Tree cutting in the Tri-City Landscape Park has been met with opposition from residents for years. The solution? A nature reserve has been established on over 140 hectares of forest in Sopot, ensuring that a portion of this valuable park will be excluded from forest management and hunting. This is the result of many years of efforts by local government, community activists, and residents.
The Tri-City Landscape Park (TPK) comprises nearly 20,000 hectares of forests, hills, and valleys that form the green hinterland of the Tri-City. It is therefore no surprise that successive tree-cutting operations in this area have been met with opposition from residents for years. The State Forests and the Gdańsk Forest District are responsible for the logging, as the TPK has the status of commercial forests—that is, forests whose primary purpose is timber harvesting. As much as 96 percent of the valuable park’s area is under the control of foresters.
TPK in Sopot. Protected Trees
After years of fighting to protect the trees in Sopot across the 140-hectare area stretching through the Tri-City Landscape Park, the “Lasy Sopockie” nature reserve was successfully established, which will provide the area with better protection. The decision was made by the Regional Directorate for Environmental Protection, which is the only institution authorized to establish nature reserves through local legislation.
Boundaries of the new nature reserve
© UMS
The new reserve is located north of Reja Street and west of the Forest Opera, stretching between Świemirów, Leśna Polana, and the Przylesie neighborhood. In addition to the 140 hectares under protection, a green buffer zone covering 196.89 hectares has been designated around the reserve.
If we want to ensure that a significant portion of the Tri-City’s forests does not one day come under economic pressure, we must protect these areas. These forests are of immense value, not only in terms of nature but also socially. Today we are taking the first step toward protecting them, but this is not the last step,” emphasizes Paulina Hennig-Kloska, Minister of Climate and Environment.
Local authorities and residents wanted to stop the logging
The protection covers, among other things, a unique young-glacial forest landscape, valuable forest habitats, sites of rare mosses, lichens, and fungi, as well as old-growth forest with a significant proportion of trees over 140 years old. The legal protection afforded by the establishment of the reserve will ensure the preservation of these assets.
The Sopot local government, civic activists, and residents had been advocating for the creation of the reserve in Sopot. The ordinance establishing the reserve was signed on October 16. Once it takes effect, the Regional Directorate for Environmental Protection (RDOŚ) will issue another ordinance designating trails open to pedestrians, cyclists, and skiers. A subsequent order will establish a Conservation Plan for the nature reserve. This plan strictly defines what is permitted and what is prohibited within the reserve.
Within the “Lasy Sopockie” nature reserve, tree cutting and hunting will be prohibited.
Photo: Jarosław Respondek KFP/UMS
It is already known, however, that within the “Lasy Sopockie” nature reserve, tree cutting and hunting will be prohibited. It willnot be permitted to build campfires, camp, or pitch tents. Littering, discarding food scraps, and making noise are prohibited. You will not be allowed to enter the reserve by car, motorcycle, or ATV, and the use of drones will be prohibited. Walking through the reserve, as well as cycling, will be permitted on designated trails. Within the reserve’s buffer zone, visitors will be allowed to pick mushrooms and berries.
“The reserve will be open to pedestrians and, to a limited extent, cyclists, so that residents can enjoy all these natural assets, learn about, and observe how this area is protected and how it is developing,” says Paweł Stępniewski, Regional Nature Conservator (RDOŚ).
It will also be permitted to walk dogs on a leash within the protected areas.
Currently, even in forests that are not reserves, dogs are allowed only on a leash. In the application to establish the “Sopot Forests” reserve, we advocated for this area to be open to dog walks along designated trails. “We have been assured that this will be taken into account during the development of the reserve’s management plan,” says Aleksandra Gosk, chairwoman of the Sopot City Council.
The last nature reserve in Sopot was established 43 years ago
Efforts to protect the forests surrounding Sopot date back to 2019. At that time, Sopot city council members adopted a resolution to have the forests certified under the HCVF program. This was—like the subsequent resolution from February 2021— — a response to the intensive logging taking place in the forests of the Tri-City Landscape Park. Work on establishing the “Sopot Forests” Nature Reserve began to take concrete shape in 2023. In October of that year, the mayor of Sopot submitted an application to the Regional Directorate for Environmental Protection (RDOŚ) in Gdańsk to establish the “Sopot Forests” Nature Reserve.
Until now, there had been only one nature reserve in Sopot—the Zajęczne Wzgórze Nature Reserve, established in 1983. It covers an area of approximately 11.66 hectares in the western part of the city—also within the boundaries of the Tri-City Landscape Park.
