infrastructure, because later the rehabilitation costs will be significantly higher. All protection measures are prescribed by environmental impact assessment studies, legal regulations and spatial plan guidelines. Work is controlled by the environmental inspection. Bearing in mind the concessional way of managing forests, paradoxically it can be concluded that ski slopes and tourism are the guardians of that area", he claims.

As Glavičanin says, bearing in mind the current concession model of forest management, a paradoxical conclusion can be drawn that tourism and ski centers can be guardians of Bjelasic forests. This is because, as he explains, further exploitation could not be carried out.

Glavičanin also reminds that the recently held scientific conference on possibilities for sustainable development of Kolašin resulted in the conclusion "that tourist resorts should be realized in stages in order to be able to monitor the environmental and social implications of the project in relation to the expected positive economic effects".

"The problem arises when the capacity of the hotel exceeds the capacity of the trails. When it comes to ski slopes, cable cars and other ski infrastructure, the so-called carrying capacity of the space should be taken into account. "The next to the ski track on the mountain is the coastal beach, which also has its own capacity of users," said Glavičanin.