1.5 mln saplings for fire-ravaged areas in Çanakkale: Minister

Fatih Çekirge- ANKARA

Agriculture and Forestry Minister İbrahim Yumaklı has announced that 1.5 million saplings will be planted by the end of 2024 to reforest the areas damaged by the wildfires in the northwestern province of Çanakkale.

Speaking to daily Hürriyet, the minister stated that the two largest wildfires of this summer broke out in Çanakkale, resulting in a loss of forest cover spread across 3,890 hectares of land.

The ministry has begun efforts to quickly regreen the fire-ravaged areas by the end of next year, Yumaklı said.

"Firstly, we will remove the burned trees from the region with our expert teams. Based on the first examinations, it is estimated that approximately 700,000 trees were burned in the area," Yumaklı said.

Noting that after the removal of the burned trees, the teams will conduct a study on the land, Yumaklı assured that the steps taken for reforestation will be completed by the end of 2024 at the latest.

"We plan to plant a total of 1.5 million saplings and provide 25 tons of seed support to the 3,890 hectares of forest land damaged by the two fires. We are now preparing for the region's resurgence. And this won't take too long; we will have completed it by the end of 2024," he stated

"The first fire in July impacted 1,240 hectares of forest area. The second fire, which is still fresh in our memories, affected 2,650 hectares of forested area,” Yumaklı said.

All residents affected by the fires will be compensated for their financial losses, especially those who live on livestock, whose animals perished and whose barns were damaged, he added.

Reminding that 90 percent of forest fires break out by human-induced factors, Yumaklı pointed out that the efforts made to extinguish forest fires should also be made to prevent the outbreak of fires.

"We will do more than our best for Çanakkale, the city of green, blue, culture, nature, history, struggle and belief,” he said.