Project Picture the Nature

Cozia National Park

Our destination for this week was

an amazing Cozia National Park

where our group decided to hike

up to the mountains. The

mountains, rising suddenly from

the surrounding area in the Olt

River valley, offer picturesque

landscapes and lovely natural

scenes. Cozia National Park

includes well preserved areas of

natural grasslands and forest

ecosystems. So far more than 400

species of mushrooms and more than

900 species of plants and trees have

been identified. The mountains offer

shelter for large number of animal

species including large carnivores

such as brown bears, wolves and

lynxes; invertebrates, fishes and

more than 120 species of birds

(including many endangered hawk

species) are represented.

Cozia mountain is covered with

different hiking tracks (according to

the lever of fitness of the hikers) that are all clearly signposted. The

trails are relatively clean although one can see come carelessly

discarded water bottles around. The mountain, almost entirely

covered with forest, was a tough yet rewarding hike. And our prize

for making it to the top was an astonishing mountain landscape that

reaches the horizon.

Indian scientist Swami Sivananda has said: “A mountain is composed

of tiny grains of earth. The ocean is made up of tiny drops of water.

Even so, life is but an endless series of little details, actions, speeches,

and thoughts. And the consequences whether good or bad of even the

least of them are far-reaching.“

In addition to littering, recent

studies have shown that climate

change has had a subtle yet strong

negative effect to the area as well.

Floods, storms, heat waves, fires

damage ecosystems and affect

local economies, especially

forestry and agriculture. Change in

forest and grassland composition

will have significant impact on

mountain species. Climatic

warming, observed in the

mountain areas, has been

associated with upward movement

of some plant species, as well as appearance of many new invasive

species. Warmer and shorter winters, will have its effect on winter

hibernation and behavior of species that hibernate.

This trip has been the highlight our travels in Romania and allowed us

to see the magnificent natural beauty of the county. It is important

for humans to realise that our actions can either help to preserve this

beauty or destroy it.

Maramureș Last week we visited Romania’s northernmost county called Maramures. It’s situated near the Ukraine border and its seat is called Baia Mare where we needed to make a stop to change buses. Baia Mare is said to be the most polluted city in Romania due to many factories around the city. Already stepping out of the bus we could feel the air heavier so to say. You can really feel that it has a different smell. Maramures county is well-known for its valleys and hills and also for its pastoral and agricultural traditions. People still wear traditional clothes and ploughing, planting, harvesting, and hay making are mostly done through manual labour. Our first visit was to the tallest wooden structure in Romania - Săpânţa Peri monastery church. Magnificent and yet simple. They had construction work going on to build a new monastery next to the Church.

After that we visited The world-known Merry Cemetery of Săpânţa. It’s a special kind of graveyard with wooden crosses painted in vivid colors. A particular blue, called „SSăpânţa blue" rules over all the other colors.

Stan Ioan Patras, the author of this cemetery, carved the first cross in 1935. He died in 1977 and his creation was continued to this day and carried on by Patras's apprentice, Dumitu Pop.

Each cross is different: the carved images naively catch one of the deceased lifetime's characteristic attitudes, while the epitaphs are short poems, deprived of the usual cliches and full of substance, written in the first person like a confession of the deceased himself.

After hitch-hiking on a British car (with the steering wheel actually on the right side) we arrived to CFF Vişeu de Sus, where we spend the night at a lovely old couple’s living room. Next day we had our sights set on going to the mountains with the Mocanita, the

Carpathian Forestry Steam Train on Vaser Valley. The Mocăniţa” is the only mean of transport to the protected area of Maramureş Mountains.

Built in 1932, the Vaser Valley railway is still working, primarily aimed as logging wood from the forest for the wood processing factories from Vişeu de Sus. CFF Vişeu de Sus is today the last remaining functional forestry train in Europe, still used for wood transportation. We, of course went there as tourists. Since the year 2000, there are regular steam trains also used for touristic purpose, taking visitors up to the

Paltin station (21.6 km), about two hours away from the town of Vişeu de Sus, where a nice halting place is arranged. At Paltin, we had a picnic and then started our way back. We really enjoyed to see this side of Romania. Maramures is a unique area with old traditions and friendly people. It’s remarkable how this way of life can be preserved in European Union.

Let`s do it Romania

Picture the Nature project is partnering up with "Let's do it Romania" campaign! Estonians in our group are super excited since the movement originally started in 2008 in Estonia

THE IDEA

Estonians had an outrageous plan – to clean up the country from illegally dumped or littered waste, in ONE day! For that they needed at least 40 000 volunteers all over the country.

Since Estonia regained its independence in 1991, illegal dumping of garbage in our forests had been a growing problem. The issue was not just limited to the garbage itself, but also the mindset of some people which lead them to treat our beautiful nature as their private dumpster. Though attitudes have changed somewhat during the last years, a significant number of people had been continuing the habit. The amount of garbage littering our nature had grown too big for the government to tackle alone. And the problem was not in the garbage itself, it was in the mindset of those people who didn't respect

nature. So the organizing group knew that they had to do something drastic to shake things up, to make a real change.

They wanted to make it everybody's business and put the situation out there - for everyone to see. So that it couldn't be ignored anymore and something could be done. While doing so, it was essential to gather the attention and support from all different groups of the society - no exceptions by age, language, profession or lifestyle – everyone`s help was needed!

You can see how Estonians did it at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPfdFs227tE&feature=player_embedded&list=PLCE64BAFE6D704287

NOW IT`S ROMANIA`S TURN!

http://www.letsdoitromania.ro

To stay updated with our activities check out following links:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Picture-the-Nature/197190727005536

http://picturethenature.blogspot.com/

https://plus.google.com/106348054750509589299/posts