ENVIRONMENTAL GIS DATA BASES AS A PRACTICAL TOOL FOR NATURAL RESOURCES PROTECTION AND LAND MANAGEMENT IN POLAND

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1 ENVIRONMENTAL GIS DATA BASES AS A PRACTICAL TOOL FOR NATURAL RESOURCES PROTECTION AND LAND MANAGEMENT IN POLAND BAZY DANYCH ŚRODOWISKOWYCH JAKO UŻYTECZNE NARZĘDZIE W OCHRONIE ZASOBÓW PRZYRODNICZYCH I ZARZĄDZANIU TERENAMI W POLSCE Grzegorz Michalski 1, Maja Głowacka 2 1 Chorzów, Poland, 2 Świętochłowice, Poland Keywords: nature conservation, protected species, protected areas, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), environmental database, GIS database Słowa kluczowe: ochrona przyrody, gatunki chronione, obszary chronione, oceny oddziaływania na środowisko (OOS), środowiskowa baza danych, baza danych GIS Introduction For some kinds of human activity there is a need to know the precise distribution of rare and protected species. Such data are used for various nature conservation programs, for preparing conservation plans and for monitoring the state of the environment. This paper is concerned with the use of such data in preparing Environmental Impact Assessment reports. According to Polish law, there are certain kinds of investment activities for which Environmental Impact Assessment reports (EIA) are required. Whilst it is necessary that such reports are based on extensive field research, the starting point should be published information on the distribution of rare and protected species. Spatial ecological information is also important for some other activities, forming a basis for all land management plans, for example, whilst preparing Local Plans for Land Development. Ecological information databases In general terms, distribution data can be divided into two broad categories. To the first category belong data concerning, for example, protected ones; to the second category, directories of the distribution of particular species (compare Michalski and Głowacka 2004). For the purpose of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports, there is a need to include legally protected objects into the analysis, as well as any occurrence of species of conservation concern (rare and protected); the latter must be considered for all areas. Thus both categories of data are needed. 165

2 166 Protected areas databases Legally protected objects in Poland belong to several categories, as mentioned in the Legal Act of Nature Protection (Ustawa o ochronie przyrody): all must be considered during the preparation of an EIA. Easily accessible (via Internet) databases are also of great help during the preparation of such reports. There is a central database for all nature protection objects in Poland (Centralny Rejestr Form Ochrony Przyrody, web page). These data are currently collected and the work is not yet finished. This data will be easily searchable, by name, city, gmina (municipality), voivodship and the type of the object (national park, nature reserve, landscape park, nature monument etc.). However, at present the information about particular object is not very detailed: in general there are no maps and descriptions of localizations are imprecise. So, for now, these data are of rather limited usefulness. There are many publications concerning specific protected areas, sometimes with very detailed information, but such publications are scattered across the literature and sometimes can be hard to find. There are, however, several quite useful works concerning Landscape Parks, Nature Reserves and National Parks of certain areas of Poland, sometimes even of the whole country (for example: Rąkowski 2004, Rąkowski et al. 2005, 2006, 2007). Some Voivodship Offices have good information on their own web pages. For example, on the web page of Opolskie voivodship one can find quite good data about Nature Reserves, complete with short descriptions and maps. But for the other kinds of protected areas, information is rather limited (Opolski Urząd Wojewódzki Prawne formy ochrony przyrody, web page). A good example of a well managed environmental database is that of the Natura 2000 sites in Poland. Natura 2000 is an European Ecological Network that includes many sites across Europe that hold rare or unique species and habitats. This database is fully accessible via The Ministry of Environment web page (Natura 2000, web page). The data are easily searchable and the records concerning each Natura 2000 area is presented in a standard format in.pdf format with maps. This form of presentation enables one to find information about each particular Natura 2000 site. The site includes an interactive map of Poland (in both html of JAVA versions) showing all of the Natura 2000 sites (Natura 2000, interactive map web page) and the main ecological corridors of Poland, enabling the visualisation of the network of Natura 2000 sites on the background of the network of ecological corridors. The process of creating Natura 2000 sites in Poland is not yet complete: there are many areas which fulfill the criteria for Natura 2000 sites, but they are not officially proclaimed as such yet. Such areas are usually presented to the government by the independent ecological societies, and a list of these areas, which is also incomplete, is known as the Natura 2000 shadow list. Shadow list areas are also included on the Ministry of Environment web page (Natura 2000 shadow list, web page), but, although including maps, is without such full treatment as for the official Natura 2000 sites.

