On the International Earth Day, 60 seedlings of native plants were planted in the Caucasus Reserve. Thus, the reserve decided to draw attention to the disappearance of chestnut from the forests of the Caucasus. According to Director of the Caucasus Nature Reserve Sergey Shevelev, the dining out of the chestnut in the region is a serious problem, given that it is an important food supply for animals.
There are two reasons why chestnut is dying out in the Caucasus - a disease caused by fungus - tree cancer and an introduced pest - a chestnut gallfly. According to the scientific department of protected areas, in the Caucasus Nature Reserve, out of nearly 13,000 hectares of chestnut, up to 50 trees are infected, about five percent are damaged or died from pests. Outside the reserve, a fifth of the chestnut forest is already covered by the pest.
Planting seedlings instead of dead trees is one of the measures to replenish this valuable and native species for the nature of the Caucasus. Three-year-old trees were planted in a protected forest area in the Assara River valley in the Krasnaya Polyana region. In the future, the trees of the “chestnut forest” will become educational objects on the tourist route, the reserve staff will talk about the history of the chestnut tree, its role in the ecosystem and human life, the need to restore and create nurseries of genetic material.
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