site.btaAncient Trees in Several Towns Declared Protected

Caretaker Environment and Water Minister Petar Dimitrov has declared 30 ancient trees protected, his Ministry said on Friday. Once the Minister's order is gazetted, the trees in the regions of Haskovo, Stara Zagora, Pleven, Montana and Smolyan will be entered in the registers of ancient trees and will be marked.

The Biodiversity Act bans the uprooting, felling and pruning of ancient trees, the breaking of branches, injuring of stems and any other actions that could destroy or damage the trees, the Ministry said. The preservation of ancient and remarkable trees through their timely protection is one of the Ministry's priorities. Many of those trees are of an impressive shape and size, have withstood time and the elements, and have been preserved thanks to the local communities.

Twenty-four ancient trees of the species Turkey oak, Hungarian oak, hairy oak, silver poplar, plane tree, European beech and Raywood ash are in the southern Haskovo Region. The other six trees are a Hungarian oak in Sliven Municipality (Southeastern Bulgaria), a Turkey oak in Lovech Region, a pear tree in Stara Zagora Region (Central Bulgaria), a Hungarian oak in Montana Region (Northwestern Bulgaria), and two European beech trees in Smolyan Region.

The conservation of ancient trees is very important because they are part of the entire chain in nature. Studies in Austria and Switzerland have proved that ancient trees communicate with the whole forest and create a balance in the ecosystem, the environmentalist Atanas Rusev, who has created a free mobile application for ancient tree mapping, told BTA.