Inspectors from Romania’s Forest Guard uncovered that employees of the forest authority Romsilva had clear-cut several hectares of the famous Hoia-Baciu forest near Cluj-Napoca, more than the law allowed, Digi24 reported.
The Hoia forest is a vital green area for Cluj-Napoca. The forest also gained international fame after reports of paranormal phenomena taking place between the eerie trees.
After the Forest Guard notified prosecutors of the cutting, more irregularities were discovered in the case. Locals say that real estate developers have been targeting the area for years. To stop illegal deforestation, they say the forest should be declared a protected natural area.
“There should be no clear-cutting in the forest after our proposal to make it a protected natural area. There is an agreement, for now verbal, from the authorities,” said environmental activist Adrian Dohotaru, cited by Digi24.
Romsilva representatives disagree. “Since it is not a protected natural area, the production function prevails, the social function is in second place,” said Viorel Mihiș, director of the Cluj Forestry Directorate. As a result, Romsilva employees could cut trees that were less economically profitable to replace them with oaks in the so-called practice of substitution cutting.
At the scene, however, journalists pointed out that the trees that were cut were also oaks. Many were old, not at all sick or dry. When questioned, the head of the Cluj Forestry District, Radu Bara, said that there was no environmental approval for the deforestation and that the management plan is not legally approved. However, he claimed that the CTAS approval alone, given by a technical commission, is enough for him to clear-cut entire hectares of forest.
In reply, Forest Guard inspectors said they found that Romsilva employees cut more trees than the law allowed. “We can talk of abuse of office. In clear-cutting, when two plots are made, you must leave between them a strip of at least two tree heights, two tree heights at 60 meters, and the strip they left there, according to our measurements, is somewhere around 40. It is a violation of the law,” said Istrate Ștețco, chief inspector of the Cluj Forest Guard.
(Photo source: Cristianzamfir|Dreamstime.com)
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