István Nagy held a press conference as part of a local tree planting campaign.Continue reading
The Gemenc Forest and Wildlife Management Zrt. planted one and a half million saplings and 23 tons of acorns in the planting season that just ended, the forestry company told MTI on Tuesday.
The company planted 313 hectares of renewable forests, and is carrying out its afforestation tasks on the basis of so-called sustainable forest management, with the main goal of creating more climate-resilient, indigenous, mixed forests, their statement said.
They added that the replacement of previously planted trees that had suffered damage in the areas under the company’s management meant an additional workload of around 150 hectares, three times more than in average years. This was due to the fact that last year’s floods on the Danube caused considerable damage to young forests, with seedlings standing under water for days or even weeks. Moreover, the extreme drought and record-breaking heat waves also caused significant damage in sandy and hilly forest areas.
Over the last three decades, the company has harvested 75-80% of the permitted amount of timber for conservation reasons, and planted more trees than harvested,
so that, as is the case all over the country, forest density is increasing in the Gemenc area (forest in the tidal area of the Danube, southern Hungary).
The statement pointed out that
the oak and ash forests in the area managed by the forestry company are not capable of natural regeneration under the current environmental conditions, but have been created and regenerated as a result of forestry work and forest management.
In mountain forests, experiments by foresters to achieve continuous forest cover have had little success so far, mainly because of site factors such as less rainfall, reduced groundwater, the regeneration characteristics of tree species, and the presence of masses of invasive plants, but experts are looking for solutions.
They pointed out that the forestry has paid special attention to replanting native and locally grown common oak, black poplar, and white willow.
Via MTI, Featured image: MTI/Katona Tibor