Fire-damaged areas on Yamanlar Mountain will be restored
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Participating in the event organised by Izmir Planning Agency and Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Parks and Gardens Department, Mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Dr. Cemil Tugay examined the works initiated for the rehabilitation of the areas affected by the fires that started on Yamanlar Mountain and affected the city for four days, and the rehabilitation of the trees in salvageable condition. Green Izmir Volunteers and experts also attended the event.
Izmir Metropolitan Municipality continues to carry out field inspections for the maintenance and monitoring of the trees damaged by the fire, while working to eliminate the grievances after the fires that started in Yamanlar Mountain and affected many parts of the city. Within the scope of the works, a volunteer movement is also being initiated with Izmir residents under the leadership of Izmir Planning Agency (İZPA) to improve the damaged forest areas. Under the coordination of IZPA, Green Izmir Volunteers came together at Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Social Projects Campus. After the training within the scope of the ‘Citizen Science Workshop Programme on Post-Fire Care and Monitoring’, the volunteers participated in the field programme in the fire-damaged Karşıyaka Municipality Happiness Forest accompanied by İZPA President Prof. Dr. Koray Velibeyoğlu, Prof. Dr. Doğanay Tolunay and Prof. Dr. Serdar Gökhan Şenol. Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Dr Cemil Tugay also came together with the volunteers and examined the work done on site. Volunteers, who received training from expert academicians, carried out studies on the structure, degree of damage and survival status of the trees together with Mayor Tugay.
‘A special and unique work in the world’
Explaining the road map for the new process after the disaster, Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Dr Cemil Tugay said, ‘We had a thought that we could do something to keep the partially burnt trees alive and not die. In this regard, Izmir Planning Agency prepared a workshop for volunteers who wanted to be involved in the process. With the volunteer group we called Green Izmir Volunteers, they first did a theoretical study and then went to the Happiness Forest for field work. The trees damaged by the fire in the area were numbered. They determine the vitality and current status of these trees. They record the data they collect on a map application. Within the scope of this study, completely burnt trees will be cut down without delay. Those that are partially burnt will be monitored and maintained, and their vitality will be maintained. This is a special and unique study in the world. Prof. Dr. Doğanay Tolunay and Prof. Dr. Serdar Gökhan Şenol from Istanbul are here. Experts and bureaucrats of our metropolitan municipality are accompanying our work.’
Mayor Tugay stated that they set out with the question ‘What can be done to save trees after fires’ and said, ‘We have started our pilot study on this. If we can prove that we can save some trees from drying out, we will develop a method and follow-up system based on this. In the next fires, we will have a team that will quickly enter the area and check the trees one by one, follow the trees that can be intervened and work for their maintenance.’
‘We must protect and develop the green texture’
Stating that this study will also give clues about the types of trees to be planted, Mayor Tugay said, ‘We should definitely protect and develop this forest and green texture around us. However, we will be able to make more accurate decisions with the data we will obtain from here regarding factors such as soil, tree characteristics, what kind of saplings to choose, and planting frequency. I wanted to understand this work of İZPA more accurately by seeing it on site, that's why I am here. I believe it is a very correct work.’
Waiting for autumn and winter for afforestation
Tugay added that tree plantings will be made with the right species preferences in the places where they are needed by taking expert opinion when the autumn and winter seasons enter after the work carried out, ‘Tree plantings are made in the rainy months. We are currently in a very hot and dry time. When those days come, we will also carry out afforestation works to provide healthy habitats to our city by asking for the help of Izmir residents and our people for the areas we have targeted and determined. In the coming months, we have an idea to take many initiatives, including planting saplings, in order to replace what we have lost.’