Canyoning alongside nature

Each of us living here in Slovenia were, at some point in their lives, faced with the absurdity of the Slovene law. The most vocal in these days are mountainbikers, who are currently fighting for the legalization of biking in mountains and on hills. But only a few of us know that also other forms of non-motorized activities are forbidden in mountains that do not even have a serious impact on the Mother Nature at all. 

 

 

One of such forbidden groups are also canyoneers. The official Triglav national park management plan state and forbid “tourist, sports or recreational activities on watercourses or in standing waters, which do not include fishing, in accordance with the regulations applying for fishing” in the first and second preservation zone (with the exception of the lake Bohinjsko jezero). Most of the canyons in the National park Triglav are located in the first and second zone, and there are also community bans for canyoning the canyons around Kobarid, Tolmin and Idrija.  Those breaking the rule can face up to a very high fine. And if we look at all of the 38 canyons that are in Slovenia, there are only 12 of them left, which can be visited without having to worry about a security officer waving at you at the exit of a canyon with a fine of a couple of 100 Euro.

 

 

 

I am a huge supporter when it comes to conserving nature for our future generations, which I also stated many times in my other reports. But some things just go too far. You have to ask yourself what kind of influence canyoning really has on our environment. Us canyon guides agreed upon preserving and caring for nature when we signed our legal consent for the job and to only leave behind our footsteps in the process and nothing else. Every 5 to 10 years we refurbish the anchorage points and so care for the safety of everybody involved in this activity, and also care not to damage any lifeforms in the process. We use existing routes and stay away from standing waters, where tiny microorganism live and do not destroy any moss on the cliffs, which are dragged on and growing because of the existing heavy water flow.

 

 

 

In the years 1999 and 2000, experts in Germany made a study of 26 different canyons, where the focus was the aspects of which they came to the conclusion about the influence on the environment from the following examined factors: the influence of waves and/or high water, fish living in water, the canyons geology, the visiting frequency, moss, seaweeds, microorganisms, topography of canyons, sequences of cascades in pools, the influence of sliding, water murkiness, the influence on vegetation in the waterfall and around them, the influence of canyoning on the fish population, the vegetation and other animals. All of the above factors were researched and they came to the conclusion that the total ban of canyoning, because of ecological aspects, is not necessary. In the canyons with a steady water flow, in which fish do not live and in which you do not have to leave the stream to go through it, the intensity of the canyoning can proceed as before, without a serious impact on nature or vegetation whatsoever.

 

 

Here in Slovenia, such a internal study was also made by Marin Šolar and Tea Lukan Klavžer. Contrary to the German study, they concluded that water sports do affect the environment negatively, especially at low water levels, in the mating seasons of fish and birds. In the case of canyoning, it supposedly has an aggressive impact in the sensitive ecosystem and pollutes the water supplies at the water source itself. Following also that the impact is seen even in damaged plants and rocks, where the anchor points are installed.

But in practical use, the impact of canyoning, compared to the untouched natural processes, is minor. 6 years ago there was a rockfall in the canyon Mlinarica, which changed an almost 100m deep and 1 meter wide crack into 30m wide canyon. In the spring time of 2011 Mlinarica collapsed into itself and a once so well-known and loved canyon in Europe, became just a bleak shadow of a once forgotten beauty. Such a deep impact could only be achieved with couple hundreds of hours of work with heavy machinery and explosives. How can canyoneers have such impact?

 

 

With years following, one of the authors of Slovene study about the influence of canyoning, became the executive director of WWF Adria (the local branch of the world's organization of nature conservation). One of their projects is also the conservation of the still un-dammed rivers and streams in the Balkan region. The WWF carries out their projects in many different ways, one of which is the “Balkan Rivers Tour”, where for 2 years now they organize kayaking trips on the most interesting rivers in Balkan. The other way is that they protect the waters with activities, which bring in more profit than hydroelectric power plants. So they started to train canyoning guides in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which would lead groups through the canyons, which they would like to preserve from hydroelectric power plants. WWF Adria therefore accepts that the influence of canyoning on nature itself is minimal and acceptable.  

 

 

The consequences of canyoning being forbidden here in Slovenia in 70% of the canyons are becoming more and more visible. The existing anchor points had seen its better days and they are becoming dangerous if used, but nobody yet dares to renew them. In Bohinj, canyoning in the main season, is quite a sad experience. The canyons Grmečica and Jerečica are, during the high season, mostly very dry, Mostnica, which lies in the National park Triglav, has excellent water level, but it is sadly forbidden. The other problem are the canyons that are allowed, because they are overcrowded. It is therefore not unusual for a group of canyoneers to wait over 30 min to make the descend down a rope, because there is 30 more people waiting to do it before them. And seaweed on rocks are also non-existent. If canyoning would be allowed elsewhere, these groups would scatter around in many different  canyons and the damage would be far less extensive. Slovenia could even become the tourist Mecca for canyoning, because even canyoneers from other countries would come to visit – just like we visit Italy, France and Switzerland. But this wont happen until we keep on forbidding things without understanding the macro effects of such actions.