site.btaConifers Planted in Untypical Environment Drying Out across Bulgaria

Coniferous trees standing on a total area of 21,000 hectares are drying out across Bulgaria as they were planted away from their natural environment. The drying process, which began perhaps 30 years ago, has acquired disturbing proportions, according to speakers at a news conference held in Shumen on June 18.

The plight of the black pines in the Shumen Plateau Nature Park was brought to the notice of Shumen Regional Governor Dobromir Dobrev. An alert that black pines and European red pines, planted artificially in the 20th century, were drying in various parts of the country had been issued by the Northeast State Company for Forest Management on June 11.

Kiril Valchev, chief biodiversity expert at the Shumen Plateau Nature Park Directorate, said that 60 years ago the plateau was a barren piece of land. An afforestation effort which began around that time was successful in putting soil erosion under control, but now it is necessary to boost the growth of deciduous species such as oak and hornbeam, which are natural for the area. The pine grove was not created in a suitable place, Valchev said.

Nationwide, the problem is with conifers planted at elevations under 400 metres. In Shumen, some pine-trees at the foot of the plateau stand at between 200 and 250 metres above sea level, the expert said.

Emil Gelov, Head of the Regional Forestry Directorate, said that conifer drying occurs in waves. The 1990s saw intense drying of pine-trees nationwide. After sanitation cutting, the process subsided, but now it is on the rise again. While the main purpose of planting pine-trees on the Shumen Plateau was to fight soil erosion, in other parts of the country it was done for economic reasons, to meet the demands of the timber processing industry. It was not unreasonable to do it, because the climate was different from now, Gelov noted. Rising temperatures and low soil moisture began to take their toll, mainly because the conifers were grown in conditions untypical for them.

A recent national meeting decided that the problem should be addressed mainly by targeted harvesting, and the goal should be to replace coniferous trees with deciduous ones. According to Gelov, the remedial measures will probably take at least 30 years to implement.