As much as 40% of the area of the Forest located outside the protected areas (national parks and reserves) are stands over a hundred years old, of key importance for maintaining the continuity of natural natural processes. In 2014, the entire area of ​​the Białowieża Primeval Forest (Polish and Belarusian parts) was entered on the UNESCO World Heritage List, 50% of the area of ​​Forest Districts in Poland was included in the protection zone IIb, which is prohibited from harvesting timber and sanitary cuts.

On November 6, 2015, the Regional Directorate for Environmental Protection in Białystok established the Plan of Protection Tasks for the Natura 2000 area, Białowieża Primeval Forest PLC200004, which excluded stands over a hundred years old from forest management. It states that the removal of dead and dying trees is one of the basic threats to the habitats of continental oak-hornbeam forests, coniferous forests and marshy forests as well as riparian forests, and that deforestation and removal of dead spruce trees over 100 years old threaten preserving the relict forest fauna.

On November 10, 2015, Regional Directorate of State Forests in Białystok presented a proposal for an annex to the Forest Management Plan (FMP) for the Białowieża Forest District for public consultation. This plan significantly expands the planned logging areas for the years 2012-2021. In the original FMP the maximum allowed volume of logged trees was 63,417 m³ during a period of ten years. With the new proposal, 317,800 m³ can be logged during the same period! This idea is motivated by claims that this would help protect the remaining forest from spruce bark beetles that threaten spruce trees. Moreover, the logging would protect tourists and rangers from falling dead trees (i.e. public security).

However, these motivations are criticized by scientists. As early as November 18, The State Council for Nature Conservation expressed a strongly negative position towards the proposed change. On November 26, the Committee for Nature Conservation of the Polish Academy of Sciences stated that an attempt to increase the level of wood harvest several times was not justified. It also found that the proposal fundamentally violated the provisions of the Plan of Protective Tasks for the Natura 2000 area, Białowieża Primeval Forest. Moreover, on December 5, the Scientific Council of the Białowieża National Park was concerned about the fact that in the Annex's documents there is no reference to the World Heritage Site, its management principles and its zoning.

The EJOs also expressed their strong opposition. They claimed that the spruce bark beetle outbreak is a natural process that occurs in periods of 8-10 years. Moreover, according to the only published inventory of the concerned forest area, almost half of the trees marked for logging are not trees of species affected by the spruce bark beetle. Adding to the skepticism about claimed motives for the expanded logging are commercial interests of the State Forests. At the turn of 2015 and 2016, EJOs - associated in the Coalition "I Love the Białowieża Forest" (Polish: Koalicja Kocham Puszczę) - launched a petition to Prime Minister, appealing for intervention. Within three months, almost 130,000 Poles signed this petition (over 200,000 signatures were finally collected).

A large part of the public is against the new logging plans in Białowieża Forest. On January 17, 2016, the Ents March (keepers of trees from the world of J.R.R. Tolkien) in Warsaw, which was attended by 2-3 thousand people (Warsaw residents, visitors from other regions, including the inhabitants of the Białowieża Forest) passed through the streets.

In February 2016, the local government of Podlaskie Voivodeship called on the national government to "develop and implement, based on a compromise between all participants in the dispute, a uniform management system for the entire forest, which would also take into account the development aspirations of the inhabitants of the Białowieża Forest region".

Already at the beginning of the mobilization, the inhabitants of the Forest, and more specifically the Hajnówka county, joined in. On March 2, 2016, they submitted a petition to the prime minister's headquarters in Warsaw (signed by 500 people) in which they oppose the increase in cutting. They spoke out in favor of preserving the compromise concluded between nature conservationists and the local community in 2011, on the basis of which the Minister of the Environment limited the limit of timber harvesting. They were also for the fact that the entire forest became a national park.

Under social pressure, the limit for planned logging in Białowieża Forest District was set at 188,000 m3. Thus, the planned growth of the logging has been reduced, but was still 3 times higher than anticipated a few years ago. On 25 March, 2016, Minister of the Environment approved this annex. According to Polish legislation (Forest Act), this approval is enough to legalize the logging plans. As a consequence, on April 12, 14 activists from Greenpeace Poland protested for two days on the building of the Ministry of the Environment in Warsaw, on which they hung a large banner with an appeal for the protection of the entire forest in the form of a national park.

Since the authorities in Warsaw voted in favor of increasing logging in the Białowieża Forest, and thus all national paths to save this valuable area were exhausted, Koalicja Kocham Puszczę sent an official complaint to the European Commission on April 19, 2016, reporting the violation the law by a decision of the Minister of the Environment. According to lawyers at ClientEarth, conflictive logging plans go against several EU directives (including Habitats Directive_. E.g.: the approval of the environment minister was given despite not having carried out  "an assessment to determine whether the increased logging would have an adverse effect on the integrity of the Natura 2000 site" [1]. The Coalition wanted the EU commission ”to quickly intervene to halt the irreversible loss that would be caused by intense logging and to ensure the protection of the Bialowieza Forest in compliance with the Habitats Directive”. Over 32,000 Poles signed the letter of support for this complaint.

