Fresh Saplings to Replace Pest-Infested Trees in Chitgar

Tehran Urban Management has announced that for every tree felled in Chitgar, 3 to 10 new trees will be planted. Mohammad Saber Baghkhanipour, Director General of Environment and Sustainable Development at Tehran Municipality, elaborates on the matter in the Park-e-Vay program of Safir Arjan.

Director General of Environment and Sustainable Development of Tehran Municipality in the Sefir Arjan Parkway program

The city management announced that for every tree cut in Chitgarh, 3 to 10 new trees are going to be planted. Mohammad Saber Baghkhanipour, Director General of Environment and Sustainable Development of Tehran Municipality explains more about this issue in the Arjan Ambassador Parkway program.

According to Ambassador Arjan: The incident of cutting down the infested trees in the Chitgar Forest Park has caused quite a stir with the release of several videos on the internet. But the city management shared the truth with the citizens and announced that for every tree cut in Chitgarh, 3 to 10 new trees are going to be planted.

Before we begin to provide a solution for the current situation of Tehran's forest parks, including Chitgar, Sorkhehsar and Loizan, we must pay attention to the past of this issue. About 60 years ago, the managers of that time decided to design and implement green corridors for Tehran to increase the freshness of the air in the capital, to increase the absorption of pollutants and to have a better green space. But unfortunately, some specialized issues were not paid attention to, or perhaps there were many scientific differences with today. One of the neglects has been neglecting the planting of native species. For example, Eldarica pine, which is a non-native species, has been planted in the entire forest line of Chitgar and Sorekh Hesar parks.

The next challenge in Tehran's vegetation is the monoculture of forest parks, that is, the diversity of biological species is not respected in the selection of plants. This mistake is far worse than the first mistake, because with the arrival of the first pest, the entire cultivated environment is affected by disease and pests. For example, all of Tehran is affected by skin-eating cockroaches. In this way, we inherit the decisions and events that happened in the past. When a seedling of a plant species is planted, it is usually irrigated and maintained for 3 to 5 years until the seedling is established. This seedling must rely on itself to continue growing. But since the non-native tree was planted in Tehran's forest parks, the establishment of plants depends on humans and unfortunately this issue continues until the end of the trees' life.

Planting suitable trees instead of those affected by pests

To prevent further damage to the trees, the city administration no longer allows the planting of non-native species in Tehran. Besides, according to the new guidelines, different species are planted with high diversity. But currently, the city management is forced to cut down the affected trees to prevent the spread of disease and pests to the rest of the vegetation. But the good news is that for every tree cut down, 3 to 10 native trees compatible with Tehran's climate will be planted. Considering that Tehran is facing climate change and drought, replacement trees are selected from species that do not need irrigation for up to 200 years.