site.btaConservationists Worry about Seven Rila Lakes

September 23 (BTA) - The Seven Rila Lakes are dying, and prompt and strict implementation of the law is their only chance to survive, the Bulgarian office of the WWF conservation organization warned on Wednesday. It reported significant damage and a growing number of wrongdoings, which, according to the organization, call for a ban on mechanized mass access to the area.

The Seven Lakes are a protected area in the Rila National Park in the eponymous mountain of Southwestern Bulgaria, but they are also officially a tourist landmark.

According to WWF Bulgaria, pollution is eutrophying the lakes (i.e. making them rich in minerals and nutrients which induce excessive growth of algae). This is a serious environmental problem identified by conservation organizations long ago. The problem is in the focus of the Rila National Park Directorate.

It has been proven that the eutrophication process is due to many years of mass human presence in the valley of the Seven Rila Lakes. In recent years the conditions for the local ecosystem have been further aggravated by growing human pressure generated by a lift that takes tourists to the lakes, and by illegal SUV taxis servicing visitors, WWF said.

It is good that the National Park management is aware of the issue, but the approach which has been chosen to tackle it is deeply flawed and will damage the area even more, Dobromir Dobrinov of WWF Bulgaria said.

On September 11, the Rila National Park Directorate met with interested parties to assure them that no damage will be inflicted on protected habitats in the national park, but failed to explain where exactly future stone paths will lie relative to the habitats. WWF is concerned that the planned harvesting of rocks from the area to build the stone paths may cause additional damage to the protected zones and destruction to wild animals which take shelter in the rocks or look for food there.

WWF made the following recommendations: close the lift from Pionerska Hut to Rila Lakes Hut, which can be done by the Environment and Water Minister; terminate all activities that are damaging to the Rila National Park; mark the tourist paths in the Seven Lakes area by painting signs on reasonably spaced-out stones; and exercise stricter control over people who use the marked paths. NV/VE
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