On the day when Bulgarians celebrate the feast of wine, which coincides with that of sweet-hearts, Valentine's Day, thousands of young people from five major cities in the country chose to express their love of nature taking to the streets in protest against the overdevelopment of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast and the plans to build new ski trails in the Pirin National Park. The advocates of the idea of expanding the ski resorts in Pirin often justify their desire with the big difference between the existing ski areas in the Alps and those in Pirin. While the Alps have thousands of miles of ski facilities, in Pirin these are only a hundred. 

Yet is it appropriate to draw such parallels? According to scientists, the answer is no. Although Pirin is officially classified as a bio-geographical region of Alpine nature, the Bulgarian mountain is very different from most European mountain chains, says Professor Asen Asenov, an expert in biogeography. 

The first reason is that they are incomparable in size. The Pirin National Park occupies an area of only 40 sq km while the real part of the Alps stretches over 180,000 sq km and including the foothills expands that to 300,000 sq km, the scientist says. 

Furthermore, the peaks in the Pirin Mountain are not so high. The average altitude here is only 1033 meters and in the Alps, it is about 2000 meters. Also the Alps have 82 peaks over 4,000 meters, hence the possibility of locating Alpine ski resorts in the higher parts of the mountain outside the forest zones. And in Pirin, the ski slopes are cut into the forests. 

According to Rosen Tsonev, professor in biodiversity at Sofia University, Pirin is far from being the typical alpine style mountain but rather it offers a unique combination of different bio-geographical influences:

"Pirin is a unique mountain first for its geographical location - on the border between the Mediterranean and the continental climate zone. On the other hand, it is still very high - the third highest in the Balkans after Bulgaria’s Rila and the Greek Olympus. This trait has made it possible that at the end of the Ice Age relict species of plants and animals that survived since the glaciers found refuge in the high peaks of Pirin. Also the flora and fauna of the south Mediterranean region has merged with these relict species, forming a unique complex of biodiversity. If the entire vascular flora of Bulgaria numbers about 4,000 species and subspecies of plants, not including fungi, mosses, lichens, etc., then one-third of them can be seen in the Pirin Mountains. Pirin is actually the richest Bulgarian territory in local endemics. It is also one of the richest mountains in terms of biodiversity compared to any other mountain in Southern Europe, not to mention the Alps and mountains in northern Europe which have more modest biodiversity. Not accidentally the uniqueness of Pirin is estimated globally by including the National Park in UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites."

All these abovementioned facts only indicate that Pirin possesses a wealth worthy of conservation not only in Bulgaria, but also in Europe and the world. More from biogeography expert Asen Asenov:

“The nature reserve Bayovi holes - Dzhindzhiritsa which is located in Pirin is the most important endemic site in Bulgaria. There is no such aggregation of endemic species anywhere else in this country. I could also add here the valuable reserve "Julen", which is adjacent to the ski areas of Bansko. And any future decision on building new ski tracks should be taken only after serious scientific assessment has been done. Anyone who would break the integrity of the Pirin National Park firmly and clearly needs to take personal responsibility for what they do. Because this mountain is essentially a national natural asset and capital, having its significant financial impact. After the agrarian and industrial revolution, now is the time of the ecological revolution that sees natural resources as a valuable social capital that must be protected and multiplied."

Capital, which may enable the development of more sustainable tourism in the mountain, which would bring higher revenue than mass skiing.

English version: Rossitsa P etkova