More than 5.5 million trees are planned to be planted in Mykolaiv, Odesa and Kherson regions

The autumn forest planting campaign is underway in the Mykolaiv, Odesa, and Kherson regions. Foresters plan to plant more than 5.5 million saplings across 806 hectares. The plans were announced by the Southern Forestry Office branch of the state-owned enterprise Forests of Ukraine.

A total of 762 hectares of forest land has been allocated for the creation of new forests. These are degraded and low-productivity plots that were not previously covered by forest. In addition, forest plantations across 2,500 hectares are scheduled for enrichment planting, with new saplings replacing those lost to heat, disease, or pests.

For foresters in the south, autumn is the busiest time of year. Warm weather and autumn rains help saplings take root. Conditions are different in spring: the soil quickly loses moisture under the sun. Planting will continue until sustained frosts set in, as long as the weather allows work to proceed.

The following tree species are being planted:

• Crimean pine;
• English oak;
• maples;
• ashes;
• acacia;
• honey locust;
• stone fruit trees.

Alongside the autumn planting, foresters are preparing planting stock for the seasons ahead. This work covers several areas:

• In their own forest nurseries, they are sowing native and accompanying tree species across 12 hectares.
• The area of special containers, where saplings are grown under controlled conditions, is planned to be doubled.
• They plan to collect 60 tonnes of English oak acorns.
• Pine cones are scheduled to be collected in winter.

We previously reported:

• The first pines and maples were planted at the site of the fire in Halytsynivka after demining
• More than 200 new trees planted at “Mayak” in Mykolaiv to replace those that had dried up
• Nearly 5,000 hectares of forest planted in one year in southern Ukraine
• “We don’t want to wait”: Mykolaiv residents dream of creating a park in the Korabelnyi district named after legendary pensioner Vadym Serdtsev