Tomorrow’s Forest continues with the planting of 6,160 seedlings in Clit, Suceava county

• Tomorrow’s Forest’s first planting session this year took place on 6 April, 2019 in Clit, Suceava county
• 6,160 seedlings of fir, ash, maple and spruce have been planted
• Over 200 volunteers offered their help

The Tomorrow’s Forest project rallied almost 200 volunteers on 6 April 2019 to support the reforestation of 1.3 hectares in Clit, Suceava county, in a planting session. Members of the local community joined students of the Tomsa Voda Technical High School in Solca, students of the Radauti Technology College, students of the Forestry Faculty within the Stefan cel Mare University in Suceava, forestry personnel and Holzindustrie Schweighofer employees of the Radauti and Siret sawmills, to plant 6,140 seedlings of fir, ash, maple and spruce. The project was launched in September 2017 as a partnership between the Association of Forests Administrators, the Stefan cel Mare University in Suceava and Holzindustrie Schweighofer, in a move of helping private owners and local administrations to reforest the degraded forest areas.

The planting area in Clit is part of a body of wet forest (bahna – moor/marshy land). As a result of partial cuttings, the natural regeneration is made of pioneering species (goat willow, quaking aspen), while blackberry brambles covering the soil obstruct natural regeneration. At the same time, resinous species have been planted in this forest outside of their natural areal and, unfortunately, the procedures to modify the forestry plan to correct the regeneration composition are very difficult.

The Solca Forest Management Unit – which is managing the area – has drawn up the reforestation documentation. The FMU will also oversee the planting activities, as well as the subsequent works of completing and maintaining the plantation, which are done by a specialised reforestation company, during the 2019-2025 timeframe.

“We are glad to bring Tomorrow’s Forest to Suceava county for the third time,” said Tomorrow’s Forest project manager Ionut Apostol. “The first planting session meant the stating of the project, in the autumn of 2017, in Poieni Solca. Last year, almost 600 volunteers joined the event in Poiana Negrii. The area in Clit which we reforested today is one of the 12 areas selected for this year, as part of the Tomorrow’s Forest project. We have reforestation projects in the counties of Cluj, Satu Mare, Harghita, Covasna and Brasov. We will reforest 50 hectares of degraded forest plots this year, with a total of 204,000 seedlings of spruce, beech, maple, ash, fir and oak.”

At the same time, during the Tree Planting Month, the Tomorrow’s Forest project is planning to tend to the areas it planted in the previous years – one of the objectives it assumed is to care for the areas for at least three years, so that the seedlings are deep-rooted. Thus, completion works are carried out on the area planted in Poieni Solca in 2017, to compensate for the seedling losses during the draught.

Since the project was launched in the autumn of 2017, over 160,000 seedlings have been planted on a total area of 40 hectares. Until now, Tomorrow’s Forest has rallied over 1,000 volunteers in its actions carried out in eight counties nationwide. The project addresses private forest areas owners in Romania, who can register their property on www.padureademaine.ro.

Press release [pdf]