Both guitar and sapropel in Razna National Park

Jānis Kuzminskis, owner of the Rēzekne municipality, Kaunatas parish z/s “adhesive eye”, deals with various types of business – wood processing and furniture production – in summer season tourists offer tent places and active rest, but in recent years John has created an electric guitar workshop. In the premises of the former telephone exchange in Dubuu village, near the large flame mountain, there is now a unique electric guitar, as well as the only Latgale guitar museum, which will be another tourist object in Razna National Park. “I usually give it as an added value that my production is produced in a national park,” – smiles Janis Kuzminsky, recognising that both entrepreneurs and simply citizens have their own rules in the national park area, but a good will balance between nature protection and entrepreneurship can be found.
The park must live
The Razna National Park was established in 2007, covering the area of 59615 ha around Razna Lake, Rēzekne municipality, Mākoņkalna, Čornajas, Kaunatas and Lūznavas parish, Dagda municipality in the parish of Andzelis, Andrupenes and Ezernieki and Ludza municipality in Runden parish. Any economic activity in the territory of a national park shall be coordinated with the individual protection and use rules of the Razna National Park. As the Director of the Nature Protection Administration Latgale Regional Administration Anda Zeize emphasizes, THE RNP area consists predominantly of enterprises engaged in natural tourism, agriculture, the development of mineral resources.
Janis Kuzminsky established his company in 2003, before the establishment of Razna National Park (RNP). After 2007, when the park was created, there was, of course, a large number of regulations, mainly affecting logging and tourism. “There is no RNP area, there can be one bare felling in a plot of 5 ha, but the park can only be 1 ha.” Let's assume that if the farmer has his own woods and he wants to cut something out there, he can do it five times in a smaller area than a neighbor who has NO RNP, so he gets five times less profit, ”says John. The Atova lake, where he offers places of tent, is a private lake whose restrictions are not affected, but the tourist service providers who operate public lakes must comply with stricter rules on water protection in the use of motorised transport, motor boats and water motorcycles, and stricter rules have also arisen for construction. Now, if the susceptible people want to create their business in the territory of Razna National Park, they must first turn to the local government to verify that their plan is consistent with the spatial plan. Then it is necessary to turn to the submission to the State Environmental Service, which, in turn, co-ordinates its decision with the management of nature protection, which assesses how this business could affect the operation of the national park, taking into account several aspects such as pollution, waste, the use of water. An environmental impact assessment is then carried out. This procedure is both financially and time-consuming, and therefore the willingness to commence business in a nature-protected area is not so much.
“Businessmen must have taken Razna National Park as an area where natural tourism is primary. If people drive to Lake Razna, what they want to see, not factories and chimneys. I remember only two cases, it is the extraction of sapropel and the producers of insulating materials, these are the only major entrepreneurs who have come to us. The Razna National Park is big, the regime is not as strict as in reserves and denials, if it is about business, how the manufacturing industry or something that is, of course, we can talk about neutral areas, which are, in principle, intended for the development of the territory and the specific areas of the nature park, which must be assessed and each particular case is assessed,” – says Anda Zeize.
Additional investment in nature conservation
As a result of the establishment of a company in the nature conservation area, it is necessary to account for additional expenditure, -- Aivars Mežals, a member of SIA “Latpower”, is recognised, whose company in the Ubogova lakes of Mākoņkalna extracts sapropel, the production of natural organic fertilizers for agricultural purposes. “We had to find a technology that has never been used so far, so that the extraction process is not related to the clouding of the lake, to the pollution of the shore or to the use of water during the technological process. Consequently, the sewage factor does not exist as water is not used in any of the stages of the technological process. This enabled us to achieve a situation where practically the process does not have any impact on the environment and we are able to comply with the requirements laid down by the Nature Protection Administration. Of course, this required an additional contribution, but in the long term it must be done by every entrepreneur in order to preserve our land, forests and waters,” – says A. Mežals. Anda Zeize says that the idea of this company was first met with great doubts. “That lake is close to Mākoņkalnam, we thought for a long time how this factory would be in the landscape, because the road leading up to the Ubogow Lake has a lot of tourists, but tourists, driving along the lake, don't see if they want to see the factory.” It must be a landscape in the place, or unnoticed. '
The National Park becomes unaware
One of the most recent RNP companies – thermal insulating material producer SIA “Thermeo” in the parish of Mākoņkalna was established in 2010, realizing the project “Establishment of a new generation base of thermal insulation material” IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE LIAA programme “Support for investments in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in specially assisted areas (SPAs)”. This programme provides support for projects located in areas with a low development index. “We were looking for such an area, but when we signed a contract with the owner of the building, we didn't even know that it was in Razna's National Park.” This was what we learned when we went to the construction board to obtain permission to renovate the building, ”– said Igors Usialonks, board member OF SIA“ Thermeo ”. Their plant is located in the building of the former livestock farm built during THE USSR, which has been renovated around 134 000 lats. The Construction Board has set out a series of requirements, including those relating to environmental protection, to carry out various measurements required for category B, to organise a waste collection system.
“Of course, any conditions limit and impose obligations, including in addition to financial expenditure, but we understand it and recognise that the RNP imposes additional obligations as well as additional controls. By stabilising the plant, the region will obtain much more than simply intact nature with the degrading building.“ Because, undeniable, the building will be in the common landscape much better than the abandoned building. ”
Currently, the company is implementing “complex solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions” with an investment of around €400 000 to reduce environmental impacts - reduce CO2. The total reduction in CO2 emissions per year will be around 101 tonnes.
To host environmentally friendly
Anda Zeize believes that there is no prohibitions or restrictions in the territory of the National Park, but that it is possible and necessary to host the environment in a friendly manner. Restricted areas where there is no economic activity shall take only 3% from all territory.
“Business and environmental protection, these are sectors that are always not at odds, then there is always a need for a compromise. We all know that, therefore, it is also necessary to assess what it gives to the public, whether this planned activity is at a place where there are very unique natural resources, values, then that activity can be transferred to another location, some alternatives are considered. Of course, there will be places to be categorically excluded, these are restricted areas, but the remaining places are evaluated. If you talk about bans, i remember the installation of this factory for the suction of the sapropel, we had a suggestion that it should be possible to prevent the sapropel developers from working at the time of the birds, so that such a specially protected bird species, such as the great rebellion, would be able to mature and perish there so that they did not have any disturbance. These things need to be aligned. '
Many business niche IN THE RNP area are still free, for example, no one has ever thought of growing and packaging herbal plants for tea that might be required because of pure and intact nature.
Jānis Kuzminskis believes that Razna National Park, with its unique natural objects, offers great impetus to the development of his guitar production. “It's a good bonus, that i have a big hill beside me.” Small businesses could form around such a large tourist facility that could offer a variety of tourism products. “I wonder if any kind of guitar will go somewhere toward the edge of the world, in the woods, but if there is a large, demanding object next to it, it is a chance that you will come to you more often.”
Anna Rancāne
Photo: Anna Rancāne and Theresia cross
Article in abbreviated form “Day”, 27.02.2015, “Environmental Day”