Dear friends,
In connection with the events of December 2011 and the attempts, under the pressure of private companies, to change the Forests Law, which will make the construction of ski-lifts in the forests easier without the main investors having to pay taxes or go to auctions for gaining rights to build new and manage old ski runs, we launch a new petition in defense of Vitosha Natural Park. We urge you to sign the petition and disseminate it among your friends. Mount Vitosha is directly imperiled, but danger looms over the rest of the Bulgarian mountains, where appetites for new ski runs and facilities abound – Rila, the Rhodopes and Pirin.

Go

To

The Prime minister of the Republic of Bulgaria
The Prosecutor General of the Republic of Bulgaria
The minister of the environment and waters
The head master of the Executive forest agency
The Mayor of Sofia municipality
The President of the Bulgarian parliament

Subscription in protection of Vitosha Nature Park

In December 2011, the Council of Ministers decided to propose to the parliament amendments in the Forests Law, which allow quicker, easier and cheaper building of ski-tracks in the forest territories. The amendments are moving non-transparently, without proper discussions, as required by the Law for normative acts. They will favour the persons, who acquired at a knock-out price state-owned forests through swap deals in our mountains, also the unknown owners of offshore companies, who plan to overbuild the oldest natural park in the Balkans – Vitosha.
Vitosha Nature Park is in danger .

A contest has been announced for the position Director of Vitosha Nature Park. Exactly as the demands of a private firm to amend the law were met, we fear that the demands to replace the man, who has so far upheld his professional and civic position, and who has not allowed uncontrollable development of the protected area, will also be met.
Moreover, the culprits of an already perpetrated crime have gone unpunished. In October 2008, in the area of Aleko chalet in Vitosha Nature Park, stone rivers and grass vegetation over 180 acres were destroyed, using heavy machinery. The perpetrator of this criminal act was Vitosha Ski JSC, which owns the lifts and ski equipment of the Aleko ski zone but not the land of the runs. All this was done in violation of 4 laws – the law of protected areas, the law of territorial planning, the forests and biodiversity law and the Plan for the management of Vitosha Nature Park, which has been approved by the Council of Ministers and enforced for a 10 year period. Also violated was the European ecological legislation – the directives for the protection of birds and of habitats, because Mount Vitosha was assigned a Natura 2000 protected area for birds and habitats.

Moreni (volcanic stone formations), which are the symbol of Vitosha, were destroyed. And this was done in the oldest park on the Balkan peninsula, at the eyes of 2 millions Sofianites.
No one was punished.
Moreover – implementation has begun of a detailed development plan for a new ski zone at Mount Vitosha. This cannot be done legally, as the regulations in force forbid the construction of new tracks and lifts. The only activities allowed are the repair and renovation of old equipment without changing its capacity and course.


We insist that:
1. Parliament reject the proposed amendments in the Forest Law.
2. The perpetrators of this crime and the persons who have allowed it and now do nothing, be punished, namely: The Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Waters-Sofia, The State Forestry-Sofia and Sofia Municipality-Vitosha district.
3.The Forestry Executive Agency resist the pressure to replace the present director of Vitosha Nature Park.

Translation: Gabriela Petrova