Ochrona dziedzictwa Ojcowskiego Parku Narodowego czy doraźne korzyści? Trudny wybór

To protect the Ojcowski National Park or to profit from it? A difficult choice

Summary: Ojcowski National Park (ONP) is the smallest of the 23 national parks in Poland. It is located in the southern part of the Krakow-Czestochowa Upland, 16 km north of Krakow. It consists of a 12-km long fragment of the Pradnik River Valley, a 5-km stretch of the Saspowska River Valley, as well as adjacent parts of the Jura upland. The park is listed as a Natura 2000 special habitat protection zone called "Pradnik Valley" (PLH 120004). The ONP is located close to large metropolitan and industrial areas which threaten its natural environment. The greatest threat to the park is the pressure to build suburbs close to its borders. The park is surrounded by farmland and roads which form a powerful ecological barrier. The lack of ecological corridors to the park make it an "island" that is cut off from larger forested areas. This type of isolation is the product of the severance of existing and potential ecological corridors by roads and other manmade structures. The ONP's situation is complicated by rather liberal zoning laws that make it easy to rezone woodland and farmland for suburban development. Another problem is a lack of enforcement of existing laws - e.g. homes built illegally are not removed. The Environmental Protection Act of 2004 makes it possible to reduce the area of the park and even eliminate the park altogether under some circumstances (Żółciak 2005). The legal protection of the ONP and the associated limits on business activity create tension and conflict. This has been the case virtually since the park was created in 1956. In recent years, tension has grown to the breaking point (Partyka, Klasa, Żółciak, 1998, Partyka, Żółciak 2005). The park area and its immediate vicinity are exceptionally attractive in terms of landscape and tend to attract potential investors. Such individuals and business entities attempt to rezone farmland into residential land in order to build suburban neighborhoods in the immediate vicinity of the park (Fig. 1). Some individuals also attempt to build within existing villages (Fig. 2).

Domański B., Kurek W. (red.), 2009, Gospodarka i Przestrzeń. Prace dedykowane Profesor Danucie Ptaszyckiej-Jackowskiej, IGiGP UJ, Kraków, s. 227-236.

Instytut Geografii i Gospodarki Przestrzennej UJ

ISBN 978-83-88424-45-8

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