This year, South Moravian Road Administration and Maintenance (SÚS JMK) plans to continue its cooperation with the nonprofit organisation Sázíme Stromy, as part of which several hundred new trees will be planted in the spring and then in the autumn.
“As part of the planting, we are not only interested in the restoration of former avenues, but we also want to establish new avenues or rows of trees in cooperation with municipalities,” said Roman Hanák, director of SÚS JMK. “Of course, there will also be new places selected by our experts, and thanks to this, the landscape will be completely renewed. Our goal is to be able to support the natural development of the landscape and prevent the impacts of climate change.”
Thanks to the project, species such as baby maple, linden, chestnut, and walnut, as well as fruit trees including apple, plum, pear, cherry and apricot, are returning to the landscape.
“We have an idea that we will plant about a thousand new trees every year, not counting the dead ones we replace in existing plantings,” added Jan Grolich, Governor of the South Moravian Region. “Cooperation with Sázíme Stromy brought 230 new trees last year alone, and this is clearly good news. It’s a way to bring trees back to our landscape.”
“Our cooperation with the South Moravian road workers works perfectly, we have been working together for two years already,” said Zdenka Ambrožová from Sázíme Stromy. “Last year, we worked together at five locations in the South Moravian region. SÚS JMK is involved in the preparation and implementation of plantings. In addition, municipalities are involved in the entire process and will continue to care for the trees. Commercial sponsors will support the planting financially, and our coordinators will connect everything, ensure implementation and stay in contact with the municipalities.”
“A big benefit of this collaboration is the fact that experts from Sázíme Stromy return to the site no later than one and a half years after planting to monitor the condition of the trees and assess whether further steps need to be taken as part of the aftercare,” said Jiří Crha, Deputy Governor for Transport. “I consider this procedure to be a significant bonus and a sign of responsible care for our landscape.”
Interest in planting trees is huge throughout the country. Thanks to this cooperation, 5 plantings are currently being planned in the South Moravian region. “In some places, we will continue planting from last year, and we are also preparing beautiful new places in Znojmo,” added Ambrožová. “Since last season, some municipalities have come forward with suggestions on where to plant. This generally seems to us to be the best option when the locals are interested in the new greenery, which is a greater guarantee that the trees and bushes will be well taken care of. We are currently preparing specific planting plans, but it will definitely be a mixture of fruit and leafy trees suitable for the landscape.”
“From our side, we try to make everyone’s work easier, we have the technical equipment for that and of course we all add a hand to the work,” said Marie Miklínová, arborist with SÚS JMK. “I always say that road workers are not made of sugar. The feedback is amazing, we receive emails of thanks and we are pleased that in this way we are not only bringing life back to the landscape, but that there is a real interest in the trees.”
Last year, SÚS JMK also established cooperation with scientists from the Center for Polymer Systems (CPS) of Tomáš Bata University in Zlín. “Hundreds of trees die every year, when the reason for this failure is a significant dry season and we are simply not able to fix it,” explained Hanák. “Scientists have come up with a hydrogel that can retain water in the landscape during this period, improving the soil’s retention capacity. We carried out the first trial planting, where hydrogel was thrown, where the main component is whey, in the Břeclav region, 100 trees were planted. Together with the scientists, we will then record the behaviour of these trees and compare them in the same location with those without it.”
Sázíme Stromy has been operating in the Czech Republic for 10 years, and the organisation has planted trees and shrubs in all regions of the country. More information is available at www.sazimestromy.cz.
