EcoLur
The felling of pine trees will be banned starting from 13 December, as Ruben Petrosyan, “ArmForest” SNCO Chief Forestry Officer stated at the press conference held at EcoLur Press Club on 12 December. Since 2003 “ArmForest” SNCO hasn’t cut down pine trees for sale. This year we gave 6000 branches for central Christmas tree in Yerevan and 3000 branches for the Christmas tree in Gyumri,” he said.
Ruben Petrosyan noted that the supervision mechanisms over illegal tree felling are in the process of improvement. “Upon the Minister’s decree each tree is numbered, while firewood is marked with red seal, which doesn’t disappear,” he said.
Under Ruben Petrosyan, the tendency of illegal felling has reduced, “32,000 trees were felled in 2004, 2520 trees in 2011, and 1320 trees in 2012, while the fixed number for this year accounts for 768 trees,” the Forestry Officer said.
According to Ruben Petrosyan, the tendency of the fires has also reduced. “This year the number of fires is relatively low – 87 ha of forest territory, out of which 23 ha forest. This figure is 10 times as low as that of the previous years. For example, 810 ha of forest territory was burnt down in 2010 caused by the residents’ burning of pastures,” he said.
According to Government decision N 1045 dated on 14 December, the person causing damage to the forest with non-forest purposes has to plant twice as much forest and to grow them till transferring to the forest. In this regard, Ruben Petrosyan brought the example of Teghout Forest, where “Teghout” CJSC is obliged to provide funds to “ArmForest” SNCO for reforestation.
December 13, 2013 at 11:57