First fire-ravaged areas in Tara National Park reforested

TARA - The first major campaign aimed at renewing the forests obliterated by huge fires on Mt. Tara, western Serbia, has been completed with assistance from the Japanese Toshiba company, the Tara National Park said in statement.

In the one-month reforestation campaign in fire-destroyed areas, 67 Serbian spruce (Picea omorika) and 7,500 pine and spruce trees were planted on a total of three hectares in Zaovine, where as much as one third of the forests had been destroyed in a fire in 2012.

The campaign is part of a long-term project aimed at renewing the fire-ravaged ecosystem, said Tara National Park Assistant Director Milica Tomic.

The project was supported by Toshiba and the Japanese embassy in Belgrade as part of activities aimed at reducing the impact of global warming and preserving biodiversity on the planet.

"We are glad to be participating in a project that is significant for all of us. The first and the most difficult step has been made and now we are continuing the Toshiba Knows How to Plant Forests campaign to make it possible for users of our technologies to become part of renewing and preserving Mt. Tara," said Miroslav Anicic, Toshiba sales manager for Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia.

Photo Tanjug/R. Prelic (illustration, archive)