augustyn mikos and his friend wojciech are looking at both healthy and diseased trees. gustyn: all this is natural forest growth. it's very old, more than 170 years. this forest wasn't really ever managed by humans. it has followed the rules of nature over the course of thousands of years. reporter: decaying trees are occupied by thousands of birds, insects, and other creatures. this is europe's last ancient forest and a unesco world heritage site. wojciech: this woodland is vitally important and invaluable. it is the only place i will be able to show my children what primeval forest looks like. that's why i want to protect it. reporter: a little further on, there are deep furrows in the forest floor. huge harvesters were deployed here and a clearing created in the middle of the forest. augustyn: more than 100 hectares were cleared. the devastation is pretty well advanced, as you can see here. reporter: the forest authorities say the clear-cutting is necessary to combat a bark beetle infestation. logging quotas were tripled last year. there's some dispute about where exa

augustyn mikos and his friend wojciech are looking at both healthy and diseased trees. gustyn: all this is natural forest growth. it's very old, more than 170 years. this forest wasn't really ever managed by humans. it has followed the rules of nature over the course of thousands of years. reporter: decaying trees are occupied by thousands of birds, insects, and other creatures. this is europe's last ancient forest and a unesco world heritage site. wojciech: this woodland is vitally important and invaluable. it is the only place i will be able to show my children what primeval forest looks like. that's why i want to protect it. reporter: a little further on, there are deep furrows in the forest floor. huge harvesters were deployed here and a clearing created in the middle of the forest. augustyn: more than 100 hectares were cleared. the devastation is pretty well advanced, as you can see here. reporter: the forest authorities say the clear-cutting is necessary to combat a bark beetle infestation. logging quotas were tripled last year. there's some dispute about where exa