Protests over plans to cut down trees in Silesian Park

The Silesian Park is located near Katowicie in southern Poland and spans 620 hectares, of which some 200 are forested.

According to the authors of the appeal, 6,000 of the Park’s trees were cut down in 2010, and under current plans a further 2,200 trees would be removed.

Dr. Adam Rostański from the Silesian University’s Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection told a press conference that, “of course the Park is a park, and needs to be taken care of and kept in a state which enables people to access it, but the Park’s greatest value is the wildlife located there – there are over 300 different species of trees and shrubs.”

This comes after the Park’s director told a press conference earlier this year that the management needed to make sure it remains the “Silesian Park” and does not become the “Silesian forest”.

The authors of the appeal claimed that a lack of intervention in the forest area over the past two decades has benefited biodiversity, but “today the Park authorities think that these 20 years without intervention have been a period of neglect that must be ended.”

However, the Park’s management has defended its plans, saying that it is only removing trees that are “withered, diseased or endangering the users of the park,” and that it is open to suggestions from specialists, pointing to cooperation with experts from the Warsaw University of Life Sciences.

It is estimated that there are up to a million trees growing in the Silesian Park. The forest area is also home to 70 species of birds as well as multiple species of mammals, amphibians and reptiles. (sl/rg)

Source: PAP