For our association, the forested area is important, but more than that we are interested in the seedlings planted to survive in time.
This year we have 3 years since the start of our first afforestation project. Until now, we have afforested 6 hectares of land within Mures County. Throughout this period, we have carefully watched the development process of saplings. In this sense, we started at least two maintenance works each year. For our association, the wooded area is important, but we are more interested in the seedlings planted to survive over time. Thus, each planted area is supervised by forestry specialists for a minimum of 4 years, until the seedlings become strong and ready to develop alone. Just as children are ready for life, they also need saplings.
We care a lot about this issue, because there are many projects that afforest large areas, but most of the time nothing is known of their evolution, but even worse these plantations do not survive because there are no maintenance works. This year we have focused on carrying out maintenance activities without launching new afforestation projects. Without modesty, we can say that a forest builds in time with patience and constant attention to sustainable growth.
Below we present a short briefing on the situation of seedlings planted in previous years and the balance after winter.
- The afforestation project Laslaul Mic, Mures County;
This project enters the 3rd year, the wooded area of 3 ha with acacia seedlings. Saplings grow quite slowly on a terrain with a fairly high degree of degradation. Their height varies between 0.5 and 1 meter. Although their growth is slow, the saplings are strong and managed to survive in the winter in a percentage of 90%.
At the end of the summer, we will intervene again with these maintenance works to help the seedlings to settle and to remove the danger of suffocation by the abundant vegetation. The oak and acacia species planted in this area caught well, being helped by the favorable weather. The 400 hazelnut seedlings planted for the test failed to survive the environmental conditions and dried up.
- The afforestation project Suplac, Mures County;
This project enters the 2nd year, the wooded area of 3 ha of oak and acacia seedlings. This land is less degraded, with a more fertile soil that has helped seedlings grow more easily. So, the height of the saplings reached here and up to 2.5 meters. The fixing rate of the saplings in the area was raised to over 95%. Although the plantation is newer, it seems that it overtakes the seedlings planted in the first project
The necessary works in this season are those of soil mobilization, which helps to soil barking and decaying works, action that removes the weeds that shade the seedlings and can stifling them. Currently, the saplings enjoy sunshine and heavy rains. We seem to have favorable weather conditions for development this year.
We look forward to visit the two areas, and if you can give us a helping hand for the following summer maintenance work, you are welcome! For subscriptions or donations, you can write to us by email: info@cleanwood.org
With love of green,
CLEANWOODCO2 Team
