With the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the branches of the Metropolitan Forestry Office of the State Enterprise "Forests of Ukraine" faced a number of problems. Mass mining of the area made it difficult for foresters to go to the forest for preventive work. And their extinguishing became dangerous due to the risk of detonation on mines. Employees of the State Enterprise "Forests of Ukraine" are confidently facing these challenges. And in this struggle, foreign scientists and environmental organizations come to their aid.
Recently, the founder of the American environmental organization Forest Release, Brian Roth, came to the Teteriv Forestry branch to get a closer look at the work of foresters and their needs in the conditions of a full-scale war.
The employees of the branch said that after the deoccupation, due to the demining of the area, the opportunities for trips to the forest for the purpose of afforestation and prevention of forest fires were limited. The topic of demining forest areas was raised separately. It is important to note that the entire potentially dangerous territory of the branch, which is almost 900 hectares of forest, was completely traversed and demined.
The foresters said that they are cooperating with explosives specialists of the State Emergency Service and military engineers to clear the forest of mines and stretchers. If suspicious objects are found, sappers are immediately called. This coordination of actions makes it possible to gradually free the forests from dangerous "surprises" left by the Russian invaders.
Issues of demining forests and methodical training of foresters were also discussed. In particular, they emphasized that Forest Release will continue to support Ukrainian forestry with humanitarian and technical assistance.