3 Species distribution data In the case of EIA reports, there is a need to obtain the full data for the distribution of rare and protected species in the area concerned. Whilst such data are published in many kinds of books and lists of 'Red List' species for certain areas (for example: Głowaciński 2001, Kaźmierczakowa and Zarzycki 2001, Kącki 2003), this kind of publication generally does not include precise locations for the particular species' occurrence: for this one must look to more detailed works, scattered across the literature and not always easily obtainable (see: Michalski and Głowacka 2004). There are well researched, up-to date, nature inventories and ecophysiographical descriptions for many cities, gminas (municipalities) or other administration units in Poland. Very precise localities of rare and protected species are often included into such works, and these are of the great value for EIA preparation. Where these do not exist or are out of date, we must use more general data from those publications which present information about areas of high concentration. Two kinds of such areas are most useful in Poland: the so called Important Bird Areas (IBA) and Important Plant Areas (IPA). Many IBAs of highest value, which fulfill the criteria for Natura 2000 sites, are already officially proclaimed Natura 2000 sites. A good survey of the IBAs of Poland is contained in, for example, Gromadzki et al. (2004). Sometimes the IBA is created for relatively limited area, such as a single water reservoir. In such case, a list of the species occurring in the area is sufficient to assess an impact of analyzed investment on birds. But in the case of a large IBA, such as large forest complexes, long river-valley fragments or parts of mountain ranges, the list of species alone does not show the value of particular fragments of the IBA. In this case, the data are similar to the above mentioned cases of protected areas. The same could be stated about IPAs, which are similar to IBAs but with a concentration of rare and protected plant species (Mirek et al. 2005, Institute of Botany PAN. Important Plant Areas, web page). Important data of rare and protected species distribution is often gathered by management units of protected areas, like National Parks, Nature Reserves and Landscape Parks. But unfortunately the data gathered there is not stored in widely accessible databases, preferably on the Internet, so the information is usually of limited use. Recently, a major inventory of Natura 2000 habitats and species was made by all Forestry departments in Poland for the lands governed by the Forestry units. Results from this inventory could also be used in EIA reports. Forestry departments are also usually well informed about migration routes of large mammals, including crossing points on main roads, where there are possible areas of collision with traffic. Such points are of great importance in road investments, because special structures for animal crossing should be constructed there and, to be effective, any tunnels under or bridges over the road for this purpose must be located exactly on the migration routes. 167

4 GIS data bases in spatial planning Environmental data bases are important for spatial planning activities. During preparation of the Local Plans of Land Development all the available information about the area considered should be gathered. The functions of each of the land areas covered by the Plan must be consistent with environmental conditions of the terrain. For example very valuable natural objects (like paths of old forests, habitats of rare species) should be designed as elements of ecological importance and investment activities on such areas should not be allowed (or at least seriously restricted). Analysis of spatial distribution of historical monuments and other objects of historical importance (especially in oldest parts of the cities) could reveal area which should be protected as area important for national heritage conservation (similarly areas of archeological concern should be included into the process of the Plan creation). According to the properly prepared Local Plan of Land Development investment activities in such areas are allowed but only under the special supervision of the adequate authorities. During the investment process, usage of the GIS data bases for spatial planning is most important at the introductory phases of the process. During that phases all environmental conditions and local peculiarities of the area concerned are considered and usefulness of the area for certain type of activities is assessed. Existence of well accessible (and complete) data bases could be of the great importance for investment processes and could even reduce the costs of the investment preparation (by shortening the time of preparation of documents) but probably such situation should not be expected in the near future. Conclusion This short survey made is, of course, not exhaustive and there are many more GIS databases with important environmental information which could be useful in planning activities, including EIA reports. The best databases are those which are easily accessible via the Internet and are up-to date, which means that these should be constantly updating to reflect current knowledge and to include newly designated protected areas, in the case of protected areas databases. For some areas, there are databases which include all the information needed for preparing an EIA report, so one should search across all available databases and literature, however, all data gathered should be verified by extensive field work in the area concerned. References Centralny Rejestr Form Ochrony Przyrody, web page. (Accessed ) Głowaciński Z. (ed.) Polish Red Data Book of Animals Vertebrates. Państwowe Wydawnictwo Rolnicze i Leśne, Warszawa 168