The climax of the conflict took place in 2017. On February 17, the Director of the State Forests Office issued Decision No. 51 allowing unlimited logging on 2/3 of the Forest's surface (Białowieża, Browsk i Hajnówka Forest Districts), including the stands that were protected so far. In spring, heavy logging equipment entered the Forest and, significant devastation of this valuable area began. As a result, at the end of May, the Camp for the Forest (this is also the name of the newly formed grassroots civic movement - coalition) was established in the village of Pogorzelce in the Białowieża commune; on a private plot. Anyone could pitch a tent there. The camp became a place where people coming to the forest met in order to act on its behalf, integrate and undertake joint initiatives to protect it. Those interested in the fate of the forest met with experts in the camp, listened to lectures, took part in workshops and nature walks. 

The Camp for the Forest became a starting point for forest patrols and blockades of forest equipment (activists most often chained themselves to machines). In total, 1,500 people participated in the activities of the Camp for the Forest until September 2017. From May to November 2017, approx. 40 actions to stop the operation of heavy tree logging and hauling equipment took place. The scale of the damage was revealed by the social patrols. In 2017, harvesters - machines of this type were used in the Forest for the first time in history - felled 180,000 trees, more than a half of which - in old stands. 

On April 1, 2017, an indefinite entry ban was introduced in the Białowieża Forest District, i.e. in the area of about 1/5 of the Polish part of the forest. The imposition of this prohibition was argued by felling trees and ensuring public safety. Walkers and cyclists caught in this area by the police and the Forest Guard were admonished or fined. Security patrols repeatedly detained activists on bicycles and cars, carrying out detailed and lengthy technical inspections of vehicles, which was a gross restriction of civil liberties. In the summer, several protest marches were held against restricting access to the Forest. Some of the marches were attended by over 700 people, many of which were local residents who made a living from tourism. The tourism industry - over 90 entities, including large hotels - repeatedly appealed to the government to lift entry bans.

The matter of the Forest was also dealt with by the World Heritage Committee. At the summit in Krakow in July 2017, the Committee called on Poland to end logging operations and to act in accordance with our country's international obligations. The entity announced that these activities may result in entering the Białowieża Forest on the List of World Heritage in Danger (finally in 2019 it was decided that the Forest would not be included in such a list) or even being removed from the World Heritage List.

On July 13, 2017, the European Commission brought a complaint to the Court of Justice of the EU against Poland for failure to fulfill obligations under the Birds and Habitats Directives in the Natura 2000 Puszcza Białowieska area. On July 27, 2017, the CJEU issued a decision on the application of interim measures, obliging the immediate suspension of logging in the Forest. However, cutting was not stopped. This is an unprecedented case, because for the first time in the history of the CJEU, an EU Member State has refused to execute an interim order issued by that court. Therefore, on November 20, 2017, the CJEU upholds the July ban on logging and announces that the continuation of logging and removal of timber may result in financial penalties of at least EUR 100,000 per day. The lawyers recognized that this decision was also a precedent. Before her, it was not known yet that financial penalties could be imposed for non-compliance with interim measures. Most importantly, however, activists noted that the financial threat was working. In December, there was clearly less logging, but de facto it was continued.

The CJEU decision from November 2017 indicated that "apart from an exceptional situation and absolutely necessary to ensure public safety, Poland must immediately stop active forest management in the Białowieża Forest". Observers see this provision as a gateway for the Ministry of the Environment. This is because, in their opinion, it gives the possibility of holding talks for many months on agreeing on the definitions of the terms used in this fragment (eg "public safety" or "active forest management"). The Ministry of the Environment has so far repeated that its activities in the Forest are carried out precisely in order to ensure public safety. However, activists reported that harvesters also work at a greater distance from roads and cut not only spruce damaged by bark beetles, but also healthy spruces, and even deciduous trees, which the bark beetles do not attack.

Especially in 2017, activists faced repression and violence from public services. On August 18, at 8:00 a.m., 20 policemen in balaclavas entered the camp of environmentalists. The reason for the intervention was a dozen or so anonymous denunciations that drugs were stored in the camp. No illegal substances were detected during the police operation. Moreover, on November 9, several dozen members of the Camp for the Forest occupied the building of the General Directorate of State Forests in Warsaw. As many as 200 policemen showed up for the protest! 23 protesters were arrested overnight. Moreover, during blockades of logging in the Forest, the Forest Guard repeatedly showed brutality towards peaceful protests - some activists were taken to hospital with serious bodily injuries, which was confirmed by medical examinations. Experts 'reports showed that the guards' interventions - such as unprotected retrieval of activists from great heights - posed a threat to their health and life. The activists reported 12 cases to the Public Prosecutor's Office concerning the excess of powers by the forest guards (all applications were dismissed). The police also used force against the protesters, incl. to distract them from harvesters (e.g. June 8, 2017). The foresters also suggested that the participants of the Camp for the Forest were destroying the pulpits for hunters. 

