TADEUSZ MOLENDA

University of Silesia,
Faculty of Earth Sciences, Division of Hydrology and Water Management in Urban Areas;
Będzińska 60, 40-007 Sosnowiec
e-mail: tedimolenda@interia.pl

Description popularizing the research project

The ice figures look as if something stopped them on their march. Facing the same direction they stand frozen in their steps. They do not stand in file and ranks, they look rather like a loose group of creatures that are heading towards one destination they will never reach. They seem to be characters of some gruesome fairy tale without a moral. Icy wind whips them and the figures stand still in the snow white as far as the horizon. They are beautiful but their beauty is ominous. They look both grotesque and menacing. They inspire anxiety and a kind of remorse.
In fact the ice pilgrims have never wandered the land. They are spruces covered with a thick layer of ice and snow. They are spruces which were depleted by man. On the slopes of Hruby Jesesnik ski tourism is developing. It needs more and more room for ski routes and lifts, but woods hinder the investments. In the conflict there is no place for a compromise, even a rotten one. Logging is still considered as the better solution.
It is the same in many high parts of Silesian ranges. Removing trees is the first step in further degradation. Then the bushes disappear, herb layer gets depleted. And then the same happens to the soil which is washed away by rains or melting snow and blown away by winds. The sadness of the picture is only sweetened by the joyful cheers of skiers. Many of them like the sport not only for the physical exercise it offers, but for the contact with winter wild nature as well. Probably they will stop for a while looking in awe at the ice sculptures. They will take a few pictures and go away. They do not intend to destroy the band of spruces. So who should feel anxious watching the frozen wanderers of Hruby Jesenik? Each human activity is burdened with consequences which affect natural environment. Men, in their desire to create new, destroy the nature, and the balance sheet s do not always break even. May it be the moral of the story. Maybe like in Andersen's stories one day when the trees thaw there will be a happy end?

Abstract

Economic human activty leads to essential changes in natural environment. They are connected mainly with the development of farming systems and urban - industrial units. In many cases the creation of new, not existing before anthropogenic environments takes place. They include exploitation hollows, sedimentation tanks and waste-tips. From their beginning they start to undergo natural biological, geomorphological and geochemical processes. Numerous researches show that some of the anthropogenic environments are characterized by high biotic diversity. In many cases they are also habitats of many rare and protected plant and animal species. Geomorphogenic and geochemical processes may lead not only to formation of interesting rock forms but also to the creation of new phases sometimes having the form of nicely crystallised minerals.
Anthropopressure does not always have to lead to the formation of new environments, but it may contribute to the serious degradation of natural environments. Even the highest parts of Hruby Jasenik (the Czech Republic) as well as the Silesian area, are subject to strong touristic anthropressure, especially skiing. Building skilifts and ski runs causes strong degradation of the natural landscape of these mountains.