The drying of thousands of trees in Chitgarh / municipality and natural resources blame each other!

According to the memorandums before 2018, the municipality was using the parks, but they did not have any contract, so the natural resources signed a contract with them, according to which they are obliged to carry out conservation and health-cultivation operations in these parks, especially to pay attention to the irrigation of trees, but the irrigation was not done enough.

The trees of Chitgar, which were once supposed to make it possible to breathe better air in the west of Tehran, have suffered the ax blade these days, and disturbing images of a bare land without vegetation, which was once full of green trees, have been circulating in the virtual space for some time. In the meantime, the finger of accusation has been pointed towards the Natural Resources Organization and Tehran Municipality; Two institutions that blame each other for the drying of trees.

According to Ambassador Arjan's report, Tehran Municipality blames the issue of the drying of Chitgar trees on the type of urban development in the 80s and early 90s in Region 22, and the spokesperson of the municipality says: These problems have nothing to do with the current situation. In the current period, Tehran Municipality has taken several measures to compensate for the past problems. In the last five years, we have followed the issue of planting new seedlings.

In the meantime, Mehdi Chamran - Chairman of Tehran City Council - suggests that the drying of the trees in Chitgar Park is two years ago and adds: Some of the trees in Chitgar got sick due to lack of water, some due to age conditions, so it was necessary to remove these trees.

He does not consider the municipality to be solely responsible for this and emphasizes that the Natural Resources Organization also plays a role in the removal of trees and with the coordination and cooperation of this organization, the diseased trees were collected.

Mehdi Babaei - Vice Chairman of the Health and Environment Commission of Tehran City Council says that the delay of the Natural Resources Organization caused the spread of the pest in Chitgar and Sorkheh Hesar parks. So that the municipality was forced to use the capacity of the judiciary to initiate the necessary measures.

Reza Bayani - Director General of Natural Resources of Tehran Province - in a conversation with Ambassador Arjan, in response to Babaei's statement that "the trusteeship and owner of Chitgar Park of Natural Resources Organization and their maintenance has been delegated to Tehran Municipality.

The municipality of Tehran quickly notified the natural resources organization of the drying of the Chitgar trees because these trees should have been cut and removed from the park, but the delay of the natural resources in the beginning of the process of cutting down and moving the infected trees caused the spread of the pest in these two parks", he states: According to Article 3 of the Law on the Protection and Exploitation of Forests and Rangelands, transferring the management of an area of natural resources and the environment to an institution is tantamount to delegating the duties of Article 67 of this law to that institution, i.e. performing health and breeding operations. and dealing with pests up to maintenance and protection as well as irrigation is entrusted to the relevant institution.

About the most important causes of the drying of Chitgar trees, he says: the most important factor was lack of water, in addition to that, health-cultivation operations were not carried out in Chitgar Park, that is, the dried and infected trees were not removed in the past years, and in general, the health of the trees was not paid enough attention.

Director General of Natural Resources of Tehran Province adds: Tehran Municipality should have reported this matter to the Natural Resources Organization after observing the pest in the trees, and also controlled the factors related to the occurrence of pests, while the irrigation resources of Chitgar Park have decreased. We checked the condition of Chitgar trees and announced in the form of a letter that pests are spreading in Chitgar Park.

Are natural resources negligent in cutting down infected trees?

Rejecting the neglect of natural resources in the beginning of cutting down infected trees, Bayani emphasizes: according to the plan booklet for Chitgar Park, Tehran Municipality was obliged to prevent pest infestation and contamination of trees. Since 1401, we have been writing letters to the judicial system regarding the negligence of the municipality in maintaining the trees of Chitgar Park, and even the prosecutor of Tehran got involved in this issue at one point and visited the forest and subsequently cut down the infected trees.

In response to the question whether the entry of the judicial system caused the natural resources to cut down trees, he emphasized: No. The judicial system was not discussed at all. The municipality brought up the issue of contaminated trees with us, and natural resources signed a contract with the executive and contractor, we marked the trees and gradually cut them down parcel by parcel.

Director General of Natural Resources of Tehran Province, referring to the irrigation status of the trees in Chitgar Park, says: for a while, the water was around 80 liters per second, but in 1403, it decreased again to 20 liters per second. Now it is almost 170 liters per second. Irrigation networks have been built in some parcels and water is transferred to the trees because there was no good irrigation network before, but now this has happened with the actions of natural resources and the follow-ups of the respected prosecutor of Tehran, and the infected trees are being replaced.

What trees are planted in Chitgarh?

Bayani clarifies: The Natural Resources Organization is the owner of Chitgar Park, we do not allow it to change its use, in addition to that, the municipality must replace the new trees, and if necessary, we will use the capacity of the judicial authorities in this regard.

Director General of Natural Resources Department of Tehran Province adds: So far we have cut down 25,000 infected trees in Chitgar and we have to cut down about 7,000 more trees. The municipality has planted 27,000 trees with a four-year-old trunk (the last 4 years of the tree's life). Chitgar Park has the capacity to plant 30,000 to 35,000 trees. This work should be done as soon as possible because there is no need to plant potted trees in the rainy season. The General Directorate of Natural Resources of Tehran Province is following up on the realization of this work.

The Director General of Natural Resources of Tehran province points out the characteristics of the planted trees and says: These are not conifers, but native trees of the region such as acacia, oak, and elder, which require less water than conifers. These species are planted based on the plan approved by the General Directorate of Natural Resources.

What was the story of transferring the management of Tehran's forest parks to the municipality?

In response to the question of whether the municipality's ability to maintain Chitgar trees had not been checked before the transfer of management, he stated: This happened legally in 2018, although the management of these parks had already been entrusted to the municipality in the form of a memorandum of understanding. Although it is not possible to put all the focus on the municipality, because after all, the General Department of Natural Resources must have the necessary funds to protect trees, but in any case, the municipalities of the regions announced their readiness to manage Tehran's forest parks.

Bayani continued: According to the agreements before 2018, the municipality was using the parks, but they did not have any contract, so the natural resources signed a contract with them so that they are obliged to carry out conservation and health-cultivation operations in these parks, especially paying attention to watering the trees, but the irrigation was not done enough.

He emphasized: "We are trying to increase the supervision of Chitgar Park so that the newly planted trees do not suffer the fate of the previous trees and dry up."

In the end, Bayani acknowledges the effect of water supply from Chitgar Lake on the dryness of the trees in the park: Chitgar Park is fed from four to five wells. These wells needed to be broken, and in recent years, following the occurrence of drought, water from many wells in such parks was used to supply Tehran with drinking water. The water that has been established in Chitgar Park has increased a lot compared to previous years and is almost 170 liters per second. The wells needed to be broken. Some wells were broken and water rights were determined. In addition, water is currently being received from various water treatment plants such as Shahid Bagheri water treatment plants and trees are being irrigated.

Regardless of the differences of organizations and institutions, it seems that it is necessary to take measures so that what happened to the trees of Chitgar and Sarkhehsar is not repeated in other forest parks of Tehran, because considering the amount of population and different loadings in Tehran, every tree has a special importance for the environment of the capital city. In this situation, proper maintenance of forest parks becomes doubly important.