SaS: Muranska Planina National Park Might Disappear Due to Logging Mismanagement

Bratislava, 25 July (TASR) - The Muranska Planina National Park may cease to exist due to poor management of the logging of wood infested with bark beetles, Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) MP Alojz Hlina and party leader Branislav Groehling told a news conference on Friday. Almost 300,000 cubic metres (m3) of wood affected by bark beetles should be logged in the national park based on signed framework agreements in 2025-2027. "If we don't deal with this and we leave the management as it is, the Muranska Planina National Park will cease to exist. And they've probably already assumed or suspected this, as they signed framework trading contracts for purchasing wood for this, next and the year after, i.e. for three years, amounting to some 300,000 cubic metres. That's a staggering amount of wood from just one national park," stated Hlina. According to Hlina, the bark beetle problem in the Muranska Planina National Park wasn't addressed last year, with timber being harvested instead. The MP sees the business interests of the Environment Ministry's leadership - Minister Tomas Taraba (a Slovak National Party/SNS nominee) or its State Secretaries, the Kuffa family - as being behind this. "They are creating the disaster. They signed framework contracts for 300,000 m3, so the bark beetles can fly in and eat their fill. There aren't as many mosquitoes in Bratislava when the Danube River floods as there are bark beetles in Muranska Planina right now, and they are doing nothing about it, they are laughing at us," stated Hlina. ko/df