Groups working the Beskid Niski forests

Organised groups of Romanian mushroom pickers have appeared in the forests of Podkarpacie, particularly in the Beskid Niski range around Dukla and Rymanów. The Regional Directorate of State Forests (RDLP) in Krosno, whose spokesman Edward Marszałek spoke to the media about the phenomenon, says some groups number several dozen people. Some of them sleep at forest car parks and campsites.

Cars with Romanian registration plates drive the pickers into the woods at dawn and collect them with their harvest in the afternoon. Mushrooms are cleaned, sorted and packed into crates on site before they leave Poland. Wpolityce.pl reports that the crates are destined mainly for markets in western Europe.

Forest guards, fines and threats

Over the weekend of 17 and 18 October, forest guards from the Dukla and Rymanów forest districts issued eight fines to Romanian citizens, all of them for illegal entry into the forest. The people fined paid in cash. Łukasz Krzakiewicz, a Forest Guard specialist for property protection at RDLP Krosno, described the main problem as something other than violence.

“This year we have not recorded dangerous incidents or threats from them toward local people, but the problem is unauthorised entry into the forest and littering.”

Rumours circulating on social media claimed the pickers had been aggressive or had taken baskets from local people. RDLP in Krosno denies them, and no formal notification of an assault or extortion has been filed.

The legal position on foreign pickers

Collecting mushrooms is legal in Poland for foreign nationals, and the Forest Guard says Polish rules do not restrict collection on the basis of nationality. Wpolityce.pl adds that Polish state forests set no weight limits and no licence fees for personal collection, and that EU citizens have the same rights as Poles as long as they stay in the country legally and avoid strictly protected areas such as national parks and nature reserves.

The same outlet contrasts this with Germany, where collection is generally limited to 1-2 kg per person per day and porcini are specially protected, and with Austria and Italy, where special permits are required. It also argues that forest guards have their hands tied because Polish law sets no penalty for mass collection, although the fines issued this month related to entry into the forest.

What the sources do not establish

None of the reports gives a total number of pickers in the area or the volume of mushrooms taken out of the country.