The villagers, who wanted to celebrate the improved weather again, were very unpleasantly surprised that even after almost a week, no one had helped to manage the forest, so they started to manage the trees themselves.
He saw how the fallen were dragged home
Calling the editorial office of “Rinka aištės”, a local resident said that the walk in the Babėnai heath was very bitter for her.
Not just because he brought home a bunch of ticks – apparently you don’t jump against nature.
But the woman says that those ticks did not gather anywhere else, but while trying to get around the fallen trees on the road through the thicket of the forest.
“I’ve never seen heather look like this. It’s been four days since the storm and nothing has been done. Like after the war, in some places you can’t even see the paths. I saw that ordinary people came and dragged a few dead bodies and took them away. I thought that it might be good – it would be beneficial for them, and the forest would be cleaned up.
On the main road, I saw cyclists cutting down trees, but they were clearly doing it voluntarily, and their efforts were not enough,” a woman told “Market Square” four days after the storm.
True, she emphasized that there were also very large trees that were forced, which individual people would not be able to overcome, and the problem is not only in them.
“The forest is full of trees bent by the wind. Half cooked, with broken branches. It’s scary to walk, you don’t know when you’ll fall on your head,” the local woman worried.
Cyclists saved their tracks themselves
And indeed, Babėnai šila is a favorite place for cyclists, so after receiving a signal that the forest is basically impassable, Paulius Aukštikalnis, a member of the district council, also went there.
“After driving, I met cyclists who had already started clearing the forest of fallen trees. We all worked together for a good two hours, but there is much more work there. It takes more hands and much more time.
It’s true, I remember when Äžuolynas was uprooted in Kaunas after the storm, the city authorities invited people to the taluk and allowed them to take wood. Many citizens of Kaunas gathered, everything was quickly arranged. And people were fine, and the work was done. It is strange that our people neither manage nor offer anything to the people,” said the politician.
Started to arrange
The municipality, for its part, says that it first removed fallen trees in the city – on streets, squares, near residential houses. It was only later that Babėnai heath was also managed.
It is true that the municipality does not have any specialist who can coordinate the work, and there are no people who can manage the forest. Therefore, the municipality had to enter into a contract with a private company engaged in those works.
But there are more problems. It turns out that both those who hauled a few downed trees home and cleared the trail, and those who wasted their time renting chainsaws, buying gas, and trying to clear trails by cutting trees, did the unforgivable thing.
It turns out that this cannot be done.
“Arbitrarily cutting down trees is not allowed,” the municipality said.
It is true, at least it was decided that firewood will be given to socially disadvantaged residents.
The turn to manage dangerous trees has not yet come
But for now, the company that signed the works contract with the municipality will simply clear the footpaths. It seems that the turn of dangerous, overturned or barely holding trees has not come yet.
“At the moment, APVA is finishing evaluating applications for the allocation of funds for forest management works. After receiving funding and completing the public procurement procedures, a service contract would be signed for the management of Babėnai heath, which would include the management of dangerous, dry and other fallen trees,” says the municipality.
2024-08-16 20:04:09