Geoheritage of protected areas, their protection and tourist promotion on the example of the Stołowe Mountains National Park – the document analysis

Abstract

The article presents the main assumptions for the protection of objects and features of inanimate natural value in protected areas – attractions that may constitute the basis for developing geotourism in a region, on the example of the Stołowe Mountains National Park. Geo-touristic potential was presented based on the analysis of official legal documents devel-oped for the protection of the Park. These were: the draft plan for the protection of PNGS and the Park’s 2014–22 protection tasks de-signed to determine the threats related to tour-ism development, as well as the Park’s official website. Geotouristic resources were presented in documents, and their selection is a practical expression of the tourism development policy in the protected area. The method of presentation was also analysed. The Stołowe Mountains National Park is located in the Stołowe Mountains, which are part of the Central Sudetes. Its geotouristic at-tractiveness is determined by its unique relief, which reflects its geological structure. Most of the mountains, built of sedimentary rocks, are examples of structural relief. It is the only ex-ample of slab relief in Poland. The area is protected by the Nature Conservation Act of 16 April 2004. The Act requires that a nature conservation plan be developed according to which specific natural resources, including in-animate ones, should be protected.

If the plan has not yet been approved, temporary protection of resources is conducted based on protection tasks approved each time by the competent minister. The current set of tasks consists of several parts. These include: the identification and assessment of existing and potential internal and external threats; the indication of ways to eliminate or reduce these threats and their effects; the description of the methods of active protection of ecosystems, specifying their type, size and location; and the determination of places made available for scientific, educational, tourist purposes together with the maximum number of people that can stay in these places at any one time.

Apart from the above set of tasks, the need for protection is shown in the Park’s draft nature protection plan. Some of the protection objectives there mention preserving biological diversity and geological and geomorphological heritage, as well as shaping appropriate human attitudes towards nature through education, information and promotion in the field of nature protection.

Due to the richness of the geoheritage, the objectives of protecting inanimate nature were also indicated. The project contains a list of the most valuable geological and geomorphological objects found in the area of the Park – a total of 73 objects. The top ten, in the order of the list, were: Szczeliniec Wielki, Błędne Skały, Białe Skały, Rocks at Radkowskie Urwisko, rocks at Słoneczne Cliff, Skalne Grzyby, the rocks of Góra Zbój, the rocks of Góra Dzik, the rocks of Fort Karol and Samotnika, and Skałki Łężyckie. This list became the basis for the promotion of geotourism resources pre-sented at the Park’s official website. The places and manner of presentation were analysed.

The analysis of the documents that de-scribe the activities of the Stołowe Mountains National Park shows that they are well thought-out and fit into the nature protection policy in Poland and basically meet all the requirements related to inanimate nature. This applies to the implementation of the tasks set out in article 3 of the Act, which includes legal protection of resources, formations and components of nature, implementation of the programme for the protection of sustainable usage of biodiversity, along with the action planning and con-ducting of educational, information and promotional activities in the field of nature protection. The tasks of national parks are clarified in Article 8 of the Act: indicating how protective activities are conducted in the park's ecosystems, making the area of the national park available on the terms set out in the protection plan or protective tasks, and conducting activities related to environmental education (Journal of Laws of 004, No. 92, item 880).

All these elements are implemented by the Stołowe Mountains National Park, or at least the will to do so is expressed in the relevant documents specifying tasks that take into account the specificity of the area it protects. This specificity stems from the unique relief of the mountains, together with their inanimate nature resources.

As clearly seen from the analysed documents and source materials, the park also fulfils its statutory obligation to make available the in-animate nature attractions, for research, educational and tourist purposes alike. The particular points of the protection tasks or the draft protection plan indicate a sustainable approach to the use of attractions. The threats described in the documents are followed by ideas for reducing or eliminating them, so that the re-sources of inanimate nature can be made avail-able to visitors to the Park. The type of protective tasks and their size, which has a very practical and detailed dimension, are also defined.

The Park, in accordance with the obligations imposed on it, undertakes appropriate pro-motional activities. It prepares its resources for reception by visitors by distributing relevant in-formation and prepares tourist products on the basis of geotourism resources. Such products are themed trails – didactic trails. In this way, the Park performs the educational, investigative and ecological education functions – one of the main functions of tourism. Information about them has been posted on the official web-site and is the result of an earlier inventory of resources.