The dispute over the pruning of the city’s trees was “transferred” to Thessaloniki. The Hellenic Forest Society has expressed serious concern about the recent work carried out in the city center, referring to the “mutilation” carried out by unskilled workers. For its part, the municipality argued that interventions were being carried out by people with appropriate training, and that trees were cut down only to the extent necessary, as it was considered dangerous.

The activities of the municipality’s landscaping teams in various parts of Thessaloniki have recently caused several responses from citizens and organizations claiming that they are not carried out properly. The Hellenic Forest Society, the scientific organization of the forestry sector, also intervened.

“Pruning should be the exception, not the rule. In addition, each tree needs different treatment. In an arboretum or park, it is not necessary to cut all the trees, and even in such an unacceptable way, which in our industry is called deadly pruning, ”the statement he circulated said. “Pruning, when necessary, should be done by a qualified and certified workshop, not by cheap, unskilled workers.”

The Greek Forest Society claimed that the city’s trees were “mutilated”.

As the Hellenic Forest Society points out, when a decision is made to cut down a tree, all measures to save it must be exhausted and its conservation must be considered dangerous to humans.

Yesterday, the Department of Planting and Environmental Management of the Municipality of Thessaloniki reacted to the announcement of the Forestry Society, stating that all interventions are carried out with due care. It states that metropolitan areas are a hostile environment for vegetation to grow, resulting in trees presenting many specific problems that often make them “immediate hazards for civilian injury and property damage.”

Pruning is also required in many cases: on trees with a shallow root system such as poplars, on very old trees such as pseudoacacia, on trees with inconspicuous rots that are found inside them during pruning, on trees that grow close to traffic lights, but and roads with increased traffic of buses and vehicles in general, etc.

“All heads of our service have higher education (agronomists, foresters, forest rangers),” the service’s announcement says, and in cases where private individuals are hired, it is required that “those who trim, as well as their leaders, have an appropriate specialty.”