Polish 'Road Warrior' Keeps Highway Out of Pristine Wetland Valley, Wins Goldman Prize

[by Jennifer Hattam][/i]

Lucky visitors to the Rospuda Valley, considered one of Europe's last true wildernesses, might see white-tailed eagles soaring over the area's swampy fens or catch a glimpse of a wolf or a lynx slipping away into its old-growth forest. But if it hadn't been for Ma?gorzata Górska, they might be watching traffic speed by on a four-lane highway instead.

This week, Górska was honored with the Goldman Environmental Prize for Europe for her efforts to preserve this pristine wetland valley in the northeastern Polish countryside. The world's largest award for grassroots activists, the annual prize honors six recipients, one for each inhabited continent.

The battle over the Rospuda Valley began when the Polish Road Agency started planning the Augustow Bypass, a 17.1-kilometer four-lane segment of the Via Baltica corridor linking Helsinki to Warsaw that would have passed through the valley and sunk concrete pillars into its wetland areas to support a bridge.

"This is a pristine valley, really a very wild place, with natural, almost primeval habitats that are very sensitive to any disturbances," Górska told BBC Radio 4. "The road would have caused a direct loss of habitat and created a barrier for migrating mammals."

A Haven for Orchids and Birds

Working in close collaboration with WWF Poland and the Polish Green Network, along with her own organization, the Polish Society for the Protection of Birds, Górska organized meetings with decision-makers and scientists and ordered field surveys to collect data on the site's natural value.

The Rospuda Valley. Photo by Ma?gorzata Górska via Goldman Environmental Prize

"When I got involved in this campaign, I knew the theoretical information about the natural value of the Rospuda Valley, but I was not convinced about how important it was until I saw it for myself," Górska told Planet Green in an interview. "I was completely surprised by the natural habitats I saw -- I saw a lot of plant species that I had never seen in such large numbers elsewhere in Poland. It's one of the best-preserved wetland ecosystems west of the Ural Mountains."

The valley's undisturbed groundwater-fed fens are home to rare plant species, including the fen orchid and musk orchid. Cranes, hazel grouse, Tengmalm's owls, and honey buzzards are among the many birds that breed in the valley or the nearby forest. Though the activists faced opposition from people who "wanted the road at any cost," as Górska put it, other residents of the rural area around Rospuda Valley were surprisingly supportive. "One local landowner agreed to share ownership of land parcels on one of the [proposed road] routes with us because this made it possible for us to get involved in the administrative procedure for the parcel," she said, noting that other local residents saw the risk the road would pose to small-scale tourism activity in the area. EU Accession a 'Turning Point' The Polish government, however, was unmoved by the concerns raised by Górska and her allies. So they decided to try and take advantage of what turned out to be a fortuitous circumstance: Poland's recent entry into the European Union. The country's May 2004 accession to the EU made it subject to the bloc's various laws, including nature directives that call for environmental assessments to be made, and alternatives studied, before developing any kind of transportation project. The Polish NGOs took their case against the road to the EU's highest bodies, filing a complaint with the European Commission in early 2006 and making a petition to the European Parliament about the breach of natural protection laws and the lack of consideration of alternative routes. "Poland joining the EU was a key turning point," Górska said. Activists spent three weeks at a tent camp in the Rospuda Valley during a frigid winter to block construction of the Via Baltica Expressway. Photo by Ma?gorzata Górska via Goldman Environmental Prize With the Rospuda Valley newly included in the EU-wide Natura 2000 network, which seeks to protect member states' most important natural areas, its preservation was no longer just a local matter. Members of the European Parliament came to Poland to visit the site and meet with various stakeholders, then prepared what Górska called "a very strong report to the Polish government." When its warnings went unanswered, the European Commission opened an infringement procedure in 2007 against the Polish government for its failure to comply with EU environmental laws, a case that eventually went to the European Court of Justice, which called for an immediate halt to the part of the expressway project that threatened the Rospuda Valley. "The European Commission deals mostly with legal aspects: It's not about whether they like a place or whether the place is beautiful or not, it's about whether the directives are being followed," Górska said. "The European Habitats Directive says that if there is any plan or proposal that might affect Natura 2000 sites, such a plan needs to be assessed on its environmental impact." In addition to the increased international pressure, a change in the Polish government in late 2007 worked in the activists' favor, Górska added. "The new environmental minister and new infrastructure minister decided this was the key conflict they need to resolve," she said. "They organized roundtable meetings with representatives of environmental and local groups to discuss a possible resolution and decided that an alternative route outside the protected area was the only way if we wanted to follow the EU directive." The Knyszyn Primeval Forest was also protected from road construction. Photo by Tomasz Tumiel via Goldman Environmental Prize Victory for the Rospuda Valley In March 2009, the Polish government agreed to re-route the part of the Via Baltica motorway that would have passed through the Rospuda Valley's ancient forests and marshlands, subsequently directing other parts of the planned road away from three additional Natura 2000 sites, the Biebrza Marshes and the Knyszyn and Augustow Primeval Forests. Polish environmental journalist and campaigner Adam Wajrak told the Guardian newspaper at the time that it was "an important decision because it's the first time they are using [an independent] strategic assessment to decide where the roads should be; up to now it was just the decision of some politicians." Though much work remains to be done to preserve natural sites in Poland, Górska says public opinion is turning in favor of environmental protection, as the Rospuda Valley case showed. "A journalist with the main Polish newspaper asked people to sign a petition to the Polish president asking him to reconsider the road. It was signed by more than 150,000 people within a couple of weeks," she said. "We hadn't expected such a strong response. It showed people really want this area to be saved and don't want a site like this to be destroyed."