Students from Konstantin Preslavski Secondary School of Humanities and Arts in Varna managed to arrange the installation of fences, waste bins and signs forbidding access to animals in the Wonderful Rocks. This happened during the meeting with the Mayor of Dalgopol Municipality Georgi Georgiev a few days ago. The decision came after a series of letters to institutions and the media about vandalism in the natural landmark.
The children took part in the 11th scientific expedition “Asparuhovo – a Future for the Folklore World”, during which they hiked the Wonderful Rocks. They see a natural landscape painted with graffiti, turned into a pasture and toilet for cow herds and a garbage dump for tourists. Their spontaneous idea of organizing a clean-up action faces the limitations of the law. Therefore, they seek assistance from the Public Environmental Center for Sustainable Development (PECSD). After consulting for civil actions, the students wrote about the problem to the Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Water (RIEW) – Varna, the Municipality of Dalgopol and the mayors of the villages Asparuhovo and Dobromir.
Only the mayor of Dulgopol Georgi Georgiev responds to their invitation to meet. He pledges to put up barriers, signs forbidding animals from accessing Wonderful Rocks and trash bins and cleaning up animal waste within November. According to him, only live security and video surveillance are a real and lasting solution to the problem. In addition to significant funding, the area of landslide stones needs to be secured. Therefore, young people are considering setting up a non-profit association to organize a donation campaign to Save the Wonderful Rocks.
In addition to cleaning and safety, children have ideas about how to make Wonderful Rocks more attractive for tourists. “We want to find a convenient way to walk from Asparuhovo village to Chudnite Skali. Make an eco-trail and install colored lights so that the object can be seen from afar at night, “says sixth-grader Anna Bogdanova. The students also propose to put information boards not only with purely geographical data, but also with curiousity and little known stories about the place that they learned from the people in Asparuhovo village.
“At the next meeting in the municipality we will go with the intention to offer concrete help on our part,” said seventh-grader Georgi Georgiev.
Sixth-grader Georgi Georgiev put his demands on the hands of the Mayor, and he even sat briefly in his chair.
“I’m positive. The mayor approaches gave me confidence that things will happen, “said his classmate Anna Bogdanova.
Wonderful Rocks was declared a landmark 70 years ago. It covers 12.5 hectares in the municipality of Dalgopol, 4 km from the village of Asparuhovo, on the shore of Tsonevo Dam. The purpose of the declaration is to protect the rock formations, which prohibits changes that damage the natural image of the rocks and the surrounding landscape and nature.
“Wonderful Rocks” is included in the National Register of Protected Areas in Bulgaria and partially in the protected area under the Kamchiyska Mountain Birds Directive.
More information about children’s activities and how you can support them, see here!
Translator: Valentina Vagge