Białowieża Logging Photo Awarded in Wildlife Photographer of the Year

The Logging Outbreak
Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2019, Wildlife Photojournalism, Highly Commended

I’m very thankful that my photo showing illegal state-sponsored logging in Poland’s Białowieża Forest in 2017 was just awarded in Wildlife Photographer of the Year in the Wildlife Photojournalism category.

Europe’s last large old-growth forest and home to the largest population of European bison, Białowieża Forest is one of the most precious natural areas on the continent. Defying orders from the EU's highest court, the Polish government supported the logging of at least 675 hectares of protected area from 2016 through the summer of 2018, including 229 hectares of old-growth stands. The government justified their actions with dubious arguments ranging from bark-beetle control to public safety, and claimed trees were cut selectively.

The world's media at the time focused largely on the EU court case. They did little to investigate and paint a clear picture of what was actually happening to the forest. I grew frustrated at the lack of information, so I decided to travel down to see what was happening. It wasn’t until I spent several weeks on the ground that I realized the extent of the destruction. Aerials showed a very different picture from that painted by the government: the clear-cutting of large swaths of forest using harvesters and other heavy machinery.

Through a gaping hole in the canopy of Poland’s Białowieża Forest, piles of logs from commercial logging await transportation. Braving a media ban and the police, Joris captured this drone image showing evidence of large-scale commercial logging using heavy machinery in one of the forest’s protected areas.

Straddling Poland’s border with Belarus, the UNESCO-protected Białowieża Forest is the last surviving primeval forest in Europe and home to the largest population of European bison. But since 2016, commercial logging activity has escalated. Officially said to be aimed at clearing dead wood to control a bark beetle outbreak, it is putting this fragile and precious ecosystem at risk.

The Logging Outbreak, Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2019