The administration of the Ceahlău National Park has sounded the alarm in the hope that a phenomenon that occurs annually, not a natural one, but one due exclusively to “man”, will diminish in 2024.
Part of the waste collected from the area of the Toaca peak PHOTO Facebook Ceahlău Park
It is about the abandonment of waste on the trails, especially plastic bottles, beer cans, juice cans, sweets or food packaging, the park representatives saying that the desolate spectacle that remains in the country after extended weekends at the sea or at mountain, a subject of news for a long time, also takes place in this massif.
The management of the park has conveyed that the growing number of visitors, last year more than 100,000 tourists were counted on the trails, has caused increasing pressure on the area, which is manifested by a type of civic behavior that is totally inappropriate, considering the status of the area . The situation was exemplified recently, in one day the rangers left several bags of garbage.
“It is characterized by the excessive use of plastic waste, followed by its indifferent abandonment on mountain trails, obstinate pollution and the attitude of polluters to nature as a huge garbage can leads to completely undesirable situations, the aesthetic inconveniences caused to other tourists , who know how to respect the mountain, being real.
The amounts of waste in the photos are collected by today's patrol (May 14, 2024 – n.ed.) of the rangers that operated in the Dochia – Cabana Meteo – Scari Toaca area, a patrol that could have been monitoring the fauna. But, no… diversion of the rangers from their main duties is another effect of the national competition “How many blankets can I abandon on the route?”.
Petts thrown next to paths by irresponsible tourists PHOTO Facebook Ceahlău Park
This is the message sent by the administration of the area, which a thanks to the volunteers who helped with collection and evacuation garbage, an appeal was made to the civic sense of those who climb on Mountain: “Keep nature clean! The change starts with us!”. The plan of park management prioritizes the activities of awareness and education about waste management starting with going on a hike.
“Once and for all, the mountain will take revenge on us”
Given that there are up to 2-3,000 visitors on the set,
the capacity of supervision by the seven rangers (of which three presences at the entrance gates) is requested to the maximum, load doubled by the supervision of those “enthusiastic” of forbidden routes (as would be Brâna Ocolaşului). There are fines for abandoning waste given, patrol schedules with the gendarmes are and are carried out constant.
The beauty of the mountain PHOTO Facebook Ceahlău Park
Constantin Andraş, head of the Ceahlău Park Guard, reported in a post on Facebook about an experiment, which had the role of testing the degree of civic awareness of tourists. And the conclusion would be bitter, saying that it is very difficult to catch those who abandon waste, and the images captured by video cameras are not recognized as evidence for contraventional sanctions:
“We don't really have support from real tourists in warning the insensitive. I did an experiment on a route: a ranger, in civilian clothes, threw an empty can of beer in the vicinity of some groups of tourists, in plain sight and ostentatiously. The gesture was made 10 times, for different groups of tourists, tourists who did not take the slightest attitude. Asked later why this indifference, most answered that they were afraid they were dealing with a drunkard and didn't want complications”.
The post of those from the park administration caused reactions, a relevant one being from Mihai Timişescu:
“The tourist season didn't even start well, because the mountain was filled with garbage, from Fântânele to Toaca. And if only they had left them in the path, so that we could collect them more easily, but no, they threw them as far as possible into the abyss, as if the earth could swallow them. Once and for all, the mountain will take revenge on us”.
The stairs on the top of Toaca PHOTO Siliviu Foca
The degree of attractiveness of Ceahlău increases from year to year, a major attraction being the Toaca peak (1904 meters). Since the fall of 2018, access to the mentioned elevation is facilitated by a staircase mounted on the rocks, a metal structure, which has no less than 523 steps. The staircase is a magnet for visitors and, without exaggeration, sometimes tourists go up or down “bar to bar”.
