S.O.S. Jizera Mountains Alliance
| Information about negative impacts of the WORLD SKI CHAMPIONSHIP 2003 and 2005 which is being prepared |
In 2003 the Czech Skiing Association is going to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its existence. The Czech skiers want to celebrate this anniversary by organizing the world champinship in the Jizera mountains. That`s why the Czech republic is one of the four candidates, from which the FIS international skiing association will choose the organizer of the world championship for 2003. The organizer will be chosen at the FIS meeting in May 1998 in Prague. But Czech non-governmental organizations and a big part of the genaral public in the region don` t agree with this intention, because the organizing would bring big interferences with the nature of the Jizera mountains. Therefore we are asking You for help to increase the pressure on FIS to make it not choose the Czech republic as the organizer.
Jizera Mountains Preserves (CHKO
Jizerské hory)
They are located in the northern Bohemia, in the area of the well known black triangle
with the most polluted environment in the central Europe. An immission, bark beatle and
wind calamity was happening here from the 70s to the 80s. As a result, there are now
between 80 and 90 km2 of bare land, unsecured cultures and dead growths. The catastrophic
acidity of the soil [pH 3.9-4.2 !] causes flow-out of cancerous aluminium into dams, which
are storerooms of drinking water for the surrounding towns and villages. In the area
around Bedrichov there are still even older spruce growths preserved but they are
unstabile and they are permanently endangered by wind, bark beatle, and a little less by
immissions.
Damage on nature and the countryside
Consruction of the routes for skiing would result in opening new growth walls [ dozzens of
kilometres of open growth walls ] which are very prone to the attack by bark beatle, wind
and immissions. This damage quickly spread into the centre of the areas. Incisms and banks
along the routes would erode the soil and the water regime, the water flowing down from
the mountains would be of worse quality [ flow-out of humus materials] and the danger of
floods and erosion would become even bigger. Also the esthetic look of the forest
environment would be impaired by constructin of the routes, tunnels and bridges [crossing
with forest paths. The location of the huge stadium [200 x 500m] with its facilities in
the mountain villge Bedrichov dosn`t seem to be architectonicly too smart either.
Current state of the intended
construction
The initial tendencies were megalomanic and they had to be cut down because of dissent of
part of general public and a lack of money. The Czech government agreed with the
candidature on April 30, 1997 but stated very strong conditions to ensure preservation of
the environment and countryside. On November 17, the SKI group [the organizer] submitted
new projects of designs of transport, the stadium and the sroutes for skiing. From the
point of view of the conditions of the government, it can be roughly agreed with the
design of the transport and the stadium, though there are still some vague and conflict
elements. But the project of the routes doesn`t solve the conditions of the government at
all. The width of the strip of the route with the terrain works still remains between 8
and 12 m [ up to 18m on the places where the tunnels are], the route runs through areas
where the trees are older than 40, other areas are even wet from the bottom and bouldery.
The bridges are intended for a caterpillar vehicle which weighs 5,5 tons. The length of
the constructions is over 40 m and they are not expected to be taken apart easily, which
is all stated in the conditions of the government. The SKI group will try to obtain the
candidature based on these projects and after that, when an international shame of the
Czech republic threatens, SKI will try to defuse the conditions of the government, so that
the routes can be built.