Red Forest

The forest surrounding the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (CNPP) was an area the citizens of Pripyat cherished. After the explosion at reactor four, the environment was changed forever and the 10 square kilometer (3.86 square mile) area surrounding the CNPP became known as the Red Forest. With the people in Pripyat and other affected villages evacuated, the forest became a living lab to study the long-term effects of high radiation levels on ecosystems. The area has caught fire often in the years since the disaster and when it burns, radiation trapped in the trees is released into the air.

Before the Chernobyl disaster, the natural landscape around the CNPP was complimented by a monoculture plantation of Scots Pine. The citizens of Pripyat felt like they were part of the environment and many people built summer houses and tended vegetable gardens in the area away from the city. Unfortunately, the Scots Pine is highly radiosensitive and after the explosion at CNPP the trees absorbed the radiation. The chemical reaction that occurred inside the trees made them glow at night for about a month. When the pines died, their green needles became copper colored. The extreme change in coloration prompted the soldiers and scientists working there to nickname the area, “Red Forest.” Other trees with a high die off rate were birches and Black alders. In efforts to clean up the radiation in the forest, many trees were cut down by liquidators and buried in concrete lined tombs.

Some animals in the area died immediately, others further away died when their thyroid glands disintegrated, and others stopped reproducing. Cattle near the area at the time of the disaster that did not die had a decline in birth rates and calf mortality went up. Mutations in the DNA of area animals have been found, but they do not seem to be ones that affect physiology or reproduction. Some have shorter lifespans than those outside of radiated areas, and some do better than others.

Directly after the disaster, plants absorbed radiation on their surfaces, as that threat lessened, radiation was brought up by the plants root systems. The soil is still highly contaminated and cannot be used for large scale crops. Wheat grown in the radioactive soil mutated into several unstable strands, but soybeans seemed to change at a molecular level and be able to protect themselves from damage. Mushrooms absorb large amounts of cesium-139 and should not be eaten, but most of the apples grown in the area can be if the skin is removed. Stands of broadleaf trees that reseeded themselves and replanted pines are doing well. Some of the trees that survived the disaster have much larger needles and leaves than normal.

One likely reason the flora and fauna are rebounding is that humans were taken out of the area. With the people and their companion animals and livestock gone, and hunting halted, the environment has had time to repair and revive itself. There is an increase in diversity of wildlife and many of the Ukraine’s threatened animals thrive here. Some, like wolves, elk, and lynx have repopulated themselves, while European Bison and Przewalski’s horse were introduced in 1998. The next generation of cattle from the area were smaller but the generation after that seemed to be normal. They are still too radioactive for human consumption. It seems removing humans from the area was a bigger benefit than the radiation was destructive.

Despite the area still being unsafe, some people have been allowed to return to ancestral homes where they live off the land growing and harvesting their own food. They cannot have children with them, and children cannot visit. Many of those who returned are now in their 70s and 80s and although dangerous, they roast the mushrooms that grow wild in their ovens fired with radioactive wood. The smoke from their cooking fires causing mini fallouts over the area.

One of the biggest concerns today is the large wildfires that frequent the area. Every fire releases radiation captured by trees into the air. Firemen are still stationed in the area and make do with little protective gear and old soviet era trucks. Although they have always been present, global climate change has been increasing the number of wildfires and their sizes. In 2020 firemen battled a gigantic blaze with the help of helicopters and other equipment. Rainfall finally put the fire out within a mile of the CNPP.

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