A campaign to Rehabilitate Forest and Agricultural Lands Damaged by Fires
Homs,(ST)-The Forestry Center of Al-Nasera in the western countryside of Homs launched a campaign to rehabilitate the forested and agricultural lands that have been damaged as a result of the fires that broke out recently in the area..
To find out the details of this campaign, Syria Times e-newspaper met with the head of Talkalakh Forestry Department, Eng. Elias Bitar, who said: ” Homs Agriculture Directorate launched the project of replanting the affected areas because of the fires that hit the area and caused great damages, especially in the forest area, which was estimated at 262 dunums of which 69 dunums in Al-Nasera, 10 dunums in Ein al-Baredah and 10 dunums in Kufra. The rest of the affected lands are located in Kufra, Zwaitina, Al-Mashtaya and Hab Nimra. These lands are natural forests that grow naturally and regenerate themselves.
We are now working in Al-Nasera site, where we have cleared the burned trees, cleaned and organized the land and dug holes in order to start the reforestation and planting new trees”, he added.
“As for the rest of the regions, Engineer Bitar continues, which are natural forest areas, we will remove the bush and take care and follow up the sprouts of the new growing species.
Bitar pointed out that the campaign, which was carried out with the participation of many civil initiatives, was launched from Al-Nasera to include, later, many of the affected areas , where they will be cleaned and prepared to be planted with various types of trees such as Laurel, pine and chestnut, stressing that during planting these trees the lines of fire within the artificial forest will be taken into consideration .
Hala Ahoush, head of the Valley Office of the Martyr Foundation, pointed out that their participation in the civil initiatives in the campaign comes due to the importance of this project and the vital role it plays in restoring vegetation in the area.
She stressed the need to organize various environment campaigns continuously in order to preserve environment in general and vegetation in particular, inviting the various public and private initiatives to contribute to similar activities to increase vegetation.
Interviewed by: Amal Farhat
Photos by: Amal Farhat