Unlimited Nature

       This year a Belarusian bison will receive passports for the first time. The bison is a symbol of Belarus, and our country is the leader by the number of these animals, living in nature. It should be noted that the task of violating their numbers, which was set more than 20 years ago, has been completed. However, with the increase of their number, the amount of problems has also increased. We will talk about it today with the head of the department for biological and landscape diversity of the Ministry of natural resources and environmental protection of the Republic of Belarus Nikolay Svidinsky and the researcher of the NPC of bioresources of the National Academy of Belarus Vasily Sheikun.
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“Work to revive bison has been carried out for a long time, since the 20th of the last century. It was caused by the small number of them (about 50 species), but in 2017 this figure had increased to 6.5 thousand, and about one third of the world population lives on the territory of our country. How did you manage to reach such good indicators?”

“Since 1946 in Belarus works on restoration of the status of these animals are under way. The bison has the world status of a protected animal, it is included in the red list of the International Union for nature protection, in Annex 3 of the Berne Convention, in the Red books of Belarus, Russia, Poland, Ukraine and Lithuania. From 1994 to 2006 the preservation of the Belovezhskiy bison population in Belarus was developed and the meta-population model was implemented, the essence of which was to maintain the life of the bison. They, of course, lived on the whole territory of our country, but the restoration work began directly in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. The scientists, zoologists took part in it and with their help we were able to get 18 stable micro-populations of bison that live now in Belarus.
All 10 of the micro-population of the Belovezhskaya Pushcha are the main one. They are being watched, and scientific work is based on them. Taking into account this information, the process of animal resettlement across the country is underway.
According to the scientists, there are 1779 free-living species in our country. Belarus is on the 1st place in the world by the number of free-living animals. The ultimate goal for these micro-populations is to communicate with each other, so it is premature to say that this amount is enough for us.
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“My colleague is absolutely right. We have already reached the level where we are moving from quantitative to qualitative results. That kind of bison that lives in our country and in Europe, came from a small number of species. They were collected in the 20th in zoos and only 12 species were used to restore the bison. Therefore, now there are various problems that are mainly associated with genetics. It is closely related with crossing, inbreeding, which lead to unknown diseases. There is also a territorial issue, because the bison is a large animal that lives in herds, they need a lot of space, suitable living conditions, and with a fairly density of population in our country or in Western Europe there is no such territory for long — term habitation of these animals.
 A variety of species with different genetics, which ensure the maintenance of this species lived there. Genetics is now a very important issue. Thanks to the instructions of the Ministry of natural resources, the project "Wetlands" metapopulation model has been still implemented. It is enshrined in various documents, we have a plan for the management of the General population and individual species, a concept. And even we can boast of this regulatory framework, and we have done a lot to achieve the results that we have now.
The stable micropopulation usually consists of 50 or more species. They are all close relatives of different ages and genders. Scientists are looking for the most distant relatives to create new micropopulations. In 2018 the Dyatlovsky population was created, now a paperwork of legal aspects is being done. There are already about 18 species living in free conditions.

Reminder

“Vasily, you have already noted that scientists know some ways for long-distance work. But it is also necessary to carry out some activities that require financial and technological costs. You have mentioned the project "Wetlands", it means that some things have already been made?”

“Yes, it is great that in the another project we paid attention to our bison. Thanks to the project in 2018, work to improve the forage base and living conditions on the territory of Nalibokskaya Pushcha began.
This is so-called a pilot area, and not only for our country, but also for the whole world, where for the first time works not only to improve the living conditions of bison, but also to preserve their numbers are carried out.
Nalibokskaya Pushcha has been a kind of testing ground for experiments for a long time, it is located close to Minsk, a huge number of tourists come here. After the war the territory was cut down and the first bison were brought. Some important areas necessary to maintain the population disappeared and stopped giving the right food because of the end of mowing, degradation of meadows.  Therefore, this problem is being solved now. The bison began to appear near major cities such as Volozhin, Grodna – Minsk highways, and this is dangerous primarily for vehicles and people.
 The important area of the Uruchishe Takovo is restored. This is a central part of the Nalibokskaya Pushcha, where important meadows were located before. Over time this area was destroyed by beavers, there was waterlogging and the lands desolated. We have already adjusted the hydraulic regime, aligned the fields and prepared them for sowing certain herbs.”
“And how will the process take place further? Will the animals somehow regulate it?”
“It will be a sustainable process. We have already bought equipment that will mow and sow grass if necessary, and the specialists of the pushcha will look for these processes.
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   Belarus has the world's largest population of bison, the majority of which live in
the Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Our country is the only place in the world where you can see this ancient animal in its natural environment. These are the heaviest mammals on the European continent, the last European representatives of bison. Mikola Gusovski wrote his famous song about the bison at the request of Pope Leo X.Bison is not only a unique fauna of Belarus, but a symbol of our country. We are to remember that bison became almost extinct due to human activities and that albeit it in the Red Book, it’s up to us to preserve it.