Tracks in the Red Book

DNIPROPETROVSK — Ukraine’s southernmost natural forest massif, which is more than 10,000 years old, recently became the favorite venue for ATV racing amateurs. Each year they hold their rallies there, with around 100 vehicles taking part in the event. After a 10-hour cross-country race through the forests along the River Samara, they leave upturned turf, trampled underbrush, and felled trees. Ecologists and residents of the two affected rural raions have long been complaining to the authorities, to no avail.

“According to the president’s decree of 2005, the territory of Samara Forest has been reserved for a national park,” Vadym Maniuk, associate professor, physical geography department at the Dnipropetrovsk National University, told a press conference. “A strict admittance regime is currently enforced, along with strict requirements for visitors. Moreover, a part of the territory is already a nature reserve. Yet it doesn’t stop them from holding ATV races, which harm nature.”

According to the scholar, Samara Forest is the top priority constituent of the Program of Formation and Development of the National Environmental Network in Dnipropetrovsk oblast. It is home to numerous endangered species of plants and animals. The Samara Forest complex is a true ornithological paradise. Virtually all year round, in the rushes and shallow waters, one can hear sandpipers, wild ducks, cranes, swans, and herons calling. Such endangered species as the Eastern Imperial Eagle and the White-tailed Eagle also live here.

No less unique is the landscape of the Samara valley, with its picturesque lakes and dry riverbeds, sphagnum swamps, water meadows, salt marshes, and sandy dunes. Yet this is exactly what lures cross country motor race enthusiasts and amateurs of extreme sports.

“Proceeding from the premises that motor races in a nature reserve are an explicit violation of law, we have appealed to the masterminds of the contest with the demand that the rally be canceled, but all in vain,” says Maniuk. “The Dnipropetrovsk oblast attorney’s office replied that the case was not in their jurisdiction, and is the direct responsibility of the raion attorney’s office. The oblast ecological administration hasn’t done anything either. Each year, ATV races cause irreparable damage to the plant and animal worlds of Samara Forest. The roaring engines drive birds away from their nests, the wheels destroy soil, crush primroses, contestants tie age-old oak trees with towlines. Someone must put and end to all this lawlessness someday.”

Olena Voloshchenko, biology teacher from the village of Vasylkivka, shares the scholar’s view. “It’s the fifth time that the race has been held in our forests, and they are getting larger and larger with each year,” she relates. “Consequently, the damage to nature is also growing.”

Obviously, foresters should stop these races in Samara Forest, but the locals suspect that it is actually the other way round. Young environment enthusiasts tried to stop the vehicles, but the “racers” just drove around them. Moreover, the local government and police officers openly enjoy watching ATV races.

“Now birds are flying back from the south to Samara Forest,” says the teacher. “What a beautiful sight it is, and the sound of cranes crying overhead! The birds are starting their mating season, but their nesting places are shaken by roaring engines, smothered in clouds of exhaust fumes, and these picturesque spots are turning into a mess.”

Samara Forest still has hundreds of old trees whose age exceeds 300 years. Ecologists maintain that the unique properties of this area were well known to our ancestors. In the past, Samara Forest was the main source of timber for the Zaporizhian Sich. Local wood was used to build Cossack huts, boats, and churches. The dense forest hid the Samara St. Nicholas Hermitage Monastery. The Samara valley was called “Holy Palestine” by Cossacks for its fertility and primordial beauty. “If we fail to preserve this piece of Ukraine’s nature, very soon we will have nothing to show our children, and our descendants will only have pictures in the Red Book [Ukraine’s list of endangered species. – Ed.] to look at,” said Voloshchenko.