The Tuzly Estuaries National Park, which unites 13 estuaries in Odesa Oblast along the coast between the Danube and Dniester, is a unique natural place and one of the largest bird migration routes. However, the neighborhood of the park turned out to be not so happy, and even exhausting for the locals. The reason for this is the "temporary" management from the Ministry of Ecology, which has been running the park for 10 years and is constantly at war with people. Local residents tell about this, UNN reports.
Vasyl Reznichenko, head of the Lyman territorial community bordering the national park, says he has repeatedly asked the Ministry of Ecology to send a working group to their area so that the authorities can hear the problems of ordinary residents related to the national park.
"I have repeatedly suggested to the entire management, and in particular to the Ministry of Ecology, that they send a working group to talk to the community residents and hear our opinion. Not about the national park, but about its management. This is a long-term war - everyone is tired of it - constant courts, constant disputes, clashes," says the head of the community.
Reznichenko clarified that the main "apple of discord" is the land that has long been owned by the locals, but now it is being taken away by the national park management.
"People who have lived here for generations are forbidden to cultivate their land plots because they turned out to be part of the national park. This is despite the fact that people have a state act for these land plots. People are in favor of the national park, but against the current management, which has become permanent in its "temporary" status. Iryna Vykhrystiuk and Ivan Rusev have been managing the national park for 10 years. Why doesn't the Ministry hold an open competition?" - Reznichenko asks rhetorically and adds that someone is probably lobbying for these candidates in the ministry.
He emphasizes that changing the management of Tuzly Estuaries is a common position of the three communities: Dyviziyska, Lymanska, and Tuzlivska, but the ministry has not heard them for years.
Locals say that the national park hasn't been inspected for a long time, and that there are terrible incidents there.
"There were precedents when the jackals bred, and the remains of a woman were found who was not milked by the jackals - there is no impact..." they say.
Locals also complain about the entrepreneurial activities of the national park's management, who set up barriers and collected 50 UAH from visitors. However, this was until 2022, when the war forced such business to stop. It also probably stopped mullet fishing, the quota for which was also allocated to the national park management instead of local residents.
Since 2017, the Tuzly Estuaries National Park has been managed by Iryna Vykhrystiuk as an interim director. She replaced Ivan Rusev, whose deputy she worked for. So, she has been acting for 7 years, and the Ministry of Ecology has been unable to hold a competition for this position and finally appoint a full-fledged manager.
In his last declaration for 2023, acting director Vykhrystiuk states that he has neither real estate nor a car - nothing but a single salary of almost UAH 305 thousand a year. However, it is unlikely that such information about the lack of housing can be true. It is also known that in 2012 she unsuccessfully ran for the Verkhovna Rada from the Our Ukraine - People's Self-Defense bloc. This is probably the reason for her critical posts on Facebook, not only about ex-Regionals but also about the President's Servant of the People party.
In turn, the national park's management complains not only about the Servants of the People, but also about local businessmen and the military, who allegedly interfere with the water exchange of the estuaries.