SAVE WETLANDS ASSOCIATION

"Save wetlands" Association

The Rembertów - Okuniew Forest

On Sutarday, Dec. 6 2003, there was a meeting of the representatives of organisations interested in obtaining a conservation status for the former military testing area near Rembertów and the surrounding meadows.One of the participants, the League for the Preservation of Nature (LPN) from Wołomin, had submit an application to the Mazovian voivode to designate the area the landscape park. The other participants were the Wildlife Society "Stork" and "Save Wetlands" Association.

The area in question is exceptionally valuable in respect of nature, landscape and historical heritage.
Since the end of the World War I the Rembertów-Okuniew Forest was owned by the Polish Army. Earlier, people from a few villages located there had been displaced to make room for the tsars' military testing ground. In the past the forest covered only small fragments of the area and the treestands we have today are selfsown or have appeared as a result of afforestation. Once numerous and now vanishing open mires, wet meadows and heaths used to be mown and grazed by the Army or local tenant peasants. Traditionally managed grasslands provided fodder for the horses serving in the cavalry.

Długa river
phot. M. Blicharski

Unfortunately, these areas were subjected to drainage carried out mainly in the 1970s. In effect, some wetlands disappeared but some of them have remained till now. Many selfsown mixed treestands (pine, birch, aspen, oak) and well-preserved broadleaf woodland (fen carrs, oak-hornbeam forests and alder swamp forests) are today natural or near-natural in character. The area seems to have returned to wilderness. However, this return manifests itself in the processes deemed disadvantageous from the nature conservation point of view, i.e. the encroachment of shrubs and trees on the valuable open habitats - meadows, peatlands and heaths.
In the past the military testing ground covered ca. 6000 ha, on some of which military exercises and manoeuvres were carried out, often with the use of tanks. Apart from this the civilisation has not left its stamp on this area yet: there is no built or any other modern development and there has not been any intensive forestry or pressure from investors. This is precisely what makes the place so valuable. The extensive management of the area by the Army, frequent deforestation of big patches of land within so-called shooting lines or on drill grounds, maintaining traditional forms of farmig and lack of forestry management on considerable part of the area helped to preserve precious, sometimes unique habitats. These habitats sustain rare animals such as different amphibians: Common Spade Foot, three species of toads, European Tree Frog, two species of newts, Fire Bellied Toad, or mammals, e.g. Northern Birch Mouse Sicista betulina. Remarkably, until the early 1980s in the northern part of the area its last refuge near Warsaw had Black Grouse Tetrao tetrix. But the place is also important for scarce and endangered plants growing on unique in Mazovia wet heaths, peaty sands and peatlands. The examples of these are Marsh Gentian Gentiana pneumonanthe, Lousewort Pedicularis sylvatica, Siberian Iris Iris sibirica , Lycopodiella inundata, Spotted Orchid Dactylorhiza maculata s.str and occurring in wet meadows Ophioglossum Ophioglossum vulgatum and Succisella inflexa.

Ulmus minor near Długa river
phot. M. Blicharski

The most valuable woodland communities here are alder-ash carr preserved along natural untransformed watercourses accompanied by alder swamp forests and fragments of oak-hornbeam woods.
Another great asset is a meridional range of until recently mobile dunes, e.g. the Szwalnicka Dune, intersecting the former military testing ground from noth-west to south-east. Fortunately, parts of some dunes have not been afforested so far, thanks to which connected with them rare plant assemblages have been preserved, additionally increasing the value of landscape. Between the dunes there develop peatbogs serving as water reservoirs during the driest times of the year as well as breeding and living sites for many plants and animals. Here are some examples of the names of those small bogs: Kozłowe Bagno, Lisie Bagno, Bagno Jacka.

However, since the Army have gradually given up using most testing grounds, the nature value of the place has come under threat. Woodland but also open areas- heaths, mires, sands and meadows - have been in a large part taken over by the State Forestry Authority (Drewnica Forest Division) and are now in danger of being afforested, which may result in the lowering of the nature value of the area.
No longer the military area, the Rembertów-Okuniew forest situated close to Warsaw became a target for potential investors. At the moment the most threatening is the local government's plan to build a waste disposal plant near Michałów. This is not the first attempt to develop the area. Already in the 1980s there appeared a project of locating there a dumpsite for ash from Warsaw power stations. There has been talk of returning to the idea of tipping there waste from the Czajka sewage treatment works, which was already deposited in the sandpits on the tank testing ground near Rembertów a few years ago thus claiming the most valuable breeding sites of amphibians and birds.
The western side of the former military area is planned to be cut through by the eastern by-pass of Warsaw. As is well-known, land fragmentation ,no matter whether caused by constructing a road or amenity development, has a very negative impact on the environment. Besides, there is an immense problem of the general ground overdrying caused by the urban expansion and sewerage construction for Rembertów, Wesoła, Sulejówek, Okuniew as well as by the influence of the Warsaw agglomeration and water abstraction for the Kawęczyn heat/power station. All this brings about the drainage of forest bogs - the refuge of the elk, breeding site of water and wading birds and amphibians, habitats of precious species of flora.

The prospective landscape park will also include picturesque meadows, pastures and ploughland with scattered trees and mid-field copses as well as thatched cottages lying to the north of the former military area. This terrain has rich hydrography with a whole network of rivers (the Rządza, Czarna, Czarna Struga), a lot of lesser watercourses with their valleys and ox-bow lakes. It is a regional ecological corridor, to the east extending outside the Mazovian Voivodeship, and in the west joining the international ecological corridor running along the Vistula river. These areas are of tremendous significance for the migration of plants and animals. At present there are two National Nature Reserves here: "Bagno Jacka" near Wesoła and "Grabicz" near Kobyłka, but a lot more sites deserve the status of National Nature Reserve or Local Nature Reserve*.

Ophioglossum vulgatum
phot. P. Pawlikowski

In addition to the nature and landscape values, the area is important for Polish history and culture. In the Rembertów-Okuniew Forest one of the most significant battles in our history - the "Miracle on the Vistula" was fought in 1920 against the Soviet Army. At Ossów there is a cross and obelisk commemorating the death of Ignacy Skorupko, a heroic priest killed in the battle. Nearby, there are a historic chapel and cemetery. This is the place where commemorative events with the participation of state and local authorities are held. Another sight worth seeing is a historic park in Krubki-Górki associated with the heroic figure of the Polish Resistance Movement during the World War II, Henryk Dobrzański - "Hubal".

It must also be emphasised that the prospective landscape park area is a protective green belt not only for Zielonka, Kobyłka or Wołomin but, first of all, for the entire Warsaw agglomeration. Together with the Kampinos Forest and the forests of the Mazovian Landscape Park it supplies Warsaw with fresh air. It is then absolutely necessary to preserve and conserve the area with determination and consistency.

Despite bad weather, our meeting whose aim was to consolidate our forces in lobbying for the establishment of the landscape park, was quite fruitful. The members of the LPN received us with great hospitality. Having discussed the details, we parted hoping the lanscape park would soon come into being. Unfortunately, a few days later in the letter from the Voivode, Leszek Mizieliński, we read that our proposal had been turned down on the grounds that there were no sufficient funds. Nevertheless, we still hope that our initiative will not come to nothing.

* literally, site of ecological importance.

Filip Jarzombkowski
Paweł Pawlikowski
Marek Blicharski

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