Human Pressure on the Environment in the “Mun¸tii Maramure¸sului” Natural Park - Sustainable Development in Mountain Regions: Southeastern Europe - page 262

Besides the industrial processing capacities, there are other traditional activities car-
ried out by small manufacturers (sculpture, building of wooden houses and churches
etc.). Most individuals depend on the existence of wood to heat the houses and as
building material. The local population also uses other non-wood resources for their
own needs (forest fruits, mushrooms, medicinal plants).
The end of 1989 marks the beginning of transition from a centralised eco-
nomic system to the market economy. Thus, under the application of the laws and
administrative measures to restructure and privatise agriculture and land found, the
transition from state and collective property to private ownership exposed the moun-
tain environment to a fundamental change of property determining fragmentation
of forest property and ultimately deforestation. Under the current socio-economic
conditions, a potential threat to the forest would be the excessive interest for the
economic gains it offers to the detriment of the protection actions. There might
appear some contradictions between the conservation objectives of some biodiver-
sity elements or landscape and the forest management plans, particularly in the case
of forests returned to their former owners and to the local administration after 1990
(under the land retrocession law). Since these owners lack financial means, they start
exploiting their forest plots, irrespective of protection status, because they receive
no compensations to make them preserve biodiversity (Table 21.1 ).
As a result of the increased human pressure in terms of timber harvesting
and grazing, the study area experienced a fragmentation of the terrestrial ecosys-
tems which generated a mosaic of habitats that communicate among them through
natural corridors, since there are no important barriers to stop the population
exchanges.
The human activity in the “Muntii Maramuresului” Natural Park always had a
high pressure on forests, especially on those of beech and mixed ones. The notice-
able human intervention on this area has begun with the first permanent settlements
near the park and in the depression area, as well as in Ruscova Valley, giving birth

Table 21.1 Property structure in the “Muntii Maramuresului” Natural Park

% of the MMNP

Owner Manager Land use category surface

State property National Forest

Administration

Forest Found 41.60

State property Local Public

Administrations

Agricultural land use,
Forest Found

12.88

Legal persons (Church,
Education units)

National Forest
Administration,
Others

Forest Found Pastures,
Hayfields

0.43

Forest associations Private forest district,

National Forest
Administration

Forest Found 8.88

Private individuals Others Households, Hayfields,

Forest Found

36.21

Source: Romanian Forest Administration ( 2009 )