Public services criminalized the social movement protesting against the mass logging in the Białowieża Forest and tried to intimidate people considering joining the resistance. Over 500 court cases were brought against the participants of the Camp for the Forest (including foreigners), mainly to the District Court in Bielsk Podlaski and its branch in Hajnówka. The cases of misdemeanors (most often) consisted in "not leaving the concourse" despite the call of the services, disturbing public order, obstructing traffic on the road or entering the forest as an unauthorized person during the ban on entry (described in articles 50, 51, 90, 111, 151, 152, 161 of the Code of Petty Offenses). Most of this type of cases brought against the State Forests (individual cases were referred by the forest guard and the police) were quickly resolved - they ended in acquittal (examples of justifications: 1.activists acted in a state of greater necessity, deeply convinced of saving the common good, serving the whole society, 2. the ban on entering the forest was incorrectly introduced), redemption or guilt. Already in the summer 2017, protesters were asked to pay compensation of a total value of PLN 70,000 to the owners of harvesters for about 1,000 trees saved from cutting (civil proceedings). By the end of April 2018, the court had handed down approx. 90 prescriptive sentences, which sentenced activists to fines (from 15 to 65 USD). In turn, mainly the Prosecutor's Office brought criminal cases against 28 people. They often lasted 2 years or more as a result of an appeal against the applicant's judgment. Environmentalists have been charged with violating articles 193, 222 or 224 of the Criminal Code, i.e. disturbing the home environment (possible penalty of up to one year in prison), violating the bodily integrity of an officer and exerting influence on offices by threat or violence. It is worth nothing that 100,000 people supported the withdrawal of court cases against activists in a petition. The Polish Ombudsman also sought release from charges.

On February 20, 2018, the advocate general of the CJEU published an opinion confirming the violation of EU law by increasing felling in stands protected Białowieża Primeval Forest. Finally, on April 17, 2018, the CJEU allowed the European Commission's complaint in its entirety and held that all the allegations made by the Commission of infringement of the Habitats and Birds Directives were well founded. Thus, the decision to increase the cuts in the Forest was against the law. The logging has stopped!

However, the activists did not leave the Białowieża Forest. They monitored the activities of the Ministry of the Environment and State Forests, including calls on these institutions to implement the judgment of the Court of Justice of the EU and UNESCO's recommendations. The Camp for the Forest still exists, but it changed its location. In connection with the announcement by the ministry of new annexes to the PML for the forest districts in April 2019, the next stage of the fight for the proper protection of the Białowieża Primeval Forest began. In turn, in the fall of 2019, work on the new FMPs for the next ten years was officially started.

On February 18, 2021, the European Commission called on Poland to fully comply with the CJEU judgment. Particular attention was paid to the lack of repeal of the annex to the development plan for the Białowieża Forest District. On March 10, 2021, new annexes to the FMP were signed for the Browsk and Białowieża Forest Districts. Thus, the controversial annex of 2016 was finally canceled. The new documents are related to ensuring safety, especially fire safety. Moreover, they do not provide for the harvesting of wood during the bird breeding season, or in the stands over a hundred years old. The Koalicja Kocham Puszczę reported that its postulates to these appendices were discussed with the State Forests, but not taken into account. They stated that the authors of the forecasts of the impact of the annexes on the Natura 2000 area were based on the highly incomplete data on the places of occurrence of protected forest species. They also noted that the documents wrongly referred to the fire hazard. In the Białowieża Primeval Forest, only a few percent of the area has been classified to the first flammability class (a greater risk of this type is posed by logging). 

The dispute over the ways of protecting and managing the Forest continues. According to a poll from December 2018, the vast majority of Poles (84%) are in favor of extending the borders of the national park to the entire area of the Białowieża Primeval Forest.

In 2017 - in the year of the greatest intensity of the conflict - 190,000 m3 of wood was harvested from three forest districts located in the Białowieża Forest (Browsk - 79,000; Hajnówka - 72,900; Białowieża - 38,100 m3). The last time such intensive logging took place 30 years ago, during the communist times. Cut-outs in stands over a hundred years old exceeded half of the total harvest (98,700 m3). Similar statistics concern the most valuable and protected habitat - subcontinental oak-hornbeam forest (scientific name: Tilio cordatae-Carpinetum betuli; code 9170) - 107,300 m3.

Three forest districts sold 159,780 m3 of wood in 2017, which is almost three times more than in 2016. The share of typical firewood - the most needed from the inhabitants' point of view - was only 4%. The only data on buyers that were provided by the State Forests is a list of 127 companies that purchased 16,540 m3 of wood from the Białowieża Forest District in the period from 1 January to 1 August 2017. Despite the fact that it is only 10% of annual sales, wood spread throughout Poland, and sawmills from the south of the country were among the largest recipients.

Sales of wood cut between 2016 and 2017 were approximately $ 8,008,000.