Of Bison Men

One of the many great NGOs in Romania with which the Embassy has a long-established relationship is the Romanian branch of the World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF). We provided support to the WWF for example in helping to bring the Earth Hour initiative to Romania. I was therefore delighted to accept this month an invitation from the WWF to visit some of their projects in Caras County in South-Western Romania.

I thus found myself in the company of the Romanian Environment Minister and a group of journalists on a bumpy forest track above the village of Armenis. We were there because of bison. The European bison is an emblematic species for Romania: it appears on the symbol of the Moldova region as well as on the bottles of a local beer. The only problem is that, as in much of Europe, the bison itself was hunted to extinction long ago. Joining forces with Rewilding Europe, the WWF is supporting one of two major projects in Romania to reintroduce the bison to its old habitats. This is a great objective both in the obvious sense of restoring a species which is so closely associated with these lands, and also because of the role large herbivores play in the food chain. Consuming up to 60 kg of food a day, the bison helps preserve the “mosaic” landscapes it favours.

The first group of fourteen bison, drawn from reserves across Europe, was introduced last year, and has since been supplemented by another, resulting in a herd close to thirty strong. With the attendance of the Minister and two television crews, the WWF were taking no chances that we might not actually spot bison, so their team had been on the site since early morning, herding them into the small-fenced enclosure used for medical checks. All this activity meant that we could view the bison up close, though did have the effect of rather diminishing the adventurous aspect of the programme.

The great news is that two calves have been born into the herd: a sure sign that it is adapting to its new surroundings. A convention has developed in which bison born in Romania are given names starting with Ro-, so the additions to the herd are named Romas and little Rory.

What came through most clearly during my visit was the extent to which the enthusiastic support of the citizens of Armenis is crucial to the success of the project. There will undoubtedly be clashes ahead between bison and domestic animals over grazing land, but the local people are proud that their community has been chosen for this project, and proud of their bison.

The second site we visited was in the Semenic National Park, a few kilometres further west across the Timis valley. We parked our cars at the ski resort of Semenic, which seemed essentially closed for the summer, and walked across mountain pastures covered with early morning dew to a remarkable place called the Izvoarele Nerei reserve, comprising some 5000 hectares of virgin beech forest. As a special reserve within a national park, it enjoys one of the highest levels of protection available in Romania, benefiting an ancient and beautiful forest. This is one of the largest virgin beech forests in Europe and forms part of a bid for UNESCO World Heritage status. It served for me as another reminder of just what a crucial asset the Carpathian forests are, both for Romania and for humanity, and how important are the discussions, both within parliament and involving all stakeholders, around ensuring that Romania’s forests are both protected and managed sustainably.