engleski

Plitvice Lakes National Park as a Karst area between protection and devastation – historical overview

Placed in the heart of Europe, 16 lakes of the outstanding beauty, known as Plitvice Lakes or Plitvice Lakes National Park, are the area that seizes the attention from the its beginning, starting from the first travertine rocks to the today’s tourist visits. This presentation is framed as a contribution to better understanding of historical processes that occurred during the time before the foundation of the national park and the time of the foundation itself. The author of this presentation will try to answer the questions in what way and to which extent are human and natural values adjusted to the new role of Plitvice Lakes, especially in the process of protection and preservation of the tufa phenomen – a crutial element of Plitvice karst area. Whose initiative was the one that enabled conservation and preservation of this area ; which groups of interest were the ones that quested commercialism of Plitvice Lakes? This presentation deals with the matter of socio- cultural circumstances and emphasizes new scientific acknowledgements that were the sine qua non for the institutional protection of Plitvice Lakes. The person who was of the most importance in accomplishing that goal was professor Ivo Pevalek who in 1924 published the essay „About the origin and function of the biodynamic system of Plitvice Lakes and its protection“. The important element of this presentation is the legal frame as well as the American and Swiss model which enabled Plitvice Lakes to be declared a national park on the 9th of April 1949, although Plitvice Lakes were declared by the law in 1928, the same year when, according to the Financial Law for 1928/1929, they were protected along with Štirovača – a forest in North Velebit – and Bijele Stijene in Gorski Kotar. It is precisely the period up to the World War II the one that depicts trends about the rising consciousness regarding the protection and the new economic possibilities in more powerful anthropogenic functioning in the area of Plitvice Lakes. Development of branches of tourism and active participation of local people in new economic processes have marked the time of positive positioning of Plitvice Lakes as a tourist destination and the area of an exceptional natural environment. On the other hand, at the same time Plitvice lakes became a fruitful area for the scientific researcher of the biodynamic system of the Lakes who immediately were involved in the conflict with the Government of touristic management. So, the purpose of this presentation is to explain how for more than 100 years Plitvice Lakes represent a fruitful ground of the Karst protection as well as the place of the mass tourism ; that is, the presentation will depict the challenges which, even nowadays, represent a certain burden to the Park itself.

Plitvice Lakes, environmental history, tufa, Karst area, protection

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