Summaries of the most important reference documents:

Appeals:

The Appeal of the State Nature Protection Authority officials to the Minister of Environment. More and more officials signed under this appeal (167) criticize the fact that the opinions of experts and professional organizations are not respected and that lobby interests are enforced heavily instead of solving crucial problems of nature protection. The appeal further criticizes the pressure on reducing the area of the protected sites network, purposeful interpretation of laws and ignorance of international obligations in establishing the network of sites of European importance.

The Appeal of the scientists against harvesting timber from the Nature reserves Ticha and Koprova valleys. The signatories express their indignation with the fact that the Environment Ministry doesn't look for another way of solving the current situation, ignores the opinions of the World Conservation Union IUCN and of the majority of the professional and general public. Instead, the Ministry supports the efforts to harvest the windbreak timber by use of heavy mechanisms regardless of the presence of protected plant and animal species, sensitivity of the natural ecosystems as well as of the necessity to pursue no-intervention regimes in the core zone of the national park. The scientists also remark that the state authorities chose a very substandard process that contravenes modern approaches to nature conservation as well as international standards.

The World Wildlife Fund, doubting the objectivity of the Foresters Study, initiated an expert review in which they conclude that the study was not developed according to the requirements for assessments under Article 6.3 and 6.4 of the directive 92/43/EEC on biotopes, and that it doesn't substitute the legal process in which these articles are to be applied in Slovakia. Consequently, the WWF considers the harvesting illegal and regards the whole study as non-objective and purposeful, with the only intention to allow harvesting the windbreaks in Ticha and Koprova valley reserves without the necessity of environment impact assessment under the Act No. 24/2006 Coll.. WWF also urges the State Forests of TANAP to stop the harvesting works in the two reserves.

Studies:

According to the Impact assessment study of proposed activities on favorable conditions of the object of nature conservation in the Nature reserves of Ticha and Koprova Valleys from January 2007 as issued by the National Forestry Center in cooperation with the State Nature Conservation Authority, the harvesting of the windbreaks is to be carried out in areas with nature conservation level 4 in order to prevent bark beetle infestation. According to this study such work is not considered an activity that can have substantial impact on biodiversity, structure and function of ecosystems in sites of NATURA 2000 Ticha and Koprova Valleys, and therefore this activity doesn't have to be assessed under the EIA Act.

The Study Review issued by WWF emphasizes the inexpertness, unobjectiveness and purposefulness of the "Impact assessment Study of proposed activities". The most crucial shortcoming of the study according to WWF is the fact that, despite the lack of a single relevant argument from the viewpoint of nature conservation in favor of harvesting the windbreaks, and that a such management will cause heavy disturbance to biotopes, species and protected areas of the Tatra National Park, the authors of the study labeled the proposed management as appropriate from the very viewpoint of nature conservation.

The Expert opinion concerning the violation of §§ 12 and 35 of the Act. No. 543/2002 Coll. in the Nature Reserves Ticha and Koprova Valleys within the areas of nature conservation level 4, certifies that on the areas where windbreaks were harvested, the specific structure and function of biotopes was damaged and the conditions of the typical species were impaired. The intervention therefore caused damages to biotopes Ls.1.4 (Montane Alder Flood-Plain Forests) and Ls.9.1. (Blueberry Spruce Forests).

The Conclusions of the IUCN Mission that was assessing the position of the Tatra National Park (TANAP) according to the IUCN categories for the management of protected areas, established an absence of a conservation and management strategy for the whole area, a preference of commercial development at the expense of nature conservation and a lack of legal regulations for compensations of private landowners. IUCN demands to create one National park authority, adoption of a new zoning system in order to preserve high natural and cultural values of the park. In areas with the proposed nature conservation levels 4 and 5, it recommended not to harvest any fallen or broken timber nor to take any artificial regenerative measures.