5 Głowaciński Z. and Nowaki J Polish Red Data Book of Animals Invertebrates. Institute of Nature Conservation of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Cracow, The August Cieszkowski Agricultural University of Poznań, Cracow Gromadzki M., Dyrcz A., Głowaciński Z. and Wieloch M Ostoje Ptaków w Polsce. Biblioteka Monitoringu Środowiska. Ogólnopolskie Towarzystwo Ochrony Ptaków, Gdańsk Institute of Botany PAN. Important Plant Areas, web page. (accessed ) Kaźmierczakowa R. and Zarzycki K Polish Red Data Book of Plants. Pteridophytes and Flowering Plants. Polish Academy of Sciences, W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Institute of Nature Conservation, Cracow Kącki Z. (ed.) Endangered Vascular Plants of Lower Silesia. Instytut Biologii Roślin Uniwersytet Wrocławski, Polskie Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Przyrody pro Natura, Wrocław Michalski G. and Głowacka M Species Distribution Data Presentation in Poland. s [W:] Kerekovic D. (ed.). Geographical Information Systems in Research and Practice. Hrvatski Informaticki Zbor GIS Forum, Zagreb, University of Silesia, Katowice Mirek Z., Nikel A., Paul W. and Wilk Ł. (ed.) Ostoje Roślinne w Polsce. Instytut Botaniki im. W. Szafera Polskiej Akademii Nauk, Kraków Natura 2000, interactive map web page. Europejska Sieć Ekologiczna Natura (accessed ) Natura 2000 shadow list, web page. Europejska Sieć Ekologiczna Natura Shadow list. Lista obszarów Natura 2000 wyznaczonych na podstawie Dyrektywy Ptasiej do konsultacji społecznych (accessed ) Natura 2000, web page. Europejska Sieć Ekologiczna Natura Opolski Urząd Wojewódzki Prawne formy ochrony przyrody, web page. (accessed ). Rąkowski G. (ed.) Parki Krajobrazowe w Polsce. Wydanie II. Instytut Ochrony Środowiska PAN, Warszawa Rąkowski G.,Walczak M. and Smogorzewska M Rezerwaty przyrody w Polsce Północnej. Instytut Ochrony Środowiska PAN, Warszawa Rąkowski G.,Walczak M. and Smogorzewska M Rezerwaty przyrody w Polsce Środkowej. Instytut Ochrony Środowiska PAN, Warszawa Rąkowski G.,Walczak M. and Smogorzewska M Rezerwaty przyrody w Polsce Południowej. Instytut Ochrony Środowiska PAN, Warszawa 169

6 Abstract This paper deals with some aspects of natural resources management in Poland, including protected areas as well as formally unprotected ones. Various GIS databases of ecological information are discussed in the paper, especially the European Ecological Network Natura 2000 database and their usefulness is assessed, especially in terms of their suitability for preparing Environmental Impact Assessment reports. This aspect is discussed in the context of current Polish law. Accessibility to the spatial data of Polish natural resources is demonstrated using various examples. Finally, some general impressions on our knowledge of Polish natural environment are given and practical aspects of precise spatial data gathering are emphasized, including the need for easily accessible (and well managed) GIS datacbases for spatial planning activities, for example in preparing Local Plans of Land Development. Streszczenie Praca dotyczy wybranych aspektów zarządzania zasobami przyrodniczymi w Polsce, zarówno na terenach chronionych, jak i na obszarach formalnie nie objętych ochroną. Omawiane są różne typy baz danych z informacjami ekologicznymi zwłaszcza baza danych europejskiej sieci ekologicznej Natura Określono użyteczność różnego typu baz. Zwrócono uwagę zwłaszcza na użyteczność baz danych dla celów wykonywania ocen oddziaływania na środowisko aspekt ten uwzględniono w odniesieniu do obecnych wymagań prawnych w Polsce. Dostępność do danych przestrzennych dotyczących zasobów przyrodniczych w Polsce została przedstawiona na różnych przykładach. Przedstawiono także kilka ogólnych uwag dotyczących wiedzy na temat zasobów przyrodniczych Polski, uwzględniając praktyczny aspekt gromadzenia danych przestrzennych, w tym użyteczność łatwo dostępnych (i właściwie zarządzanych) baz danych GIS dla celów planowania przestrzennego (na przykład podczas tworzenia Miejscowych Planów Zagospodarowania Przestrzennego). Grzegorz Michalski grzegorz_michalski@op.pl 170