The Ministry of the Environment has announced a proposal for the zoning of the Tatra National Park. Under the draft, ski slopes should be reclassified into Zone D, which represents a lower level of protection.
For nearly two decades, the TMR company has been calling for a more realistic approach to national park protection and for a proper zoning system that no government has yet delivered. “It’s time to stop pretending that ski slopes or residential estates in the Tatras are as unique a biotope as the most precious areas. If the state of habitats – as defined by law – was the only binding and decisive criterion for classifying ski slopes instead of populist campaigns of some politicians, ski slopes would have long been classified as Zone D. We fully support strict but smart and targeted protection of nature,” said Igor Rattaj, the Chairman of the Board of TMR, a.s. According to the Nature Protection Act, Zone D applies to parts of a national park consisting of built-up areas or areas significantly altered by human activity, intended for permanent human use.
Keeping ski slopes in Zone C – where all human activity is prohibited – would mean that any use could only be allowed as an exception. If slopes were included there, every project or exception would depend on the mood or opinion of an official or a politician.
Following the announcement of zoning for the Tatra National Park and the Low Tatras National Park, some politicians accused the ministry of preparing a hidden privatisation and linked it to TMR’s activities in the mountain resorts of Vysoké Tatry and Jasná. “TMR operates both resorts on its own land within the Tatra National Park and the Low Tatras National Park, as well as on land leased from the state and local landowners. With both, we have long-term lease agreements that we continuously renew. There is no privatisation, we are not buying anything. In fact, the lease payments we provide for ski slopes are vital for the Tatra National Park, as we pay as much as the state contributes for its operation. I would be foolish to jeopardise the functioning of the national park by attempting to buy up land. On the contrary, it is in our own interest to have a functioning national park with zoning and clear rules without exceptions,” added Igor Rattaj. Land sales or exchanges are already legally possible in areas with levels 3, 4 and 5 of protection, under defined conditions. The classification of resort land into Zone D does not change ownership.
Resorts included in Zone D are nothing unusual in Slovakia. This was ensured by the caretaker government of Ľudovít Ódor in relation to zoning of the Veľká Fatra National Park, where the park boundaries were set so that all resorts fell either into the buffer zone or Zone D – which in practice is the same – or outside the park entirely. Similarly, for example, the resort of Donovaly is located in the buffer zone of the Low Tatras National Park. In the Krkonoše National Park in the Czech Republic, resorts such as Harrachov and Špindlerův Mlýn are located either in buffer zones or so-called inner protection zones.
Zone D is far from the “wild west” some politicians portray. Environmental authorities must still approve even the smallest actions – from installing information boards, to grazing larger herds of animals and setting up ski gates. Ordinary construction on ski slopes remains strictly prohibited.
The never-ending delay in adopting zoning already united representatives of local municipalities and tourism in the Tatra National Park area six years ago. They continue to warn that the lack of clear rules complicates the everyday lives of mountain village residents and blocks sensible development of tourism in the Tatras.